A request for those who appreciate abstract art . . . .

[ET Awful]

Need some input on a recent experimental piece. So far I've gotten a good response, but I want more opinions :). Don't be too cruel.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. Not bad at all

I grew up in a house full of abstarct art and this is pretty decent. It "moves." To skeptics out there, contrary to popular belief, this stuff is pretty hard to do well.

[ET Awful]

3. Thanks :)

Like I say, this was more experimental than anything else, mostly for the textures (some pretty thick layering of paint and so forth to give it depth, you can see the peaks and shadows and so forth if you look closely).

Much appreciated :).

[TrogL]

2. It doesn't really go anywhere

It's well crafted, it has nice balance in texture, colour and form but that's half the problem. It doesn't really say anything to me.

Hope that isn't too harsh.

[ET Awful]

5. Not too harsh at all. . . no worries :) n/t

[Spinzonner]

4. Sorry, can't help you

I'm a Pointlessist myself.

[rock]

6. What'd you call it?

It helps me to appreciate it (even if it is abstract).

[ET Awful]

7. I really haven't called it anything yet . . . :)

Thus far, it remains untitled, to be honest, I'm not even sure it's "finished" yet.

[rock]

8. Well, it is pretty good

But I'm not an expert.

[ET Awful]

9. hehehe . . neither am I :)

Perhaps, in light of recent events, I should call it . . .

Ode to a Reaganectomy :) :) :)

[Solly Mack]

33. or simply "Frenzy"

I like it. ..the painting, that is. :)

[MuseRider]

10. I like it.

I have several pieces in my home that I bought simply because the texture, through depth of media or use of color, intrigued me. I like the movement of the yellow however it is so difficult to judge from a picture online. I like it. I know nothing about art, only what captures me.

[ET Awful]

11. Thank you! That's exactly what I like to hear. . .

That's entirely my intent with my paintings. . . not to attract those who are "experts", but those who are moved or captured by the images.

If you like texture and so forth, you'd really like this one up close (along with another one I'm currently working on in the same colors, but different "patterns"). There's a LOT of texture that doesn't really come through in a photograph. The flash on the camera kind of detracts a bit. If you look at this under overhead lighting, it has some really interesting shadows that the peaks in the paint cast on itself :).

[gWbush is Mabus]

12. i love abstract art

Re yours:
I would have prefered just the background (red, yellow, and orange)
That background is awesome!
the dark lines look a little unprofessional though (to me, no offense)

For a title: how about "In Search of an Egg"

[ET Awful]

13. Thanks . . .

I loved the background as well, but I felt like something was missing.

The dark lines were just a furtherance of expirementation. I don't know about "unprofessional," but I do have my doubts about whether they "belong."

It just didn't feel finished before them, but did afterwards if that makes sense.

[Spinzonner]

15. Dont think they're going to be too successful

Looks like menses in full bloom there

[ET Awful]

16. BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thanks for the first real laugh out loud wisecrack of the day :).

I have people looking in my office door now wondering why I'm laughing.

[m-jean03]

18. lol -- my first thought, too :-) n/t

[chaska]

14. I like what's there...

but I need more. It doesn't take me anywhere. I want to be directed around the canvas to this or that focal point.

[ET Awful]

17. I know what you mean. . . .

I think this may be one of those paintings that just sits around for a while, and one day it'll strike me out of nowhere exactly what it needs to be "complete." It feels somewhat complete now, but . . . I don't know, I understand what you're saying though.

[m-jean03]

19. Hey, I like it!!

It's nice. :-)

[ET Awful]

21. Thanks!!!!

:)

So far overall it's gotten good response and constructive criticism. I have yet to find anyone that just flat out hates it :)

[m-jean03]

25. I can't think of anything "deeper" to say . . .

. . .As I'm not an art student. :-)

But it's easy on the eyes and cheerful -- I think it would only do good things for a space.

There is that subliminal "sperm" thought that crosses my mind, however . . . :P

[ET Awful]

26. Hehehe. . .

You just reminded me of a scratchboard picture I have . . .

