Abstract English Gardens

Clouded Foliage, watercolor, copyright Nina Leung, 2014

One of the most satisfying things to do in art-making is automatic drawing/painting. I did these paintings in the spirit of automatism, only I did have a subject in mind. I thought of messy English gardens before and during painting. This is how I like to paint and this is why I love to work with watercolor. Watercolor paints force speed and the flow of the water can sometimes be unexpected which makes it more fun. Before I started painting, I thought of the tradition of watercolor painting in England. The watercolor paint boxes created in the 19th Century made it possible for painters to go out and paint their landscapes outside. There's something quite romantic about that.

Geometric Country, watercolor, copyright Nina Leung, 2014

Uyghur Week: The paintings of Abdukadir Dilmurat

Ipad rendering of a painting by Abdukadir Dilmurat

This New York Times article in the Sunday paper inspired me to choose a Uyghur (wee-ger) artist from the Xinjiang province of China. I've never heard of Abdukadir Dilmurat until now, but I am quite impressed with his paintings, especially after trying to copy one of them on the ipad, as you see above. It wasn't easy! He used every color imaginable and placed those colors in very particular places. He obviously enjoys the act of painting and the feel of the paint.

Learn a bit about the Uyghur people and I think it's pretty easy to find the symbolism of the colors. Being of Turkish decent, the Uyghurs are pretty different than the Han Chinese living in the rest of China. They look different, the culture is different, they speak a different language. They even use their own time, Xinjiang time, separate from the rest of China. These differences create a lot of political unrest in the region of which one can find resonating in the abstract paintings of Abdukadir Dilmurat.

Interpretations of Vermeer's A Girl Reading a Letter.....

Interior after Vermeer, graphite and colored pencil, copyright Nina Leung 2013

 Vermeer's work is all about the interior. Women working, reading, pouring milk, conversing with others, all in a room. Usually it's the same room over and over, just slight adjustments to each. I did my own, slightly Surreal version in graphite. The light is so important in Vermeer's paintings, so I tried to do something similar. Of course, he painted right there in the very room, setting up the scene. Mine was taken from the imagination.

Abstract Interior, watercolor, copyright Nina Leung 2013

 Since I'm more an abstract artist and I enjoy finding the fundamentals of something, abstracting the interior was an obvious choice. The grid on the window, the yellow bowl, and a strange, kind of difficult composition. I actually asked Gio for advice as to what to do with the upper right corner. He told me to make squares with fireworks in them. So, that's what I did. I think it worked!

Gio's After Vermeer, watercolor, crayon, collage, copyright Nina Leung 2013

 The boys did their own Vermeer interpretation. We studied a few of Vermeer's paintings looking at a slideshow, then we followed this lesson. Gio did his completely on his own. Eamon needed a little help on his, but most of it is his own. The key with doing artwork with children is separating the project into chunks and then limiting the materials. I only allowed 2 different colored markers for the background, 3 colors of crayon for the window, and only blue for the watercolor.

Eamon's After Vermeer, watercolor, crayon, collage, copyright Nina Leung 2013