A Study of De Stijl and the Piet Mondrian style of painting

Over the years I have come across a number of De Stijl style painting in various galleries, usually by Piet Mondrian and although I understand that as an art movement the De Stijl group has an important part to play in modern abstract painting, I have never fully appreciated or gained from my exposure to this style of painting. It just seams to lack feeling or passion as it dose not provoke a reaction in me.

The De Stijl art movement developed during the first world war, Dutch artists isolated from the rest of the art world due to the Neutrality of the Netherlands during this conflict began exploring New art and founded the De Stijl art movement.  Artist such as Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg and Bart van der Leck all experimented with this style for several years.  Mondrian named the movement (Neo-Plasticism) However today we commonly refer to this artistic technique as De Stijl, meaning “The Style” which was the name of the journal published by Doesburg about Neo-Plasticism. The De Stijl philosophy proposed total simplicity and abstraction using only straight horizontal and vertical lines and limiting themselves to the primary colours, red, blue and yellow and  three primary values of black, white or grey.










A painting in the style De Stijl
#30 acrylic paint on paper
9 x 9 inches approx







As part of my ongoing study into art and the different ways to make art I added De Stijl to my list, partly as a method of discovery and understanding this particular artistic group but also to expand my own visual vocabulary and although as you can see in this piece I did not fully follow the principals of the De Stijl, I still feel that I gained a great deal from this painting.  I freely admit that I am not totally happy with the colours mixes that I made or the level of care in its execution as some of the lines are not as strait or even as they could (should) be which I feel lets down the panting in terms of composition it is however a good start and has proven that further work in this area will be of huge value.

In conducting my research I discovered a number of sources that threw a huge amount of light into the De Stijl art movement and the lives of its principal artist such as Piet Mondrian which I found very helpful and have included these links for your interest which I am certain you will find of great value.

Mondrian / Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empty Easel The De Stijl Art Movement

The tate.org

Colourful and simple abstraction

Making art dose not have to be complex or difficult! Even simple patterns or shapes can convey all the atmosphere, interest and energy required to make any painting successful. The simplistic or childish image can hold a power and intercity of colour that goes far beyond what we might expect. Colour alone has a deep and meaningful part to play in the physiology of the human mind, invoking emotional responses in individuals and this is a fact not lost on many famous artist and painters in the modern world.  The work of artists such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, Josef Albers and Henri Matisse to name a few, all understood the value and impact that colour has in its own right.

In this particular piece I chose to explore a simple arrangement of contrasting colours, being bold and decisive I worked roughly with the oil pastels smoothing and softening it with my fingers. I developed the blending further by applying some heat from a hairdryer much to my girlfriends annoyance latter I added a some white acrylic paint to the bottom as means of creating further contrast and texture and was surprised that the acrylic paint picked up some of the colour subtly tinting the white paint as I did not expect them to mix.

Although I do not normally enjoy working with oil pastels I occasionally use them for rough compositions and colour studies  I do feel that this piece dose work quite well as the texture of the oil pastel enhances this piece effectively. please leave your valued comment and let me know what you think.

A simple abstract artwork 

#29 oil pastel and acrylic paint on paper
9 x 9 inches approx

Art is an act of destruction

Making Art is in essence a process of destruction! In effect changing one image to create another means destroying the previous image. One way to do this is to distressed/damage the painting which forms number 30 on my list of simple and interesting painting ideas. In this case I splashed household bleach over Marker pen and acrylic paints. The effects where both interesting and unexpected. The bleach did not behave quite the way that I had envisioned in some places it fully bleached the paint while in others it just altered the colour or had limited effect while on the marker pen it left a brown stain of varying degrees. 
 

#23 9 x 9 inches approximately 
Marker pen and acrylic paint painted on paper





                                     
       
#24 Ink and acrylic paint on paper   
9 x 9 inches approx, Mixed-media on paper



In the piece (#24) I used Marker pen, conté crayon, charcoal, acrylic paint, oil pastel and bleach. In the areas that I applied conté crayon or charcoal I found that these media did not adhere to the surface, remaining lose and unstable.  Like  #23 I had made a decision to distress the paint with bleach, which had some unexpected results. The bleach is difficult to control as the effects are uneven and varied but interesting and worthy of further investigation.

Note: the bleach not only affected surface but permeated through to up to 5 sheets of paper below altering the colour and texture of the paper itself.

please leave a valued comment which is always appreciated thank you!

Black marker pens for sketching

#14
Modern abstract mixed-media artwork, 9 x 9 inches approx
Acrylic paint, maker pen, charcoal and sketching crayon/pastel on paper

I have often used Black marker pens for sketching and exploring ideas in line and form as it is both a liberating and restrictive media that forces you to develop confidence and consider the value of the single line or mark in art.

In this case I used Marker pen over acrylic paint.. I don’t normally use Pink as I feel that it is a cold and lifeless colour almost as bad as black.. However The black marker brought the pink alive and intensified the black…The marker pen has a glossy feel that seams to hold a thousand colours. Very interesting. I added charcoal and the pastel to look at the what else could be done … unfortunately they do not adhere to the maker pen areas well, remaining loose and dusty.. Perhaps I should try adding these while the marker pen is still wet ? If you have tried this I would very much appreciate you comments.

Franz Kline style of abstract expressionism

#10
Modern abstract painting
9 x 9 inches approx
Acrylic paint on paper

This is the second picture Painted in the style of Franz Kline. I found letting myself go the difficult aspect in this style of abstract expressionism painting.  With this painting I painted the rough form first then added the white before defining the black as an over painting… Better result, Note I did not use black from the tube but rather mixed a black and added some (lamp black) to darken it…please feel free to leave your valued comments which are always appreciated.

Numbers #7 and #8

Moving on from painting #2 which was a simple monochrome abstraction painted in cerulean blues. I felt that pink would enliven the blue, further adding dimension to an already interesting colour and pursued this by following a minimalist approach. 

Initially I intended to further develop the piece with other media however number #7 (upper left) proved reasonably successful as it stood. Number #8 (upper right) was painted immediately after #7 making a few adjustments to its minimalist composition I then added a light wash which I allowed to run down the surface and along with pencil and oil pastels. this piece feels better and more exciting as an purely abstract painting. Both pieces took less than 30 minuets each to complete which was well inside the time that I had allowed.

The observations I have made is that thinning the acrylic colour presents some difficulties. To make the paint thin enough to run dilutes the paint to much thinning the pigment, perhaps I should look at a way to reduce the surface tension either by wetting the surface first or adding some agent to increase the flow of the paint.  

What is Surface tension ?

Surface tension is the visible effect liquids have when the molecules in a liquid stick together in drops,  this is caused by the attraction of the liquid molecules to each other. Because those molecules on the edge or surface are not surrounded they attempt to withdraw creating the necessary cohesive force that make a drop rounded. Other factors such as air-pressure and gravity also have an effect on this physical property.

In most cases it is unnecessary for the artist understand the science, although knowing of this affect can work to the advantage of the artist in creating some interesting effects. Paints be they oil, water or tempera are all liquids and are subject to this molecular attraction. However, often when the liquid has evaporated the artist is left with a residue of pigment that can often appear inverted rather than convex as a drop looks when wet.