Back from work travel and I found a few hours in my studio and at the computer working with my photo images of what I am willing to share in this conversation today.

First, the one below is one of the original tri-colored backgrounds I posted last week compared to the painting that emerged from it last weekend. The cat found its way into this painting; but, that was not where I was headed with it. I like the colors remaining from the background. I am not sure I like the buff face. Maybe that color is too warm for this painting. I think you can see what I used from the original where I'd carved lines in the wet paint that I emphasized in the painting.

Next, you can see I found a face in this original background and maybe only the mouth remains in the translation to the woman with the wild and wonderfully colorful hair. Neither of these looks finished to me and I've decided to let them sit for awhile.

While I wait for the two pieces above to find better resolutions, I created the next one yesterday after applying mixtures of magenta, aqua, white, and black tube acrylic randomly to gessoed paper. I used a stencil to get the circles at the bottom. I tend to avoid stencils because they look too predictable. But, this application brought stray pieces of color that maybe give it a more handmade look. 

I will let this one sit, too, since I am tempted to do something to tone down the horizontal lines in the lower right side and I'm not sure it is necessary. It's also very pastel, more like the horizontal bands piece I created a few weeks ago and posted to this blog; but, it might take further muting of the aqua and magenta colors. I do like the strong gray-black shapes...a different approach for me.  I think it is different. Helga, you always seem to find patterns in my work that I don't pick up on. Do you see anything familiar with this abstract painting? Where does this painting take your eye? Anyone want to comment on that? Maybe the vertical blue block in the upper left should be toned down a few notches. My eye keeps drifting over there and there is nothing to look at. Thoughts on that? Or...should I paint over the whole thing and start over? By the way, this is on 8" x 8" watercolor paper.

Any thoughts on whether my abstract work is something to keep working on or should I stick with work that is a bit more representational? I am NOT a fan of photo-realism for my work, though I have made very tight botanical watercolor paintings that are framed and hanging in my house and friends' houses. I feel a need to loosen up now and let my paintings be more expressive (and 'fun' not funny). 

-Eileen