Sometimes, quick off the cuff works can turn out to be more interesting than my original intention. My week is very busy, and my energy levels are flagging. So, I thought I would take out half an hour and just do a quick abstract watercolour painting. I find painting with watercolurs so relaxing. I can just lose myself in the flow of water and pigment.

Using A5 sized watercolour paper, I taped three pages to an art board. I literally wet the watercolour paper, applied colour to the top and bottom, and then began to make marks. First, I used the paint brush. Then I used the end of a cuticle tool I’ve employed as a lever for art product lids. Scratching into the paper while it is still wet allows the paint to flow into the grooves.

Is it Finished?

I think these quick abstract watercolours are still incomplete. To test this, I put a pale grey matte around each of them. The middle one and the one on the right definitely need more work. However, the one on the left almost looks complete. I even have a title for it.

Here is a close-up of the painting on the left with the matte board around it. My title is ‘Growth is Messy’ because it has an air of roots and shoots growing. In these free-form paintings, I am lost in the colours and marks. My eye is drawn to the scratched marks and the way this changes the colour. This work gets me sufficiently lost in thinking about the connection of marks and colours. It may well be complete. I’ll have another look at it tomorrow. What do you think?

My Abstract Paintings

If you want to see more of my abstract paintings, you can find them here. This page is set up to collect all posts I publish about my abstract works.

Only a few of them are loaded up to my Bluethumb page, for sale. However, I intend to load more. Let me know if there is a specific painting you would like to be uploaded. Alternatively, contact me here to enquire about purchasing a work directly from the studio.