The Seven Gates - Abstract Series

You may have noticed on my website that I've recently taken a slight departure from my usual detailed paintings and gone for something more minimalist. I've been forced into this by the fact that my hand can't cope with day after day of fine detail work and - prepare yourself for a technical medical term - has decided to get all hurty. The word 'forced' makes it sound like a bad thing, but while I love painting details, I've really enjoyed doing something different.

I decided to base seven abstract paintings on the paintings in my main 'The Seven Gates' series. You could think of my detailed work as intricately programmed techno and the new abstracts as my minimalist ambient works, if you're into that type of thing. This first one is the companion to 'Descent From Möbius Wood' (see above). It is based on the same idea of the inescapable nature of depression and how it is always lurking in the background ready to pounce when guards are lowered.
 
I started just messing around with shapes and lines in Photoshop to get across the feeling of being alone, lost and drawn towards something not in the least bit pleasant. These are some of the stages I went through:

I've found lots of things about this new series exciting: the difference that moving a line slightly makes to the feel of a painting, the ability to be looser with the paint, the chance to complete a piece of work in one week and being able to develop new techniques. I've already tried three new methods that I can use in my main series so there will be a certain amount of cross pollination.

Technique #1: Adding washes and then sprinkling on salt. It leaves a really interesting texture.

Technique #2: Putting paint on thickly in lines and letting it dry for five minutes, then wiping away any paint that hasn't dried with a wet brush. This leaves very fine lines where the paint has dried.

Technique #3: Painting many layers of thick paint and after drying, scratching away areas with a craft knife to reveal the layers below. Again, this gives a great texture. I noticed this technique while making this painting but there isn't evidence of it in the finished piece. Fear not it will make an appearance in future works. I've got some other ideas up my sleeve too as each painting will get looser and more fragmented. 

In the planning and painting stages I listened to music to help me get the right feeling in the brush strokes. I has a playlist of tracks that fit the emotion I was trying to get across. The main track I used was 'Endorphin' by Burial.

 
When I'd finished, I tried some different crops and it came down to a choice between the painting at the top of the post and this one:

I possibly liked this one more on an aesthetic level but it felt too forceful, the top diagonal pushing the viewer down too quickly, whereas the one I went for has a greater feeling of space and drifting towards the inevitable conclusion.

So despite being forced into it, painting abstracts is something that I'm going to keep doing. (I'm really looking forward to doing the next one which will allow me to actually use colour! I'm so used to painting greys this will be a real treat.) I may alternate between detailed and minimalist to give my hand a break, even when it's better. If you're an artist too then trying something different may also excite you and feed into the work that you are more familiar with. Give it a go. 

If you've any comments about this painting or about branching out and trying something different then please leave a comment below, I'd love to know your thoughts.

To return to my website where you can see a larger version of this painting, click here.