Abstract Painting: 8-Week Online Course

Painting Techniques

The technical execution of an abstract painting is vital in terms of making it stand out from the crowd. You will learn and practise the main oil and acrylic painting techniques, which are transferrable to any other genre, for example, representational or realist painting. The techniques covered include:

• Brushwork
• Knife-Painting
• Colour Mixing
• Paint Application & Textures (Impasto, Encaustic, Glazing)
• Action Painting
• Use of Mixed Media

Developing Your Visual Vocabulary

Painting successful abstract art takes practice and an understanding of many different art elements, concepts, and principles. Unlike mimesis (i.e. copying reality), there is arguably a greater need to understand how pictures work in order to create a painting that is abstract and from the imagination.

You will learn about the key elements that make up a painting (or any picture), and how they combine to form a composition:

• Line
• Shape
• Value
• Edge
• Colour
• Texture
• Pattern
• Depth
• Perspective
• Form

This understanding and practical application will also help you formally analyse and evaluate your own work, giving it greater substance and strength.

Generating Ideas with Intent

Without a tangible subject to copy, just where and how should we begin an abstract painting? Will it be ‘art for art’s sake’ or will it be inspired by something real or imagined? This course offers a myriad of ideas, inspiration, and ways of thinking to help you generate and develop your abstract paintings, and to help you translate your thoughts and emotions into a visual art form.

Weekly Painting Assignments & Projects

Each week, you will be given a technical assignment which focuses on a specific technique and style within the Abstract Art genre. You will gain a deep understanding and appreciation for how famous abstract paintings were created by reproducing works by artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Kline, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter, and others.

Each week, there will also be a creative project where you will produce your own original work following guidelines that reflect what you’re learning on a given week and which will help to focus your work and objectives.

Abstract Art

What is Abstract Art and what makes a good abstract artwork? Alongside the technical and creative aspects of this course, you will learn about the origin and development of Abstract Art and how we define this genre. Within Abstract Art, you will be introduced to the main representatives and characteristics of its different movements:

• Suprematism
• Constructivism
• De Stijl
• Expressionism
• Abstract Expressionism
• Minimal Art
• Conceptual Art
• Post-Painterly Abstraction
• Op Art
• Neo-Expressionism
• Contemporary Abstract Painting