Visiting the Ab Ex -- colour excitement

At the art show (work in progress)
Acrylic on canvas

24  x 24 inches

Barbara Muir © 2011

(a few more tweaks and

it will be done.)

I'm almost finished this painting of the mother and daughter.
There are a few small details to finish up, but I am very happy
with how it's coming along.  I started this before I went to
see a superb exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario our
major gallery in Toronto.  In fact I was tempted to do the
background in pure blocks of palette knife colour, because the
mother and daughter were at an art show, and that's what's in
the reference photo behind them. I'd actually
been thinking a lot about Róisín O'Farrel's work, because I
like the way she uses a palette knife. Then on Father's Day
a couple of weeks ago I took Steven to lunch at the AGO
and we went to see the Abstract Expressionism exhibit
 on loan from the MoMA in New York.  Of course it's the best of
the best of Abstract Expressionism, but my favorites were the
Clyfford Stills and the Rothkos.  The colour in Rothko's work
dazzled me more than I could have imagined.  There was an
entire room of his glorious large canvasses.

I came home with the paintings flashing across my thoughts,
inhabiting my dreams.  No I can't be an Abstract Expressionist,
but I'm sure I've learned a lot about colour from seeing Rothko's
work.  If you're in Toronto take in the exhibition and if you live in
New York, head to the MoMA after it comes back home.

 I love looking at art, especially yours, on the internet.  But nothing
can rival being in the presence of the real thing.

Have an getting out to an art show day