Maintaining Abstraction in Your Brushwork - Oil Painting Advice

[@virginiarparker9503]

You are a really good teacher. I have been following a short time but my time is not wasted. Thank you for this. I am a farmer wanting to learn how to paint my dairy goats to start.

[@jmk1202]

How are the goats? I look forward to seeing the paintings

[@sagajohansson8091]

I'm sorry, but that's adorable

[@virginiarparker9503]

Life is really hard now. So sorry

[@jrofrnds23]

@@virginiarparker9503 I'm sorry things aren't going well. I really hope they improve and that you can get back to having fun painting.

[@virginiarparker9503]

15 pg goats due starting Jan. 10.

[@mediaharlot]

I’ve been puzzled about how painters created those textured backgrounds for some time. Thank you for this enlightening demonstration!

[@SnkobArts]

Kind of reminds me of automatic drawing, or sort of a doodling mindset. In acting school they sometimes tell you to be in control of being out of control, to let your subconscious creativity show through, and I find that seems to be beneficial in all art forms.

[@juneplumthecockatiel4335]

Jacob Childers definitely

[@stephenclarke1857]

Mark , thank you for all the hard work you put into the videos and the great advice you give us . Not many , if any other painters go through the task of explaining and give free advice like you do . It has brought a lot of enlightenment to problems i have had with my paintings which would otherwise have gone without critique without someone looking over my shoulder as a tutor and guide. I suffer terrible depression which leaves me unable to paint at all for periods of time, which is very debilitating and stressful as you can imagine . But when i paint it seems to lift my mood and i can raise my game , especially as my work has dramatically improved since i started to watch your tutorials . My work is now unrecognisable in a positive shift compared to before and i am very grateful to you for this as the relief is immense . I knew i could produce good results but i could not achieve them on my own . Thanks to your advice and guidance i am now able to be proud of my work ....

[@lisengel2498]

I love when a painting has this play with making brushstrokes visible and invisible - the play of movement a a vibration and a felt rhytm - it definitely adds to the enjoyment of looking at a painting - great video and very interesting to bring the abstraction to examples of beautifull figurative painting

[@j0nnyism]

Imagine how brave it was for painters like Rembrandt moving from that high detail style to this abstract way. It permanently damaged his career yet he refused to listen to his patrons risking bankruptcy to paint the way he wanted

[@zachampsonartist]

Always a blessing whenever you upload a video! Thankyou!

[@Diozark]

The Sargent painting of the soldiers in line apparently blind was incredible! Thank You Mark For Posting.

[@downtherabbithole9143]

I’ve been trying to paint a road for 3 weeks now & just could not work out what I was doing wrong. I’d painted over it soooo many times (in acrylics). Finally I found your video & 5 mins later my road is done!!! Loose strokes. Values correct. I’m so happy, thank you!

[@BigDaddyZakk420]

Beautiful and helpful as always. I take a lot from your teaching when tutoring my students. Beginner, advanced, expert, always something new to learn.

[@doiron12]

Its fun the learn new things! It keeps your brain young!

[@petalparker5]

Excellent video coincides perfectly with a new technique I'm currently working on in which I'm trying to keep my brush moving every which way and the results have been very encouraging. My work has loosened up immediately! I was so encouraged by it I went back to a couple of old paintings that I had put aside feeling they were too tight and dead looking because of overstroking in the same direction and painted over them using the messy technique and it instantly injected life back into them. I'm sooo excited by this!

[@antoinefisichella8215]

Great tips. I started with you in this amazing world of painting. Thank you so much for sharing knowledge!

[@barnbre2]

Thank you for this. I have struggled with backgrounds.

[@JoeForrestart]

This is actually one of the most useful videos I've seen, thanks!!!

[@aaamenpreacher3]

Almost didn't watch this because I'm not into abstract paintings but I am glad I watched it, very informative.

[@baharmonyy]

Thank you so much for these incredible videos. I can’t imagine how many people you’ve helped by giving free access to your expertise and experience. I’ve learned more from your videos than I did my painting instructor of 4 semesters lmaoo

[@ElizabethBattle]

I am fascinated by the concept of using abstraction to paint realism.

[@ncaliguia]

Knowing that you can paint realistically at the drop of the hat makes this lecture even more powerful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@alibannister]

YES! Thank you! I'd been finding this a problematic area in my work. I'd been leaning more in this direction of late, but it seemed to be taking me ages, and I wasn't sure if that was a bad sign. So thank you for reassurance, and it's so helpful to see how you manipulate the paint with the brushes in real time. I will approach my painting with renewed confidence and vigour now. So happy!

