THAT BLANK CANVAS

Being faced with a blank canvas sometimes, is enough to frighten the artist who is going to strike out from realism into the next step; semi-abstraction. A good way to start is to draw with soft charcoal (easily dusted off as you change your mind); begin making shapes, large against small, keeping it simple at first, and trying to get interesting placement of the forms. As you proceed in this book, you will be given many hints on composition and the "breakinbg up of space."

If your subject matter is, say, an interior, as this one is, think of the spaces between objects as flat, having no depth. Put the sofa next to the girl, the girl next to the wall, the walls next to other objects in the room, all of these being SHAPES only, not really girl, wall, sofa, etc. Do not be concerned with detail and reality. If you want detail, create it in your picture space where it will do the composition the most good. (In this case, the sofa pillows, not the girl's face)

Distortion of the figure and the room interior makes this painting very persobal with the artist. turns the realistic forms into new shapes that are more challenging to the imagination. Modern painting is more concerned with what is happening on the canvas that in recording a scene or telling a story

Trends and Techniques in Modern Art by Elsa Nelson

umdersurfaces - domesticated -- a brushwork - a mind creation - forceful - free - counterpoint - transformation

realism