This was an interesting exercise. As my topic for magnification, I choose a photograph from the trip to Greenwich, CT, which had been part of the themed collage and painting (previous exercise). I really liked the rock formation, and thought it was a good idea to work on this because it had been the weakest element in the earlier painting.

I started out with the original photograph in portrait format and then isolated a section of it which was in landscape format. The selection process was based on intuition. I searched for an interesting and balanced composition by looking at different sections of the large photo and finally sectioned out an area in the lower middle. This section of the photo was the basis for all subsequent studies.

I started with an observational drawing in my 23 x 30 cm sketchbook, using pencil and pastels for colouring.

Overall, I made 10 paintings in two series, the first series of 6 (34 x 48 cm) and the second series of 4 paintings (33 x 43 cm). I was tempted to follow the course materials’ suggestions on ways to produce abstract paintings, but I felt it would be more beneficial for me personally if I allowed myself to struggle and find my own way.

The first painting was an enlarged watercolour painting where I focused on similarity with the original, not yet on abstraction. I used oil pastels and watercolours for this one. The next 5 paintings were aimed at working out what I considered the essential elements of the composition: The shapes of the rocks, the white areas around them, the deep black shadows, and the patches of blueish sea water, green moss and brown seaweed. I alternated between transparent wax and white or light coloured oil pastels for the white dry areas. I tried out light green vs orange oil pastels for the moss, and tried to create a brownish organic texture for the seaweed. I used washes of Sepia or Payne’s grey over the oil pastel marks for the stones. I employed indian ink to achieve real black for the shadows which wouldn’t bleed when painted over with watercolours.

In these paintings, I tried to capture the fluorescent colour effect of the moss, the layered texture of the stones, and the separation of areas within the rocks through white dry lines. I recognized the similarity of the dark shadows with Chinese Calligraphy and tried to incorporate this into the painting. I also wanted to capture a feeling of transparency, fluency and depth for the water areas.

In this series, I think my attempts at abstraction were only moderately successful. I felt I was working too close to the original which hindered me to “go abstract”. I also felt that my concern with resemblance restricted the energy that was conveyed in the marks I made. I think I got about as far as I could with my chosen approach, but I wasn’t satisfied with the degree of abstraction I had achieved.

For the second series, I chose a slightly smaller paper format and allowed myself greater departures from the original. During reflections on the first series, I had recognized that I had different qualities in my composition: The organic (seaweed and moss), the anorganic (the rocks), and the fluid (water). I then tried to focus on these essentials and to work with more energy, less restriction in the subsequent paintings.

For the first painting, I deliberately chose colours and techniques to achieve the opposed effect to the essetials I had identified: I chose blue watercolour tones for the stones and applied them in a very fluid manner so they’d resemble more water than stone. By contrast, I chose red for the water patches and applied it so that it would look very flat and like a concrete surface. The textures for seaweed and moss were made with oil pastels and look quite soft. So the first painting of this series was quite a departure from realistic depiction.

In the next painting, I took up the idea of energy and movement and got back to the “white on white” resist technique explored earlier. I wanted to use this to convey more fluidity in my depiction of the rocks. I started with transparent wax, then made energetic oil pastel marks in orange for the moss and black for the seaweed. I worked over this with ink marks for the shadows and after drying, a wash of Payne’s grey for the rocks, and dark red for the moss.

I found the different areas in that painting not coherent enough and therefore in the following painting, made an experiment with washes and wet-on-wet over transparent wax. Unfortunately the wax became covered and did not protect white areas as I had intended, but I quite like the areas where the colours mixed on the paper.

For the final painting, I chose yellow oil pastels to indicate the lighter areas and the contours within the rocks, then laid washes “wet over moist”. This time I did not use ink because I found the deep black did not integrate so well, and used only watercolour to indicate moss and seaweed.

Over the course of these 10 paintings, I think there was indeed some progression towards abstraction and I’m satisfied that I ventured into finding my personal way of doing it. I like the energy in the yellow lines and the play of colour in the washes in the last painting and think some significant abstraction has taken place, compared to the initial paintings. I also like that this painting conveys the characteristic fluidity of a watercolour painting – as opposed to the first painting which looks more like an oil pastel drawing.

To summarize, I’m glad I took the challenge of working towards abstraction following my intuition and think it is an approach I could develop further in the future. It was an interesting experience that using several media began to feel quite natural, whereas a few weeks ago I had strong objections and a sense of awkwardness when combining watercolours with other media.