BEAUTY: Painting--Jason Craighead

Making any art is not easy, but over the years I have come to suspect that making good abstract art might be even more difficult. Unencumbered by narrative or figurative subject matter, abstract art depends completely upon structure, color, texture, placement, and material. And abstract art might look improvised, but successful abstract pieces like those below by Jason Craighead represent a skill level and approach that requires years of thought and practice. The gestures appear free but they are not random or haphazard. They are made by a highly skilled artist.

Top to bottom: Apparition (Ghost-Self); Bending Time; Dream Language; Hard To See; Heart of The River; Journey Agent; Open Channel; The Need

http://jasoncraighead.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Elly Smallwood

Elly Smallwood's engaging, dynamic, large scale portraits are full of color and gestures that render them near-abstract. What's fascinating is how she zeroes in on a part of the face like the nose and lips or just eyes, creating a kind of creepy hyper-attention to a detail to which we normally do not pay such close attention.

Top to bottom: Alistair II; Head Study (Mike); In The Forest; Portrait In Pink And Black; Self Portrait (With Palette); Untitled In Umber; Untitled (Portrait Of My Father)

http://www.elly.ca/