When I was an art student, many moons ago, I hated abstract art. Back then, I believed that art required skill to be ‘good’. I thought that art was a craft that needed to be honed and developed. Abstract artists, in my opinion, just threw paint around a canvas and talked a load of rubbish. By working in this way, they were reducing talent and mastery to instant, disposable nonsense. In fact, I wrote a poem in my sketchbook back in 1979 that went:

Abstract art’s a load of fart,

Don’t know why they call it art.

It took a lot of practice; a long journey of making art over many decades, before I changed my mind. Over time, I realised that I did not have to represent forms literally to capture their essence. In fact, more often than not, when I did let myself go and gave myself over to instinct and gesture, my work improved.

In addition, I realised that it was nigh on impossible to capture certain aesthetic qualities using purely representational methods. Depicting emotions is an example, movement is another. And, when I began working abstractly, I felt freer, more relaxed and enjoyed my art much more. These days, I love switching between both disciplines. And, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from doing abstract art, is that it’s a lot harder than it looks to do it well. So, I’ve changed my poem now to:

Abstract art is rather fine,

Wish I knew it at the time.

Here are some examples of abstract work I’ve produced. I hope you enjoy them, and don’t forget to hit like, or comment on your own artistic journey.

Please contact me if you’d like to use any of my images, I’m usually happy to oblige, so long as it isn’t for a paid for publication or profit-making organisation (in which case we could negotiate a fee). If you’d like a print of any of my work, just ask in the comments below.