A touch of abstract design will greatly improve your compositions
I put a lot of emphasis on abstract design in my work, even though it might seem to be a representational painting. An abstract design is much more interesting if it incorporates point, line, and mass shapes in its design.
I often use brushwork expressively to represent different objects in a shorthand way. If you do this effectively, you can incorporate the point, line and mass shapes into your compositions just by using brushwork, and so gives your painting a more abstract design to make your painting much more interesting to look at.
Abstract design tip
If your painting has calligraphic (like script handwriting) shapes in the middle of large mass shapes, paint the mass shape first thinly and then superimpose the calligraphic shapes using a small brush and an impasto stroke.
Do This
In this example you can see a variety of points, lines and massed shapes.
Avoid This
This painting consists of only massed shapes and so is not so interesting as the painting on the left.
More examples of abstract design representational paintings
Here are some more of my paintings where I used point, line and mass to add an abstract quality to the artwork. It is much more interesting than capturing the subject in an entirely realistic way, because it makes the viewer’s eye have to do more work and therefor be more involved in the painting.
For more information
For more information see the Brushwork lessons in the Apprentice Program.
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to get free painting tips by email, please sign up for my free tips newsletter.
If you are interested in a structured approach for learning how to paint, take a look at my online painting classes.
Happy painting!
Barry John Raybould
Virtual Art Academy
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Five star rating from me for Virtual Art Academy (VAA)! I retired last year, and decided I wanted to spend my time in retirement learning how to oil paint. But having never painted before, I wasn’t even sure what to look for in an online painting course. However, I did some searches for “Best Online… Read more “It is wild to see how much I am learning in this course!”
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I wanted to get a comprehensive art education with the freedom to work at my own pace. I’m several years into the curriculum and I feel like my work has drastically improved. I’ve found holes in my knowledge that I didn’t know I had. Critiquing other students posts and reading their feedback to mine has… Read more “comprehensive art education”
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An excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting
I never had formal training in painting and my style has always been very realistic, slow and not at all artistic, just a copy of a photograph. When I got word of the course available through Virtual Art Academy, I was very excited for the opportunity to learn what I never knew about painting. VAA… Read more “An excellent foundation on so many aspects of painting”
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After weeks and even months of searching YouTube, “googling” and spending a fortune on art instructional books I finally came across the Virtual Art Academy®. When it comes to purchasing online I am always very careful how I spend my money. Especially when I already spent a small fortune on art books. They always seemed… Read more “Barry gave me a fishing rod so I can catch my own fish”
No need to buy expensive art books…. Just do the VAA 4 year course. I still refer to it
I finished the VAA course a few years ago, but always refer to the notes, rereading the course many times. This is not a course the day you are finished, you are done. No, you keep practising the assignments getting better and better over time. When I look back at my work when I had just… Read more “No need to buy expensive art books…. Just do the VAA 4 year course. I still refer to it”
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I like the understandable way you explain your work.