I'll photograph it at some point and post it. The artist called it Fertile Eyes.

It's this really cool picture that looks like millions of sperm cells making a beeline for an egg until you step back and it looks like an Eagle's eye. It's a VERY cool picture.

The guy did it with ink on poster board, then scratched the ink away to make the image, then he enlarged them on giant size newsprint paper. I'll try to remember to post pictures tonight.

[ET Awful]

28. This is the picture I was referring to earlier. . .

Sorry for the size, but you need to see some of the detail. All of the black specks are sperm cells when looked at up close.



Unfortunately, the original I have is yellowed with age, I removed color in Photoshop for this image. I wish it was still white like this.

[m-jean03]

31. Hmm. . .

A real tribute to male fertility, eh? :P

[ET Awful]

35. Hehehe

The artist that did it says he just came up with the idea through a fluke of conversation when someone said fertilizer and he misheard the word and the idea just developed from there.

:)

[orthogonal]

20. Watermelon!

It's a cross-section of a watermelon, with some of the seeds stretched and distorted.

[ET Awful]

23. I hadn't seen it that way. . . .

I love how people can look at something like this and see entirely different things.

I don't actually see anything in it myself, it's more a conveyance of emotion than anything else. I'm not even sure if that's an apt description. . . maybe more a conveyance of environment and feeling. Somehow, it gives me an impression of a summer evening with a potential for rain (maybe that's just because I grew up with Arizona sunsets which are the most spectacular I've ever seen).

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. I like it...

and this may be way off your intentions in painting the piece, but it looks to me like a visual representation of the emotion of anger...that's what I think of when I look at it, anyway. A field of deep red, with furiously buzzing motes of deepest black (but then I'm prone to occasional synaesthesia...)

[ET Awful]

24. I understand exactly what you mean . . .

and though it conveys something totally different to me, before I posted it, I actually had the feeling somebody would see it that way simpley because of the colors. The "black" is actually a fairly interesting shade of blue that doesn't show too well in the photograph.

[specimenfred1984]

27. sexual reproduction comes to mind

because the black things look like sperms racing towards an egg. I'm a guy, what else would come to mind?

So, I could go on about the continuing cycle of life, feeling alive, how the piece represents the constant motion of life but I really just like the colors!

[northofdenali]

29. I'm an appreciator, not a conniseur (sp?)

It would easily hang on my wall. I like the textures and the randomness, and especially the colors.

[ET Awful]

30. Thank you! :)

[Lorien]

32. Well, I can try

I've got a BFA and have been employed as an art instructor, but Illustration is my specialty, not abstract art (the same "rules" apply to most art forms-if there is such a thing as rules in art). I grew up in a house full of Juan Miro, among others. My parents are big fans of abstract art.

I almost want the dark blue elements to be either more symmetrical in application, or more random in both placement and size. I can't tell if there's a gradation in the background values from the upper left to the lower right, or if that's just an effect from the photo. Generally, the 'rule of three" applies in most composition; dominant element, subordinate element(s), and accent. Just something to think about.

Overall, I like it; it just needs a little "punch" IMHO. I wish I had more to offer; abstract art is very challenging to pull off in a way that is accepted by a marjority of critics.

[ET Awful]

34. I agree that it needs "punch" . . .

I just haven't been able to put my finger on what that "punch" would be :(

[Lorien]

36. Well, the red Field is your dominant element

the dark blue-when seen as a whole- is your subordinate element. What about accent? Maybe a bit of medium value, high chroma blue? Maybe a place on the painting with more concentration of the yellow used in the background? Maybe an area of deep blood red? Maybe a thin white line running horizontally across the top, two or three inches from the top edge?. Just a few ideas...

[ET Awful]

37. Hmmmm. . .

definitely something I'll have to think about and revisit :).

It'll come to me eventually, I have it hanging on a bare wall right now to force me to look at it occasionally, I'm sure it'll hit me sooner or later exactly what it needs.

[buddhamama]

38. image

inside a woman's body, sperm swimming, a mixing of fluids...

i would hang this on my wall.

this is very good,imo.