Abstract art gives learners an opportunity to create for the sake of creating. It’s a wonderful skill for expressing one’s self, and developing as a creative. It also allows artists to developers their own unique style.

In this ongoing class, we will explore abstract art. There are many different approaches to abstract art, so every week we will focus on a different prompt, method or medium.

Art classes usually teach artists to paint and draw realistically. This is wonderful. I actually teach many of these classes. However, I find abstract art to be wonderful in different ways. It is more experimental and usually more forgiving than traditional art. It allows artists to be more free and expressive with artwork, and this allows artists to embrace imperfections, experiment, play and create in a completely different way. Mistakes can be embraced and even celebrated. It also helps learners explore and learn new mediums, and develop as a more well rounded creative/artist. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!

This class is wonderful for artists of all experience levels. No, artistic experience is required to take this class. Never held a paintbrush, that’s ok! Learners with more artistic experience are likely to have more success… but this is not always the case. Sometimes learners who have lots of technical art training actually struggle with abstract art because it deviates from traditional methods and from representational art. This was my personal experience. When I started creating abstract art I really struggled with the change, but now I absolutely LOVE IT!  

Here is a list of the different topics techniques or prompts we will be focussing on every week. 

Week of May 6: scribble start.  (materials: pencil, pen, colour optional)
Week of May 13: Blind Contour drawing (materials: pencil, pen, colour optional)
Week of May 20: Automatic drawing. Let your mind wander onto the page. (Materials, drawing supplies)
Week of may 27: Cubism (materials: pencil, pen, colour optional)
Week of June 3: Texture (acrylic paint and related materials plus found objects from home recycling)
Week of June 10: Shapes (materials are open)
Week of June 17: Line (ink, pencil, eraser)
Week of June 24: Expressionism (materials are open)
Week of July 1: no class
Week of July 8: Contrast (materials are open)
Week of July 15: Colour (acrylic paint and related materials)
Week of July 22: Stamping (paint or ink and found objects)
Week of July 29: Acrylic paint exploration (acrylic pint and related materials) 
Week of August 5: Watercolour paint exploration (watercolour paint, paper, brushes, paper towels, blowdryer, painters tape)
Week of August 12: Ink exploration (markers, ink pens and or ink wells (liquid ink)
Week of August 19: Paint with things from your kitchen (found objects and paint of your choosing)
Week of August 26: Minimalism (materials are open)

Week of sept : Blind Contour drawing (materials: pencil, pen, colour optional)
Week of sept 10: Cubism (materials: pencil, pen, colour optional)
Week of sept 17: Shapes (materials are open)
Week of Sept 24: Line (ink, pencil, eraser)
Week of October 1: Expressionism (materials are open)
Week of October 8: Texture (acrylic paint and related materials)
Week of October 15: Rolling objects with ink and/or paint
Week of October 22: Non-dominant hand drawing
Week of October 29: Loose contour drawing

November and forward 
- Music guided art
- Collage
- Architecture inspired
- Portrait inspired
- Animal inspired
- Floral inspiration
- Landscape inspired
- Distorted perspective
AND MORE TO COME