Why Abstract?

Detail from "Afternoon Walk to Goredale Scar 1""What kind of art do you make, then?" asked an elderly man I met while I was out walking my dog."I paint abstract landscapes," I said."Just daubs then," came the response and then - predictably - "I like things to look like what they're supposed to look like."I get this. I really do.I used to paint representationally. I enjoyed doing it and people responded favourably.But there came a point where that just wasn't enough anymore.I wanted to express more than just what a field looks like, what a sky looks like, what a stone wall looks like. I wanted to express how it feels to be me. I wanted to create my own visual language. I wanted to explore paint. I wanted to explore myself.Of course making a change like that means people drop away. Some of the people who loved my representational paintings don't like this new work - some of them say that out loud, others just disappear quietly.When that happens, I have a choice. I can retreat back to what's safe and what's easy for people to understand - or I can keep going, pushing into new territory and trust that new people will find me and my work.It strikes me that this is what happens when we grow in any area of our lives - some people come along with us, others fall away. As we watch them go, it can be tempting to reach out and try to hold on - or to go backwards and act like we used to just to keep things as they were.But the right answer is always to keep moving forwards and to trust that the right people will find us.Work-in-progress (as yet untitled), 24" x 24"If you enjoyed this post and would like to hear more from me, please subscribe to my newsletter here or to the blog (top right-hand side of the page). I'd ,love to stay in touch :)