Renowned artist and teacher Jane Lazenby provided excellent inspiration and guidance by showing us that abstraction can be created in a number of ways; from pure imagination, enjoyment of colour, shapes and/or textures. Also by simplifying an existing image into its basic elements, by cropping an area of an existing picture, or by thinking of an emotional response to a memory, feeling, dream or title. Jane explained that the artist may or may not have had the finished picture in their mind as they started to paint, or the painting may have just "evolved"

Some abstracts have a geometric base, different shapes being painted alongside each other.

Landscapes are a popular choice for artists; often the sweeping hills, atmospheric skies, hedges, fences, trees and buildings lend themselves to simplification. This is often a good starting point for the amateur artist.

Colour conveys moods, which attach themselves to human feelings. We were asked to think about what the feeling is like of certain situations - what colour is it? A painting can illustrate any feeling or emotion, and many colours have an association subconsciously.

Jane reinforced the view that an abstract painting is a very personal image, both in its meaning and in its creation; there are no"rights" and "wrongs". However, good composition and balance ae important.

During the workshops we were encouraged to experiment, to let the painting evolve, to feel, to be intuitive and create our own original piece of artwork and most of all to enjoy what we were doing.

Further examples of our creative experiments.