Artist websites

Abstract Paintings

abstract paintings

Drivers - Art

In Drivers, a muddled mass of broad lines invokes confusion and chaos, yet a simple, monochromatic color scheme sheds light on the painting’s meaning. The lines of the painting, upon closer inspection, bring to mind the image of a driver behind the wheel of a small, almost comically proportioned car. Here in this image is the driver alluded to in the painting’s title. Yet this shape alone does not hold the painting’s purpose and meaning.
The painting is dominated by the color green, a vibrant shade filling the painting’s landscape. The painting’s title, Drivers, evokes not only the idea of a car and its driver, but also the motivation that drive people to do what they do. Green is a color associated with many things, including nature and money. Nature is often a driver of human actions, for our genetic makeup is the strongest determining factor in our identities. The desire for money is also a common drive for many people. This painting is a clever examination of the motivations that drive all people.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

More art to come

I am finally finding time to catalog more of my art and poems to post on my blog. I would love to see comments and suggestions. Enjoy.

M.I.A.

I have been Missing In Action for a minute, and I plan to correct that soon. I have a lot of poetry and new paintings to put up and will have an enormous amount of time to work on that next week.

Unitl then..... namaste.

Word Cloud

1000 Strangers project

I am beginning to get some very interesting people to participate in this project.

I would like to take a roll of film of you just being you and then I ask that you write a brief statement or thought about yourself or the universe in general.

Your photo and writings will become part of an art exhibition and video collage this summer. THIS POSITION IS NOT PAID, AND You will receive an invitation to the opening and also a copy of the photos and finished product on disk.
You can participate by giving me a call to take photos of you at work, at play or just having lunch. You can involve the whole family. The more people, the better.

Slacking on my photography project

I had decided to begin 2 photography projects in December and I haven’t quite gotten it started yet. So I am committed to beginning the projects by February 1st.

Tom tom club - genius of love

Waiting for Death - Art

Waiting for Death is an abstract, freeform painting with a striking complementary color scheme. The foreboding title fills the viewer with a sense of dread that is reinforced by the strong contrast of the colors and the cryptic figure that is featured in the painting. This dark, abstract shape seems to be moving slowly across the painting’s surface, slowly encroaching into the orange field that makes up the painting’s background. This impression of slow, steady movement is a representation of human anxiety at the impending reality of death. Each of us is aware of human mortality, and the frightening nature of this knowledge is captured in the figure’s slow progression across the painting.

The color scheme of the painting is also significant, for the figure slowly encroaches into a field of vibrant orange. This orange is a warm color, representing heat and energy – perhaps even life itself. This vibrant, lively color is slowly replaced with the dark shades of the figure. In this way, Waiting for Death shows the slow inevitability of death and its eventual triumph over energy and life.
©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Ways of Life - Art

Ways of Life is a monochromatic painting that uses simple shapes to make a profound observation about the nature of life. The shape that is most prominently featured in this piece is the circle. A series of circles overlap in a linear configuration. These circles represent the cyclical nature of life. Life regenerates itself in a circular fashion, and the overlapping circles in this abstract piece reveal the way that life unfolds in time. The circles represent the repetitive cycles of life, while the linear arrangement of the circles represent the continually forward-moving passage of time.
The orange monochromatic color scheme used in this painting also reflects the nature of life. A color associated with warmth, the orange color in this piece reflects the heat and movement of life. This warm shade creates a visual image of heat, a natural characteristic of life. The combination of a well chosen color scheme and an uncomplicated arrangement of simple shapes creates an impression of life’s warmth and natural continuation.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Family Links - Art

In Family Links, interlocking segments of color represent the intrinsic connections between members of a family. This painting features vibrant colors, including pink, coral, periwinkle, blue, green, gray, brown, orange, and yellow. The many individual and unique shades used in this piece represent the individuality of the family members. Though they are a part of a larger entity, members of a family maintain autonomy and individuality. This wide range of colors represents the diverse types of people that can be found in a single family.
Yet the segments of color have an interlocking appearance. The interlocking shape of these color patches reveals the interconnectivity of the family and its members. Each color block has a unique shape that interlocks perfectly with its neighboring block. The segments are unique complements to each other, and one segment completes another, the edges lining up to make them both whole. Family Links is an intriguing look at family dynamics and the important balance between the individual’s desire to be independent and to be a part of a larger societal group.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Flash - Art

