What We Learned About Abstract Painting at the March 11 Member Meeting

If you couldn't make it to the March 11th member's meeting with acrylic painter Pat Moseuk, here's a brief summary on what we learned about abstract painting. Pat showed us some of her work and passed out painting materials and some diagrams of classic composition designs.

Pat gravitates toward geometric shapes in her work and she always mixes her paints rather than using them straight out of the tube. Her composition begins with black and white, then she combine color choices with light and dark tones to create harmonious shades in each painting. She rarely relies on brushes, using almost anything but, including old credit cards, palette knives and spatulas, cardboard, paper towels, and a variety of found objects to stamp patterns. These materials include bubble wrap, styrofoam, bottle caps, anything that can create interesting shapes with paint on a substrate. Pat will often write into wet gesso or paint and incorporate her handwriting in the final design.

After showing us some of her techniques while painting her own work, we were inspired to create some mini artworks on 5x7" panels. We had plenty of painting and mark-making materials for black & white practice works, including papers for collage. It was a fun and non-intimidating dive into abstract concepts and the results were completely varied and impactful, even at such a small scale. Thank you to Pat for sharing her process so generously. You can find her beautiful work on her website.

We also had time for the Mini-art Show (see winners below). Our next members' meeting will be Tuesday, May 13 with CAA member Pat Viera, who will lead a collage project. Hope to see you there.

Mini-art Show winners - Anamilena Ayala (2nd), Christopher Pickslay (1st), Lisa McElroy (3rd)