Hi Gabriella,

Thank you so much for your lovely class. I watched this one and the colour experimentation one and have since been experimenting with abstract in my sketchbook. I have only been painting for about a year and am still trying out pretty much everything. I usually paint in a more illustrative style (have a look if you like at instagram.com/indigosnow) but it turns out I am really quite drawn to abstract and just love playing with colour...

Since you encouraged us to ask you questions, I have been thinking something along the lines of this: Even though I am drawn to playing with abstract and enjoy looking at some abstract painting, I find it hard to legitimise or justify it somehow. I don't know if that makes sense, but it feels like it's a cop out...or wasting paint...or doesn't involve any skill and so on. I know none of these things are necessarily true of course but I do feel that my abstract experiments (I hesitate to even call them paintings- it's mostly just playing in a sketchbook) don't have the meaning or interest that my illustrative paintings have. I have been thinking about combining the two somehow...and trying that a little, to combine elements of story with abstraction...

Now that I am writing this I realise that you actually address these things in your class when you talk about subject matter. It is really such a personal thing and I guess it is just an ongoing road of experimentation and I'll have to find my own way in. 

I am aware that this is not really a clear question, but I am interested in hearing your thoughts, thank you!