[@MaryGadsby]

I can't paint or draw but you are a mesmerizing teacher so I pretend I can and watch all your videos, it makes me very happy just looking at your colors ❤️

[@ChrisBreier]

Many good points in this video! Sometimes avoid thoroughly mixing my colors on the palette so I get subtle streaks of color in my brushstrokes.

[@SebastianTinajero]

Abstraction is more expressive in my eyes, I love it so much more than over polished blending

[@eyeshowyou]

You are the best teacher on internet

[@derric0412]

I love your videos and I'm learning a lot. Thank you

[@PrincessAloeVera]

I was just starting to figure this out on my own because I really admire and study the old inpressionists works, but NOW I really GET IT! So glad you take the time to help us out in this little but big tips!! Thank you.

[@nerzenjaeger]

Very in-depth concepts displayed here. Thanks.

[@KFrogLLC95]

Your page has changed how I paint and I’m so thankful for it. Thank you!

[@rosterdam7198]

Thank you so much! I had no idea how to make the background look like the background

[@MonicaJamesFineArt]

This was enormously helpful. My paintings always have a “coloring book” quality. This approach will help eliminate that. You made it look easy and I’m sure it won’t be, yet I’m eager to try it! Thank you so much.

[@christinachwyl8166]

Wow! What top-notch advice. I will try to incorporate into my work.

[@NostromoVA]

Fantastic! I would never have believed it, if I had not seen this demonstrated, and then showing the examples of the great masters!

[@bryancoombesart]

Mark your videos are just awesome... I'm an experienced painter but have all kinds of issues I'm trying to sort out, your vids are a huge help... One aspect of this concept of painting abstractly is to do so in a way that is attractive to you, to enjoy the look of the brush-work. This is where I struggle. Striving for abstract strokes and messy work can yield shit but if you back it off a bit it's beautiful. It's a fine line indeed and its been elusive for me.

[@gary7466]

Splendid. Another valuable lesson well demonstrated and illustrated with appropriate references. Thanks for sharing as always.

[@galaxyramen29]

Thank youuuu your art is amazing

[@j0nnyism]

When you really observe the way light is reflects by most natural objects it does behave in this exact way. I think that’s why it’s increases that sense of reality in realism painting

[@ArfurFoulkesayckee]

Thank you - I was trying to understand background in in abstraction and in impasto - the painted brush work brings an abstraction to the work without having to move your main features

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Such important aspect of any painting....background...Thank you

[@AlonzoTheArmless]

Excellent video! I got a lot out of this one. As I watched you paint your background, I'd often think, "Why did you just wreck it with that blob of paint?" or "Why did you brush out that nicely painted area?" But when you were done, it all made sense and the background looked beautiful with lots of gorgeous broken color and texture. Great tip, also, on how to handle the brush by rolling it and dragging it. Thanks for posting these valuable lessons, Mark. I always look forward to new ones.

[@hasan28234]

a whole new level of explaining the theory of maintaining abstraction...many thanks

[@jasonnye6087]

This video has been a help. Something clicked with me after I watched it and applied it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@janesanchez213]

Thank you! Simple, but well explained.

[@leighwilsonartist]

Hi Mark, been watching your episodes for a while now and really enjoy how your content gets to the point with clear instructions. You have definitely been one of my inspirations and to finally start getting my work out there. Thanks Mark.👌

[@paulmax3185]

Maintaing the immediacy of your brushwork seems to be the most difficult thing to do as human beings. It was for me anyway. As people we all want to tidy things up and it was a real struggle for me to fight those tendencies. Rembrandt is someone who you can see develop over his career leaving the ways he was taught as a young man behind and becoming more. and more free and loose with his brushwork. He is my favorite when it comes to maintaining the abstraction as you put it. Great lesson and one I hope people put into practice. They will create much better work if they understand and follow your advice.

[@victoradrielarte3437]

Always learning with this canal, i love it!!!

[@kittymeekins1682]

Thanks for showing this a freeing up of approach is welcome

[@shawncantsurf2891]

Something I did instinctively. Nevertheless bringing attention to anything one does naturally helps solidify technique and style. Now all that's left is 10-15 years of devout consistency and drinking lots of turpentine the whole time- BAM! You're a master!

[@shawncantsurf2891]

PS- DO NOT DRINK TURPENTINE. YOU WILL NOT FEEL SO GOOD AFTERWARDS.

[@paulacedillo-weerasinghe6018]

This was great!!! It is something I never was taught even in the academy of fine art in Florence Italy 🇮🇹 thank you so much 😊

[@zasvedogovore]

Sorry to hear that, I always believed Florence was different from others

[@Dr10Jeeps]

Excellent advice and demonstration. Thank you!

[@Stebs_Paintings]

Excellent very helpful, I'm going to try this now.

