James McNeill Whistler - Nocture in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket

Abstract art for the Artist in you … 

Abstract art is all about the individual expression of the artist, however, there are a number of techniques and ideas that can help you to enhance your work. Novices and new comers to this field can learn these techniques and then develop their own unique style. 

Although abstract art paintings are “abstract”, as the word implies, most of them have some kind of a central theme. Moreover, since they are a reflection of the artist’s mind, they need to be expressive. Like authors use their books, and singers use their songs to communicate their viewpoint and ideas to the world, so does an abstract artist. If you feel passionate about an idea, you can create something that has a dramatic and emotional appeal. 

The difference between an abstract and a painting is that in the abstract the artist either over simplifies the subject or makes it more complex by using shades, colors and lines. You can use nature as your theme and create some kind of a mystery theme. For inspiration, it is a good idea to look at some masterpieces and other artist’s work. You can start with drawing elemental shapes and then blend in the colors. 

For a painter, colors are like the life’s-blood of paintings. Yellow, green, red, and blue are milder colors and bolder colors like orange, bottle green, dark brown black, cadmium red and crimson red create beautiful works of art. Shapes like ovals, triangles and circles can be used to create a scientific themed abstract. The various faces and forces of nature can be depicted by contracting colors and opposition. 

Art is all about inspiration and purpose. Like all creative arts, such as music and dance, abstract art is all about using its rules to learn the basic techniques and then breaking those rules to create your own masterpieces. Like Picasso once said, “There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality”.