Exercise - Abstract Illustration

For this exercise, we had to listen to piece of music by one of four artists – George Gershwin, The Gypsy Kings, Beethoven and Miles Davis.

I chose a piece by The Gypsy Kings called ‘Bamboleo’, an interesting song with an upbeat tempo, guitars, and hand claps, suggestive of flamenco music and dancing.  The song itself originates from a Venezualan folk song, before being turned into a hit by the Gypsy Kings.

Before I started actually working on the image, I listened to the music a couple of times while I gathered the media I wanted to work with, so I could familiarize myself with the dynamics of the music, and relax with it.

I felt that I should use something brightly coloured to work with, so I chose acrylic ink and a paintbrush, and picked 6 colours, yellow, red, orange, blue, green and purple.

I worked with the music several times and produced four images, then I taped a square area on each that I felt I could develop further, but I chose attempt number 3 to work with.

I chose the adjective ‘Festive’ as I felt that this is what it suggested to me, festivals, carnivals, dancing, music, party time, especially Spanish festivals.

I listened to the music while I worked on my final image, I used the same media again, but I wanted to create a greater depth to the image, and the more I listened to the music the more I was able to do this.

I continued to use the acrylic ink, but I introduced more shapes, using some of the original marks I had made, but making the colours more representational.

This is what I wanted to convey:-

Yellow/Orange –  heat of the Mediterranean sun, flowers and festival flags.

Blue – the colour of the sea

Red – The warmth of the sun, festival flags, flamenco dancers dresses.

Green – Fireworks, green grass, festival flags

Purple – Night time, when the party really starts.

In conclusion I enjoyed this exercise, I experimented with the acrylic ink, which I have not used before, and created something using music I would not normally listen to.

I know that there is not a right or wrong answer with this exercise, it is more about how we can be inspired to work, and the results that come from it.

I have looked at two different artists, whilst doing this exercise, Jackson Pollock, an abstract expressionist painter, and Archan Nair, a visual artist and illustrator.

Jackson Pollock used drips and splashes of paint for his work, whereas Nair uses more modern techniques using computers to produce his work.

Both of these artists have produced wonderful abstract pieces of work, and I like both of them, but I do prefer to work in a more traditional way, with paint, ink, brushes etc.