Learn how to paint abstract art

Maybe it all started with painting landscapes. Using the colours and forms of mountains and trees as a starting point. The artists weren't interested in painting human figures in classical compositions any more. They found there challenge in other spiritual questions not in religious stories but in still lives and outdoors sceneries.

Look for example at this work of William Turner :
Turner almost made an abstract painting. Long before Wasily Kandinsky. Almost I say, because he still had to paint the sun. But for him the sunset was only an excuse to make this painting. The real subject is colour and movement. The atmosphere he wanted to capture.
The turbulence of the weather, the haze of the clouds above the water.
Although this work was created in 1840 it's close to an abstract art work.

Lesson 1

Draw or paint a landscape with only one object, a tree or the sunset like William Turner did. After you're satisfied with the artwork, make a second work, from the same landscape but now without an object. (do not paint the sun, only the sunset, do nut paint the tree, only the negative sp[ace)
You will notice the difference when you make an art piece without a figurative motive, you'll concentrate more on the "formal' aspects of drawing and painting.
By "formal" I mean things like ; the tone, colour, hight and width of the painting. The "skin" and composition. The gravity and gesture of the piece.

A good example of a modern abstract painter with his roots in landscape painting is Per Kirkeby a Danish painter, poet, filmmaker and sculpture. Both artists where looking for a special atmosphere. The paintings though span a 150 years in time. Turner made de sunset painting around 1840 and Per Kirkeby around 2000.
Yes we do live in the Iphone age, but it doesn't mean nature is forgotten. On the contrary. Now we probably yarn more than ever for the beauty of nature.It became more precious, knowing how much is left of it. The texture of bark and leaf, the colour of the sky, a dirty old track along a river or a cornfield ( hopefully without GM corn...)
Nature is inspiring and you can use it forms in many ways to compose your artwork.
Think about al the different forms nature brings us. If you're living in a city, take a walk in the park, or simply take a close look at the trees on the pavement.
Even in the city there is plenty of nature. And if all else fails, look up. There is always the ever changing sky.

Lesson 2.

Abstract Art or Abstraction. They are not the same thing. A work based upon an abstraction of a figure or thing isn't necessarily an abstract work. It is related though. And the pure abstract works often come from an abstraction.
A good example is Modriaan. He started his carier with drawing landscapes and trees. But slowly he altered the forms of the trees and only painted the bare necessity of a tree.
Piet Mondriaan believed that the primal colours red, yellow and blue where the ultimate force in the universe and with these colours he tried to find the absolute painting.
His works are spiritually based, and are made with conviction and determination.

Practicaly spoken, what you can do is : take a picture and simplify the forms. Make from two forms one - for instance if you have a picture of a house and a car. Combine those two forms, and you'll see that the meaning of the form will change as well.
If you want to paint, do not use to many colours. Start for instance only with blue,white and black. And concentrate on the forms rather then the colour.
A good example of a symplification of a picture is the "black square" by Malewitch. In a way it's a simplified cross. The centre where the horizontal beam and the vertical beam meet.
Take your time by sketching the abstraction. Choose your composition well. Make several sketches of the same idea. Look at the space around the object. ( The negative space) It will be just as important as the object itself.
If you want you can concentrate yourself on light and shadow. And make this the theme of the drawing. It's always good to have a general idea of what you want to achieve.

Lesson 3

Besides symplification, another way to jump into the sea of abstraction is to draw or paint one detail. And make a so called "blow-up". Draw a detail of an object out of proportion. In doing so the drawing/painting will give the original thing a completely different meaning.
It's not only a "trick", it's done by many famous artists. In a way abstraction is to alter the meaning of a subject and bring it to an other level. It is the same with nature. If you zoom in at a leaf for instance, you will discover that the leaf is made of cellular substance, zoom further and it is made of molecules, zoom futher, atoms, etc. In the end the function of a leaf changed into something else.
It's the same when you paint a detail and "blow it up". The meaning changes with suprising effects.
Try it, take your mobile for instance, open the back where the battery is, and draw a small part of the area and make it big. During the proces you can forget the whole mobile and concentrate on your art work. (Do not use oil paint when opening your Iphone!!! - it's not a good combination ;-)