Four Abstract Seasons

Four Abstract Seasons

I’d like to share a set of intuitive paintings I worked on in September 2016, which consists of four diptychs. As in my previous set of studies titled “Marks on Large Greens“, I continued with the mark-making approach for the backgrounds. However, in this set, I allowed some geometric shapes to extend across each diptych, thus connecting the two paintings. The addition of some straight lines also allowed me to balance the busy textures and marks of the backgrounds. For these four diptychs, I chose four different colour schemes inspired by the Canadian seasons, hence the title of this intuitive painting set.

The pale yellows and beige bring the late Canadian spring to mind, with the snow quickly melting away and exposing the yellow grass from the year before.

Colourful greens represent the summer, but fall brings the most vibrant colours by far. As a European, I had never seen such vividly coloured foliage before moving to Canada.

And last but not least (as it is the longest season in this northern climate), icy tones of blue depict the cold and harsh winter.

In these studies, I incorporated many elements which I currently play with in my sketchbook on a daily basis. For this set in particular, I explored the use of short lines painted with a brush to create loose shapes and patterns. I also used complimentary colours to accentuate the overlapping areas of the geometric lines.

Lately I’ve been reading up on colour theory and I find myself incorporating some of the theories I learned. Stay tuned for my next post of intuitive paintings in which I explore analogous colour schemes.