In Flash, the warmth of yellow is contrasted with the cool, light absorbing qualities of black to produce an intense juxtaposition of a fiery flash of heat with the cool darkness of the surrounding air. This sudden, intense flash of heat and energy could be anything – a spontaneous fire, a flash of lightning, or an electrical spark. Yet the sense of surprise and danger is the same in each of these. This surprising interspersing of heat in the surrounding air is the experience captured in the broad strokes and dense color saturation of this painting.
The mixing of black with yellow reveals the way that the electrical and heat energy of the flash is mixed with the air around it. This produces a sense of immediacy, as though the flash is an instantaneous event. This instantaneous quality is more suggestive of a flash of lightning or an electrical spark, which can disappear just as quickly as it appears. Soon after the flash, the air will be cool again, the black overtaking the yellow, but for the instant captured in Flash, the air is teeming with light and bursting with energy.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

New Gardens - Art

This piece is an abstract still life that gives a common object a closer look. A triangular shape dominates the painting, and it appears almost three-dimensional. The object shown in the painting is the abstracted image of a piece of chocolate pie. The triangular slice of pie is a common object, recognizable to many, yet this painting gives it a closer examination. In fact, the pie is celebrated in the painting, set in a background of vibrant, party-like colors
Depicting common objects in an abstract form forces the painting’s viewer to take a closer look at the objects that make up his or her daily world. For these mundane objects do make up the main substance of our lives, and a closer examination of them can lead to a fuller, more completely realized life. Paintings such as this one help bring the viewer into that close examination.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Passing - Art

Passing is a colorful piece with almost blurry, impressionistic lines that seem to bleed from one color to the next without any distinct boundaries. Indeed, each color’s force and energy seems to be passing from one patch of color to the next. The textural look of this piece is quite intriguing, given the indistinct lines and patchy coloring. The color is almost transient, as though it is prepared to move from one spot to another at a moment’s notice.
This texture reveals the transient nature of the color, because it appears patchy or rough at certain points, as though the smooth vibrancy of the colors has simply passed away. This fading color gives an impression of life and energy ebbing, receding into nothing. This painting deals with the fleeting nature of life, for it too can pass away without being noticed, such as the color is slowly receding in this painting. Passing is a beautiful, mysterious piece that treats in an indirect way, the fleeting nature of life and the mortal certainty of death

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Stand Still - Art

Stand Still is a painting comprised of a series of thick, green lines across the canvas. The lines are stacked on top of each other and fill the canvas; there is no other image in this painting. The simplicity of this piece belies its important meaning. By choosing green for the thick lines of the painting, the artist has created a specific impression in the mind of the viewer.
Green is a color associated with nature, vegetation, and natural growth. The painting’s title, Stand Still, suggests that the viewer stop for a moment and consider the painting without movement or distraction. Similarly, the painting is urging to viewer to do the same with respect to his or her natural surroundings. Just as the viewer must stop for a moment to consider the painting, so must he or she spend time looking at and contemplating nature. Thereby, the viewer will be regenerated, for green is also a color associated with regeneration and rebirth.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Stolen Farms - Art

Stolen Farms is a visually appealing painting with a strong, clear message. Painted as a multi-color aerial view of farmland, the property lines marked by a change in color. The colors used are very bright and appealing, yet the title suggests that these are stolen farms, a distinctly negative connotation. This title leads one to ask, who stole these farms, and from whom?
A potential answer lies in the historical reality of the aftermath of the Civil War. Though freed slaves were promised a parcel of land to assist them in making their way as free people, this promise was never fulfilled. Therefore, these plots of land were stolen from their rightful owners, the slaves who had worked them during in the Antebellum South.
Yet the picture is not all bleak in this painting. One strong, vibrant black patch remains in the piece. This represents the continuing ambition and perseverance of African-Americans. The power and strength of this force is indicated by the intense color saturation of this block.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Fortune Flower - Art

This painting is a monochromatic image on a white background. The image appears to be a type of fruit, perhaps a cherry. However, the image is purple, which is not naturally a color of cherries. In fact, few foods that occur in nature are purple, so it is interesting to ask oneself why the artist might have chosen this color for this fruit.

