It’s a valid question.
What is this anyway, all marks and color fields, I don’t see any images?
I didn’t understand contemporary art until I learned how to appreciate it. And it’s worth the effort. It is the vehicle through which I found my artistic voice and came into my own as an artist.
Abstract Expressionism (AE) is an American art movement that started in the 1940’s. You’ve likely heard of many of the male figures in this movement, Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko for instance. There was also a whole bunch of very talented women in this movement. It was one of the first movements in which women eventually got some, although limited, recognition. (We will talk about some of them in Abstracted Emotions).
Simply stated, it is the expression of emotional reactions to events or a visual description of the artists inner emotional life.
Sound familiar? Isn’t this exactly what art journaling is? The difference is that images are not employed or distorted to an extreme extent.
So how how can this be helpful in my creative expression, you ask. I believe very purpose of art is to arouse an emotional response in the viewer. Have you noticed that the pieces that really move you are honest and personal? AE is exactly that. It is a visual expression of the artists inner self. Practicing this skill can only make your art more evocative and moving to the viewer.
The beauty of this type of expression is that while it is extremely personal, it is not really exposing to the artist. The viewer may sense turmoil, for instance, in a piece but has no way of knowing what the personal story is behind that emotion. What happens instead is that they project their own experience onto the piece. It may help them with their own personal expression or speak to their soul about their own experience. Isn’t this why people look at art?
A study of AE will also inform your other work by, for example, improving your skills in composition and color theory. It will help you make more interesting backgrounds for your representational work. It will expand your artistic horizons.
Guest post by:
Robin Sturis 
Woot woot- it's Give Away Time
***This Giveaway is now closed ***
Thank you to all who entered - the winner drawn is Ronda Conley- yay and welcome.
To launch our new workshop Abstracted Emotions with Robin Sturis, we are giving away two places on this gorgeous workshop- one here on the blog and one over at Insta.
To Enter just share this Giveaway on Facebook and let us know in the comments.
I will announce the winner here on the 27th of October .
For extra entries (be sure to let me know in the comments):
☆ share this competition on other social media places such as your blog, twitter, pinterest, google, or other social network platform & leave me a comment telling me where.
☆ Pop on over and enter the Instagram giveaway
☆ comment on this post HERE
Good luck
