Abstract Art: A Spectrum of Depth & Play

What if you could make abstract paintings and truly understand how it’s done? Often, even very competent and capable artists are afraid of abstract art: they don’t know how to start, unsure if they qualify, don’t want to appear naive– in other words, they don’t feel it.

It may come as a surprise to some of you, but representational art and abstract art are related. What you need to know in order to create one is relevant to the other: composition, balance, value, rhythm, texture, color harmony, line, silhouette, and much more. Legendary abstractionists were often evolving out of being realists, such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock. Some of them insisted on continuing being realists, like Joan Mitchell, while being known for producing purely abstract art. However, there is also a difference: with abstract art, you can accomplish certain things faster, such as silence your inner critic, get out of your head, express yourself, and discover your true voice. But the question remains HOW do you do all that?

Abstract art is an equivalent of improvisational jazz. Classic musicians consider jazz the next level up; its spontaneity, apparent effortlessness, and unrehearsed flexibility are just the deceptive impressions of ease and absence of effort. The flow of sounds without a specific tune is the result of massive experience, knowledge, and intuition developed over time and the flow based on the ability to put oneself in the state of not-thinking, heightened sensibility, passion, and curiosity, by shifting to being one’s fingers, the strings, the sounds - the state of being in the zone. To an untrained ear, improv jazz may sound like a noise, just like to an amateur, abstract art may appear as a messy canvas, as “easy art that anyone can do”. Abstraction is not about spinning your brush and hoping it lands right, it is not about throwing some paint and seeing what happens. So how is it done? Everything you need to know to create abstract art with confidence is right here in this 6-week course (12 classes).

Olya Losina has her own method of teaching abstract art. In this course you will experience the transformation of your sensation of art-making to the spiritual experience that you may not be able to find the words to describe. But we WILL talk about it and try to get the language that can express abstract art. As an artist, the only way to grow, expand, and progress is to say YES to the unknown and the unfamiliar.

This 6-week course includes 12 classes on Thursdays and Fridays.