[@gary7466]

I also immediately applied the abstract brushwork technique. Wow, it was like making a quantum leap in how to block in backgrounds, skies etc.

[@yoda12439]

I worked for an artist named Jan DeRuth back in the 70's he called that texture I stretched canvases hung light on the window and did small repairs for him I learned a lot from him and did texture for him

[@sunnyboy4553]

Thank you so much. I paint landscapes in acrylic and would like to make my style more abstract. Maybe someday you can show how an artist can start with such an abstracted background, and then add abstracted mountains, trees, water, etc.. I think Van Gogh added little dabs of the background color into his trees, mountains, houses, etc., to achieve color unity.

[@dmpgchannel]

great video, thank you. i appreciate you taking the time to actually show us your own abstraction. so powerful!

[@didierleprince6106]

You are a very good teacher... Merci 😊

[@tmasinde2420]

Thank you very much for this tutorial. It is most helpful!

[@jeffhreid]

Great video. Helps to keep a painterly loose look. I wonder if using my offhand would be helpful for this technique.

[@shawncantsurf2891]

absolutely... good idea. never know till you try it though.

[@beckyg9831]

Try the offhand! This might sound silly, but sometimes I feel like my left hand is "left out", and I will use it to paint or draw something abstract. I'm right handed but it's nice to use the left once in a while!

[@sunnyboy4553]

Great idea.

[@Delta888ful]

Absolutely, and agree with what's been said. I use my offhand at different times: when I feel stuck with a piece, when I feel stuck with myself and the blank canvas, when I want to experiment with a new medium, when I'm full of fears or self doubts, as a form of meditation, or because I want to create pieces solely with my offhand. It amazes me every time how much my offhand has a mind and style of its own. Good luck!

[@debrajol3585]

jeffhreid I think this is a great idea! My left hand doesn’t work for anything precise.. at all! But for measured semi-jerky motions this could be remarkable!! Ty for sharing ✌️✌️✌️

[@susanwong6471]

Hi Mark, thank you for the video, as always, your video always to the point!!!

[@davidekstrom9595]

Just showed this video and profoundness to my friend josh

[@Rayxl1]

What works for me is not to mix paint. In other words when I need a combination of two colours to make a finished colour I leave them separate on the brush then when I apply them to the canvas they stay very slightly separate and this gives lovely abstraction.

[@ATFstein]

Mark this is a new concept to me. What exactly is the purpose of doing this and what effect does it give that would add to realism and when is it appropriate or in what context is it appropriate to do this?

[@larrywakeman4371]

All of his portraits, including of Pres. Bush, look like a photo with NO brushwork showing, or visible, they are so blended like glass. I don't see this demonstration as something he follows in his own paintings at all.

[@jeffhreid]

Larry Wakeman if you look at Mark’s still lifes and landscapes you see this more. Also some of his portraits do make use of this approach. Look for a video that I think is called “paint ugly” or something like that. He makes a point of saying that the loose ness and abstraction are key to a certain dynamic feeling. If you prefer a very tight result abstract brushwork is less suitable for your process.

[@connordios1428]

@@larrywakeman4371 he says in a lot of his portrait commissions he uses a tight brushwork because the clients are often displeased with a more painterly or abstract brushwork, but even then if you look at the background, or really close at the hair and skin and clothing especially, you will see that the blend is more ocular as an illusion when looking from afar but up close you can always see his brushwork-somewhere-

[@cathyhunnnicutt2349]

Awesome teaching. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge of art.

[@slfanta]

Abstraction you demonstrated in this video to me is like introducing noise/randomness/extra variations to your artwork

[@1sacoyle]

Gonna give it a try. It should add a lot to even a still life. Thank you.

[@weirdspirit2507]

This was very helpful. Thank you.

[@Rae_is_Bae]

I love how your explaining when the magic happens 😃

[@paulinehughes5325]

Thank you Mark this demo was very interesting also extremely helpful to me

[@jillkama7614]

"I like to paint things that don't belong..." Perfect!

[@Lorenzconnok]

I’ve been looking for a term to describe this. Thank you.

[@LH-ro2ot]

I liked both of the backgrounds (blended and abstract)- I found both of them satisfying. 🤔

[@antonioblanco3086]

Very Helpful! thanks!

[@adhdivaspc]

Very useful thank you

[@larrywakeman4371]

The paintings of his wife don't look like this, with loose brush strokes- they are almost too dull and smooth.... I thought artists practice what they preach!

[@adhdivaspc]

@@larrywakeman4371 Thank you, but the tutorial was still useful :)

[@beckyg9831]

He has other paintings which do have loose brush strokes. He can paint loosely or tightly, depending on what the customer wants. Look at some of his other works www.markcarder.com/

[@mariocadavieco2800]

Hello, it’s a very good lesson thank you..

