Finding Abstract Inspirations on TV

Artists can find inspiration for future paintings in almost everything. Whenever there are bad thunderstorms in my area, or even a particularly hard rain, television pictures freeze into pixillated images that can become the inspiration for non-objective abstract paintings. So next time thunder and lightning threaten, grab your camera to capture these elusive images while you have the chance.

Here are three from my own files:

Don't try to paint exactly what you see. Instead, use the distorted shapes and colors as jumping off points for your own interpretations. If you have a photo editing program, you can further alter these "frozen" images in countless ways. For example, changing the colors, converting them to black and white, isolating or "framing" an interesting area within the image, and on and on. In fact, just one pixillated screen shot, altered using a program like Photoshop Elements, could become the basis for an entire series of paintings!

Text and images ©2017 Lynn Edwards