It follows logically that since few foods are known to be purple in nature that the artist does not intend for the cherry to appear appetizing. In fact, purple is known to be a color associated with weight loss and appetite repression. Purple is used in color therapy for patients who suffer from weight control problems. The painting accents the fruit’s healthfulness, not its appetizing flavor. Fruit leads to healthful living and weight loss, and this is its primary benefit, as reflected in this painting.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Stolen Terror - Art

A strong column of color is the focus of this piece, a solitary figure in the painting placed just slightly off-center in the painting’s frame. A wide range of colors is featured in this column, which calls to mind a Native American totem pole. The colors featured in the column are very naturalistic colors – browns, a deep midnight blue, and a flowery pink. The brown and blue segments have very distinct borders between them. By contrast, the pink seems to blend into the blue segments, their edges blurred and overlapping.

Pink, which is typically thought of as a feminine color, is only a small section of this figure. Yet it is present, and slowly blending with and encroaching upon the rest of the column. If this column represents a totem pole, then the pink segment’s encroachment indicates the female power that was quietly present in cultures that were primarily patriarchal, as many Native American societies were.

The painting’s simplicity lends power to its meaning. A single, colorful column in placed in a stark background of white, the figure in the painting quite striking. Visually, the painting is simple, yet forceful, and it prompts the viewer to further contemplation.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Death Flower - Art

Death Flower captures the wilting of a flower in a profound study of mortality and death. This painting, with its naturalistic color scheme of muted neutrals, is very simple in composition. It features a single flower shown in a vulnerable, weak state of deterioration. Slowly, the flower wilts and dies, as its time as a living thing on this planet elapses and ends. The flower finally collapses on the hard ground, a victim of time and nature.

The flower’s death becomes a metaphor for the nature of death itself in this captivating piece. The flower dies humbly and alone, as we all must at some time in the future. The artist could have chosen to depict the flower in the context of its surroundings, providing images of the surrounding flowers, the sky, and other vegetation in the area. Yet in the end, death is a solitary experience and a personal one, so the flower falls alone, the lone figure featured in this evocative painting.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Mixed Roads - Art

In Mixed Roads, three roads of varying length are the central focus of the piece. These roads are variegated, alternating stripes decorating their lengths; they appear to be constructed out of more than one material. The monochromatic, gray color scheme gives the roads a monolithic, dominating feel. Set against a simple white background, the roads stand out, projecting a powerful and imposing impression. The texture of the surface of the roads is realistic, and they appear to be bumpy and scratchy like real asphalt. Looking at this painting, one can almost feel the rough surface of the road on the shoe soles as they scrape against the pavement.

The length and shape of the roads is also worthy of noting. The first road is the longest, yet it curves around and seems to collapse into itself. The traveler taking this road would find himself back at his starting point. The second road is not as long as the first, but it is a fully extended, straight line from one point to another. This is a clearer, more defined path, and the traveler who chooses this road will find he has traveled somewhere. The third road is quite short, and it seems to have been interrupted somehow. This truncated road represents the road not traveled, the trip not taken, the adventure missed because of laziness or apathy.

