Steve Fleming

Artist Studio

Creative Jumpstart: Practice Color and Form

Acrylics
Jumpstarts

Take out several pieces of paper and tape into sections, choose three colors and I want you to use a big brush with no preliminary drawing.  Begin applying the paint with broad passages of color, leaving white paper around the colors and as shapes inside the color passages. Be very primitive in your composition and really vary the spaces and the position of the color try to work out a theme and explore it.  Repeat similar ideas and symbols.  In the three illustrations I am posting I was playing with a specific color theme and design idea from Robert Motherwell.  I have always loved the organic and simple forms he used and found it challenging to explore his use of flat color shapes.  Explore some of your favorite artists work focusing on the color and design ideas without copying the paintings.

22 x 30 watercolor on paper

22 x 30 watercolor on paper

1 Comments on “Creative Jumpstart: Practice Color and Form”

  1. Thanks for this interesting idea, and all those interesting jumpstarts! I’ve been reading your blog for about a month now, and I’m really impressed that you go to these great lengths to help, teach, give tips.

    I’m just learning watercolor painting and I’m really happy I stumbled across your blog, because it gives a LOT of info, and I can’t really afford any instructional videos. You have earned the greatest respect, I love your paintings, shapes, dynamics, colors. 🙂

    Greetings from Novi Sad, Serbia.

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