"I don't know why, but I love this!"

“Keep It Coming” - acrylic on 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper, 12”x9”

Have you ever found yourself in a conversation with a friend and one of you says this about an art piece you are looking at? Perhaps you’ve thought this very thing, “Man, I don’t know why….but I love this. I can’t take my eyes off of this”! That was me five or six years ago when I started noticing particular abstract works. As a representational painter for the past twenty-five years, it was a bit hard to admit that to myself. I felt like I was betraying my training (though actually, my training had prepared me well to ‘see’ and to ‘understand’ art. period. It took me long enough to act on this though….last year I finally decided to act on this, and enter a mentorship with Amira Rahim. What I was thrilled to find was that all those previous years of learning had prepared me quite well. The teaching I had been doing had also prepared me well to enter the role of learning and exploring again as well.

I know that the new skills and design ideas I’ve learned recently, combined with the previous two decades of knowledge - served me well in teaching my recent “Exploring Abstracts in Acrylic” class. One of my students is currently in a show at the Mystic Seaport Museum - and has called me today to tell me she had sold all four of her paintings she had entered! I’m so proud of her!!! And thrilled to confirm that these teaching methods work!

Some of you might be thinking, “Well, I don’t know if abstracts are my thing, I just don’t get it”. My response is a polite giggle….I’ve thought that myself in the past. That is until I started noticing ‘the one’ that was different. Then I started to analyze and wonder this: why are there some abstract paintings that I love, and some that leave me just, ‘meh’. It is quite similar to representational painting. You probably don’t love all subjects within the representational realm of art, true? Perhaps you just haven’t seen the ones that DO appeal to you yet.

Perhaps you’re a painter and would like to try something new? Perhaps you’d simply love to try your hand at painting, and maybe you’ve never dared to pick up a brush before. I have just the opportunity for you!

I’m inviting you to join me on Saturday, March 30th, 2019 at Cindy Steven’s Fine Art in Clinton, CT for an Abstract Flower painting workshop. You’ll go home with 2 works on paper…in a standard size, so you’ll be able to find a ‘ready-made’ mat and frame to hang it in your home! Materials are provided, so it’s perfect for you - whether you’ve never painted before - OR you work in another medium and want to find out what all the excitement is about!! There are a few seats left - you’ll want to call and reserve your spot right now!!

Cost of the workshop is $55 + a $5 materials fee.

Location: Cindy Stevens Fine Art, 30 E. Main St. Clinton, CT

Time: 1-4pm

Phone: 860-304-1666

“Simply the Best”, 12”x9” acrylic on paper