Creative Fuel Challenge #5
Abstract Drawings

Raise your hand if you have ever said to yourself or someone else, "I can't draw."

The feeling of what we think we can or can't do is often the feeling that holds us back. So today's prompt is all about working our way around that feeling, by using geometric shapes and lines as our guides. 

For the most part, I am usually drawn to organic shapes. But there is something calming about working with the clean lines and angles of geometric shapes, and overlapping them together to make new ones. I find this exercise to be quite meditative, which is certainly useful given current affairs. 

I made a bunch of abstract drawings this weekend, most of them looking like I had been channeling the spirit of Hilma af Klint. If you need other abstract art inspiration for this project check out Piet Mondrian, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and Anni Albers. And here are some more artists in the realm of geometric abstraction.

Please note that I always want these prompts to involve a minimal amount of materials, to make it easy to jump right in, so this one works with just pen (or pencil) and paper. However, if you do have watercolor or other paints on hand this is a great time to get them out. I included a few links at the bottom for watercolor resources too. 



Supplies:

• Something to draw with
• Something to draw on
• Circular objects that you can trace (coffee cup, mason jar, wine bottle, etc)

Optional:

• Watercolor paper
• Ruler
• Something to color with (paint, markers, etc)

Use your circular objects to trace a few circles onto the page. You can lay these out however you want, either keeping them uniform and evenly spaced, or just tracing circles in a more organic matter. 

Once you have a few circles down, add a few lines. Maybe even add some rectangles and squares. If you want the lines to have a crips, straight edge to them, you can use a ruler, or even the edge of a thick piece of paper to guide you. 



You can stop here, or continue to build up the piece by adding shading, lines, circles, squares, stripes, or even color. Or all of the above. You can fill all of the objects in, or leave some white space.

When I made these, I limited myself to circles, lines, dots, and quick pencil markings. (Remember: constraints!)

But by now you should know that these prompts are open-ended enough for you to do whatever you feel inspired to do. 

Play around!

-Anna

You can find all of the Creative Fuel Challenge archives here. 

ps: I'd love to see what you create, so feel free to send me photos of your work, or send me what you have written. I'll try to share some of the work here and on my Instagram feed, so you can tag me @annabrones and use the hashtag #creativefuelchallenge

pps: feeling inspired? Send this email to a friend. 

ppps: remember that Creative Fuel Challenge is free and open to the public, but you can also make a donation if you are inclined/able to. 
 

More Inspiration + Resources

You can do a lot with just a pencil.

Watercolor
If you are looking to buy some watercolors, please consider supporting your local art store or other small, independent businesses. 

• I have a Winsor & Newton travel watercolor set that I have owned for many many years and just keep refilling with tubes of paint. Watercolors can be expensive and this is a good entry level set if you are considering experimenting. 
• Artist Maria Coryell Martin (@expeditionaryart) offers a variety of travel-friendly color palettes through Art Toolkit. 
• Part of the reason I had Hilma af Klint on the brain (besides the fact that her work is amazing) is that Beam Paints recently released a palette inspired by her, and had a short tutorial. Beam Paints are handmade and come in plastic-free packaging, and if you want to test their paints out they have this cool Travel Card. 
• Case for Making out of San Francisco makes beautiful paints and has an assortment of other fun art supplies. 
• Greenleaf and Blueberry makes watercolors that my good artist friend Sarah Uhl uses and the colors are stunning. 
• Judi Petite of Biohue makes inks from natural pigments, like indigo, marigold, and eucalyptus bark. I love experimenting with these. Botanical Colors has a special line of them with a whole variety of colors.