These roads represent journeys that one can choose to take or not take. By having a clearly defined set of goals, the shorter path can sometimes be the most effective. The second road in the painting is shorter than the first, and therefore requires less effort to travel. Yet the overall effect is better from the shorter journey. Instead of traveling aimlessly only to end up back at the starting point, the traveler actually moves somewhere, bringing him closer to his destination.
©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Mastaba - Art

Mastaba is a cryptic piece with a strong historical connection. The title suggests the piece’s meaning, for a “mastaba” is an ancient Egyptian precursor to the pyramid. A burial place for pharaohs and wealthy Egyptians, the mastaba is a low, rectangular building meant to house the remains and possessions of the deceased. This painting is a study of the mastaba, capturing its essential nature rather than its actual physical appearance. The painting itself is abstract in form, but its lines are highly suggestive and have a mysterious quality.

The figure that is featured in this painting evokes an ancient Egyptian mood. The shape itself has the feel of an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. The lines are strong and well-defined like those of a written linguistic character. Though the shape in the painting does not actually reflect the structure of an Egyptian mastaba, it captures its general nature and purpose. The dark blood red line snakes across the painting, curving upward, and its highest point supports a dense red ball. The line is the mastaba, for it is a vessel to the underworld. The line’s meandering shape represents this journey across the river Styx into the underworld. The small red ball is the mastaba’s precious cargo – the soul of the deceased.

The choice of a deep, dark red as the primary color of this piece is significant. This color symbolizes the essential life force of the deceased person buried in the mastaba. Blood, is an essential component of life that carries this force, and the selection of this blood-red shade for the color of this figure evokes the spiritual power of the mastaba to carry off the life force of the person buried within. This is a beautiful, haunting piece that brings to attention an often overlooked ancient Egyptian burial tradition.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Warped - Art

Warped, a highly abstract painting with an intriguing title, uses a complementary, dichromatic color scheme and broad strokes. The colors featured in this piece are a vibrant scarlet-red shade, along with a deep royal blue. The contrast between the colors and the way that they are painted is very striking. Red, a very warm color connoting heat and flame, is painted in broad, erratic streaks across the canvas. The red streaks have an almost schizophrenic appearance, their edges blurred as though drifting away. The smaller red streak appears to have broken off from the larger one, an image of destruction and violent separation. Here is the warped object and the focus of the painting.
The royal blue shapes interspersed with the red are dense and solid by comparison. A diamond, square, circle, and oblong rectangle are placed at different points in the painting. The clear-cut edges of the shapes and their strong color saturation stand in stark contrast to the wispy red streaks. These shapes are not warped; they are completely intact and serve as a foil for the deteriorating patches of red. An interesting study in color and texture, Warped is a meaningful painting with a provocative title and an interesting visual composition.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Streaming Sensation - Art

` This abstract, freeform painting creates a strong impression of movement through space. The swirling appearance of the lines of the painting is reminiscent of wind, or smoke rising through the air. In fact, the lines themselves do not appear to be solid. They are wispy and ethereal, seeming to have little substance, like something that would slip through one’s fingers. Again, this is reminiscent of a fleeting, delicate substance like air or smoke. The lines emerge at a point along one of the painting’s edges, travels across the surface of the painting in a succession of elegant and limber curves, and disappears at a point on the other side of the painting.

The choice of the color green is intriguing. Green is associated with nature and growth, perhaps suggesting that the lines represent a spring wind and its life-giving force. Green is also associated with greed, which might suggest that the lines of the painting represent smoke and the destructive power of fire, which consumes all that it touches much in the way that greed can become all-consuming. This green, swirling mass holds much meaning and gives the painting a vitality that is very exciting.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Quiet Storms - Art

In Quiet Storms, a rosy cloud fills the painting’s frame, its composition wavy and ethereal. The storm cloud in the painting does have a very quiet impression, its hazy texture showing the white background behind the image. Like a soft white cloud in the sky before a gentle rain, this cloud is neither forbidding, nor dark like a thunderstorm cloud. This cloud is calming and peaceful, giving an impression of the relaxation imparted by a gentle, quiet rain.