[@1974gladiateur]

That painting on war is amazing.

[@gerryarty8342]

Thank you Mark.. It would be nice to see how you paint something on top. The sound level is a bit low. Good wishes.

[@genjiglove6124]

Got to see 'Gassed' up close at PAFA... truly stunning work

[@thewealthofnations4827]

Painting this way is more fun I might add too

[@PrincessAloeVera]

VERY HELPFUL! THANK YOU !!!

[@mylesjordan9970]

This is exactly similar to textures in the backgrounds of many painted opera stage sets

[@cynthiahalewijn6140]

Very clear and so helpfull! Thanks a lot!

[@sttarch5150]

I think of a sky or an ocean when I do this. I'd love to see you show how you would do this with more color like the Sargent floor. I suppose if you make the areas of pure color very small you would approach pointalism.

[@stevechmilar1215]

Thank you for your videos. Is abstraction in brushwork more often than not, a result of working quickly? We know how deadlines have shaped painting techniques through the centuries. Early Renaissance art was almost devotional in its approach, being that the goal was to glorify the subject matter without leaving obvious signs of the artists handy work. The commercialization of artistic practices in the modern era I believe were responsible for the market requirements of faster rates of production. I think these factors and technique go hand in hand.

[@RobertF-]

Make the canvas look like the palette.

[@siddharthchavan1224]

😊 Hey Mark, I get Inspired and Excited when you talk about Rembrandt and Sargent. My favourite is Vermeer what do you think?

[@connordios1428]

1. Sargent 2. Velazquez 3. Carolus-Duran 4. Rembrandt 5. Vermeer 6. Repin

[@francescaminart6308]

I ❤ It!

[@coolvartika22]

Thank you, very helpful as always

[@leemitchell1587]

Laying down colors and not blending made me think of doing paint by numbers when I was a kid.

[@dr.sanjeewanifonseka1858]

great! Thank you

[@DorryRice-yn9ez]

I have just ordered your Geneva paints and Canvas stain for shipment to Canada. The stain is not available for shipment to my country. Can I just use my Cobra WMO and water to make a wash to tone the canvas and then use my Geneva paints for the subsequent painting? And if so, what colour would you recommend?

[@kathleenlairscey5934]

Thanks for demo!

[@anthonybellini8501]

Super helpful. Truly makes sense. Do you suggest that style stroke throughout a whole painting regardless of painting subject? I would like to think of it the whole way through but I’d like to know for sure throughout the work. Thanks

[@henrytjernlund]

Now even 2/3 the way in, when you have the general abstraction. I can start to see pictures and things in the chaos. They are faint and "abstract" but it's more than mere noise.

[@j0nnyism]

Hi im doing a still life struggling with light motes and particles reflected from light coming in from the window any suggestions on dealing with this sort of lighting?

[@Lanternamagika]

There was a good deal of abstraction in your first square too, indeed. Not less by any means only because you were thinking of it as plain "blending". To my eyes it was the highest "abstract" of the whole lot, actually. Think about Mark Rothko, wasn't he "abstract" enough? Just my 2 cents ... But I can also see your point, and of course agree

[@marcelohernandez3365]

Thank you!!!!

[@ampmodclips]

awesome tuts so glad you share! thank you so much :) Just one question that I can't find the answer to have you ever found when you paint a painting, it looks better upside down? If there's an answer I'd love to know because I get it all the time is it brush strokes etc.

[@doiron12]

I think when people say they like that "painterly" look its just the abstraction.

[@artinalam]

Very informative and useful ... Thank you, Mark. Adding some "abstract" quality to your background helps a lot to make your subject seems to be "in harmony". But it seems there is much more to it. I have been on the lookout for some resources on the subject since a couple of months ago and I have not found any. Are there any books or resources of any kind on abstraction the way you are demonstrating in the video? If there are, what is your recommendation?

[@BenKrisfield]

I have an old painting book about French painting. It says paint in a mosaic, painterly manner. So I'm assuming it means the same thing.

[@patrickrenschler]

thanks for sharing! In your background abstraction demo, would you feel the need to go back and make sure your canvas is completely colored - so that the burnt umber stain isn't visible? I guess it probably depends, but interested to hear how much time you'd spend patching up missed spots and if that is part of your process.

[@anastasiiashali9401]

this is priceless!!

[@dianaroigtube]

How do u clean the glass palette ?

[@johannahunderwood4596]

I think this skill is something that we have to re-learn. When we are young children we don't worry about how we add colour to a painting or an outline in a colouring book. Then the adults condition us to the concept of order, and we start to keep within the lines and obey the rules of the horizontal and vertical. Then when we watch or try to re-learn abstraction it feels uncomfortable and weird.