Untitled abstract by Henri Bauholz.
You may have seen some evocative abstract paintings at your local art museum or art gallery. Most likely, they were completed on a large canvas and had a nice frame that outlined the painting. However, the best way to begin learning about abstract painting is not with a large canvas and some oil paint, but rather with a pencil and a small drawing pad.
Instructions
1. Open your drawing tablet (6 by 8 inches or larger) and start drawing geometric shapes on the first page using a graphite pencil. Just draw the outline of the shape with your pencil. You can draw squares, circles, triangles, rectangles or irregular shapes. Feel free to erase any shape that you don't like.The idea here is to create many small shapes that fill the page.
2. Fill your drawing book with many drawings. The drawings should be done in a manner similar to that described in Step 1, yet each one will look different. Draw the different shapes close together, but study the spacial relationship of each shape with the next shape, as well as the rest of the blank page.
3. Choose a drawing that you like. You can fill the entire drawing pad with pencil drawings or you can just create a few. The point is to make more than one drawing before you begin painting.
4. Pick a color of acrylic paint (you can also use tempera, gouache or casein) and place a small amount on a clean palette. Then, add a dab of white right next to the paint. Blue is a good choice for your main color, so for this example, pick blue. Then add two dabs of complementary paint to the palette. For the color blue, purple and green are good choices for secondary colors.
5. Paint each shape a different tint of your main color. If you chose blue, paint each shape a different shade of blue. Different shades can be obtained by mixing the blue paint with the white, green or purple. Don't forget to add a little water to help mix the paint.
6. Fill in the spaces between each shape with a blue shade of white or any color that you desire. The white is just a suggestion, but blue shapes against a white background might be a nice combination to begin with.
7. Clean your paintbrushes with soap and water.
