How I Became An Abstract Artist

In 2015 I got the incredible opportunity to study with the Jerusalem Studio School at their summer residency program in Italy. I was 25, wide eyed, and over confident. The art residency focused on landscape paintings, which I had never done before. At the time I was making lots of Equestrian Art (which I will show you ONLY if you reply to this post) and figure drawings. I came into that residency with the ego of an art student fresh out of her BFA degree and nothing to lose!

I bought myself a pretty plein air french easel and went out into the landscape. The paintings I made there were… how do I say this? NOT GOOD. VERY BAD. TERRIBLE. But the key thing to note here, is I thought they were great. I was expecting a few:

This is one of the paintings from the first summer. So dark!

“Wow Stephanie the color work is so good!”

or

“Incredible painting, lets put it in the museum!”

Instead I got a lifechanging reality check from my instructors. I was told that my education had major gaps in it. I had no technical skills: my color work was sloppy, I had no sense of seeing, and lacked ambition in my compositions. “What are you even doing here?” they said to me.

Needless to say I started crying and having a pity party for myself. I had asked myself “Should I give up and pick a different profession?” Deep, deep down in mud were my thoughts.

I took a long hard look at myself and what I wanted in the world. More than anything, I wanted to be a painter. I wanted to master this trade. There was nothing else to do, but recommit. To reeducate myself in this new level of creativity.

I finished the residency with a new determination. I made more bad artwork in the spirit of learning instead of showing off. It was at the end when I was begging the instructors to give me some exercises that would help me move my skills forward. The next words I was told changed the way I made paintings forever.

“First you are going to work on your edges and color control. You are going to get yourself a ruler and flat edged brush. Draw a line and practice painting a hard edge with the brush. No tape, just practice the brush control until you can do it without the straight edge.

Then you are going to work on your tonal steps. Take two colors, and make a 9 step gradient between one color and the next. Then make a 12 step gradient, and finally a 18 step gradient. Practice that until you can get a consistent variable between colors all the way down.”

Thus my abstract art career was born!

I did the first rendition of that exercise and became OBSESSED with geometry. All I wanted to do was paint clear cut shapes and play with symmetry till my hat fell off. Eight years later it’s still all I want to do.

Who would have though my plein air landscape instructor would have started my abstract art career?

After I returned home from that summer in Italy, I sought out teachers at Gage Academy and studied hard. The creative fire within me to prove those instructors wrong, that I did have what it takes to be an artist, became an all consuming need. So much so that I went back for a second year at the residency, where I was finally ready to absorb all the lessons they had been teaching me the year before. By the end of the second summer I was making work like the gallery below and my abstract work was taking off!

That transformative two years from 25-26 changed the way I spoke, traveled, treated my relationships, and painted- for the better. I’m so grateful for teachers who will tell you how it is, who give you the real opportunity to grow, should you accept the challenge.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this story of my time with the Jerusalem Studio School. If you are interested in learning landscape painting from the best: the summer art’s residency is ongoing, more information can be found here.

Make good choices,

Stevie