After Willem DeKooning: My painting, "Foraging"

Foraging I 

I signed up for an "Abstract Expressionism: Post WWII" class on coursera.org thinking it would be about exactly what the title says, and it is, but it is also about how they painted with an expectation that as a student I give it a try. This was fun.


This is my first attempt at a Willem DeKooning, a Dutch stowaway in the early part of the last century.



Maybe I'll toss more of his bio here later on.

Foraging II 

One thing about DeKooning was that he would, my word, ravage, his canvases.  Oils only and years involved in his paintings due to the slow drying of oil, his need to paint wet on dry; and his overwhelming need for perfection. So this one has been modified from the one on top, but I'm thinking maybe more "ravaging" would have helped.

I know, it kinda doesn't look that way, but . . . once you realize the image isn't supposed to be anything familiar, it is about itself, then perhaps it makes a little more sense.

It isn't for everyone, abstract expressionism. Until I understood what it is, I had no interest, but now, even in my sketching I find myself reaching for that "expressionism."

Peace.