Introduction

Welcome to Abstract Painting as Visual Language

Everything you need to know before Lesson 1: what to gather, how to work, and what this course is actually for.

Over six lessons, you'll spend time with five painters who each developed a visual language that was distinctly theirs: Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Agnes Martin, Hilma af Klint, and Sonia Delaunay. Each lesson pairs a short art history conversation with a guided practice inspired by how they worked. The sixth lesson is an integration session that brings everything together and asks what you've begun to discover about your own.

By the end you'll have five practices to return to, a clearer sense of what your hand is drawn to, and the beginning of a visual language you can keep developing long after the course is done.

You'll need paper or a sketchbook, something to draw with, and any colors you have.

If you'd like to share your work or have questions along the way, reach me at kristenphillips.art@gmail.com.

Let's begin.