At the water’s edge (6)

This seaweed ‘picture’ (‘The White Knight’) is exactly as observed at low tide – nothing added an d nothing taken away (except the sand!) The colours have been changed to highlight the contrast. Other titles/interpretations are obviously possible.

Just think about it again (2)

‘Abstract paintings and drawings [and photographs] tap into a fundamental, primitive part of our existence  –  the part that experiences life without words, beyond language, transcending definition.’    Art is Fun

Just think about it again (1)

‘Photography is not what’s important.  It’s seeing.  The camera, film, even pictures, are not important.’

‘The world is so full of beauty and meaning that there is enough of it for everybody to explore, to relish and to transform, each in his own way.’

Both quotations are from Algimantas Kezys

 

Abstract ‘Fly me to the moon …’

Last night I had a dream ……

Abstract ‘The Chase’

This abstract is derived from a clump of red seaweed.  The shape of the clump has not been changed in any way but a fewpatches of colour have been added to suggest the riders.

Points of view

The first picture is a (colour exaggerated) photograph of light reflecting from the ripples produced by the wake of a swimmer in a swimming pool.

 

The second picture is the same image rotated ninety degrees anticlockwise  –  but,interestingly, it seems to take on the appearance of a grazing animal!   There is a moral here  –  something about appreciating that on many occasions there is more than one point of view!

Dreamworld

Abstract 128 revisited

I like this picture, a lot!  In fact, it is one of my favourites.  And yet it was created from a mistake.  I was actually trying to photograph a cobweb, but my little compact was set on Auto and was unable to detect the web.

I tried every Photoshop trick I know (that doesn’t take long!) in an attempt to ‘find the web’, all to no avail.  But then I realised I had something far more interesting.  I zoomed in on part of the image and this abstract was the result.

So what attracted me?  Why do I find this picture so satisfying?

The obvious magnet was the strong contrast between the blues and the golds and the patterns they created.  There seemed to be a tension between the two  –  the calm of the blue and the energy of the gold.  It was something akin to night time on a camp site at a pop festival!

I also felt a spatial awareness  –  a sense of environment.  I could physically move around.

The association with music intrigued me.  I wondered what music might be used to accompany the picture  –  in the manner of film music  –  and acknowledged that the viewer’s perception of the picture could be influenced by the choice of music.  For example, Debussy’s Clair de lune would reinforce the mood of night time stillness; the sinister, threatening mood of an impending attack on an enemy could be suggested by an extract from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring; a gradual change from the one mood to the other by using Ravel’s Bolero, and so on.

By definition an abstract image does not give specific answers.  It invites the viewer to use whatever connections, experiences or strategies he/she finds helpful.  I’ve suggested a few  –  pattern, contrast, colour, spatial awareness, sense of environment, sound, association with music, emotional response.  Above all, abstracts don’t have to tell a story.

[Use the link to read the responses of Elena and Gigi to the original post:  Abstract 128]