ABSTRACT & COLOUR TECHNIQUES IN PAINTING
Claire Harrigan

Abstract painting all too often carries with it an image of earnest young men with sculptured beards discussing the relevance of juxtapositional counterpoint in a socio-cultural ethos. You think I'm making this up?

So let's give a loud cheer to this excellent guide that looks at ways to interpret a variety of subjects without being tied to straightforward representation. Abstraction is, as much as anything else, a way of seeing and of conveying that vision to the viewer. Just as a portrait fails if it doesn't capture the subject, an abstract painting fails if it looks like a nasty accident in a paint factory.

Claire is a confident painter and writer and she breaks what can be a huge subject down into something manageable by looking at how you can move away from representation rather than simply abandoning it altogether. Working in all the main media and covering subjects from still lifes and landscapes to people and buildings, she shows you how you can combine both form, colour and marks to produce results that are both interesting as well as aesthetically pleasing.

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