The rosy color of this storm cloud also distinguishes it from an ordinary rain cloud. This rosy color indicates positivism and happiness, and this rainstorm has an uplifting effect on the spirits. Though rain is typically associated with depression and sadness, it is also true that rain can also bring joy. Rain is a necessary element in the environment, watering plants and sustaining life. In addition, the beauty of a gentle rainstorm can often fill people with feelings of happiness and secure contentment.


©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

New Born - Art

New Born is an abstract piece with broad, dark lines and strong, clear shapes. In this painting, the fragile nature of new life is evoked. The newly created being, represented by a dense, dark circle of color in this piece, must be protected from the outside elements that threaten to destroy it. A broad, encompassing stroke, the line creating a barrier between the new life and the dangerous elements outside, protects the little germ of life.

This piece is fascinating, as it broaches a subject that is important to mankind – the proliferation of our way of life. In a hostile and often unwelcoming universe, new life must be protected and nurtured until it reaches maturity. In many species of life, the young are quite vulnerable for a long time after birth, and it is the responsibility of the mature members of the species to protect this young, growing life from dangers present in the surroundings. Disease, predators, weather, and other elements threaten to obliterate new life, but, as New Born shows, efforts to nurture new life can protect against these dangers.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Family Rails - Art

Family Rails is an airy, colorful piece with hazy multi-colored stripes that stretch across the painting. The colors in this piece range from green to pink to yellow, all of them muted and neutral in tone. The colors combine to create a pleasing arrangement of complementary colors, the beauty of these shades enhanced by the juxtaposition of cool and warm colors.

These colors become stronger and more effective by their careful positioning next to each other. Each color serves as a foil for the other one, strengthening the impression that each color has on the viewer. This natural improvement by being part of a group or a collective arrangement reflects the way that a family strengthens and improves its members. Strength can be found in numbers, and the sum of the whole of a family is greater than the strength of its individual members.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Hotelp - Art

In Hotelp, elegant lines intertwine to produce a beautiful, evocative image that is both calming and stimulating at the same time. The colors in this piece are vibrant and high in saturation, drawing the eye along the length of the curving, graceful lines that make up the image depicted in this piece. These vibrant colors stand in contrast to the bareness of the painting’s spare white background. This contrast heightens the vibrancy of the colors, making them more striking to the viewer’s eye.

The graceful intertwining of lines in this piece provides a sense of calm, as though the lines are upward moving plumes wafting up in a slow, elegant journey to the sky. The way that these lines intertwine suggests an interconnectedness, a natural cooperation of different elements that, when combined, produce a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This connection adds a layer of emotional intensity to this piece, and Hotelp is a visually compelling and meaningful piece that is both calming and contemplative in nature.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Mothers Surprise - Art

Mothers Surprise is an evocative painting that captures the fundamental nature of human reproduction. The shapes of sperm and egg, the yin and yang of conception, figure prominently in this simple piece. The monochromatic pink color scheme suggests the conception of a girl, the mother’s surprise alluded to in the title. The X-shaped end of one of the wavy, sperm-like figures supports this image of the conception of a female child. This X-shaped figure references the biological reality of conception. The male reproductive partner determines the sex of the offspring in the modern understanding of human reproduction. An X-chromosome from the father generates a female child, and the X-shaped end of the male reproductive figure in this painting alludes to this paternally determined process.

This painting is quite adept at presenting a complex biological process, capturing its nuances and determining factors. Yet the lines of this painting are quite simple, and there are just a few powerful elements. Color is a significant feature of this piece, as well simple, clear lines that can be taken in as a single, unified impression. From the first moment of viewing, Mothers Surprise creates an instant, lasting impression.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved

Red Venus - Art

In Red Venus, a mysterious red planet hovers on the horizon. The planet, presumably Venus, as noted in the title, seems to be rising or setting, either coming up from behind the horizon or disappearing from view as the earth turns away from the planet. This unusually large figure of Venus dominates the sky in this painting, as it is the only heavenly body depicted in this piece. The sky belongs to Venus, which is depicted in this painting with an unusual red color.

Venus is not usually depicted as red, for it does not appear red from earth’s telescopes. Instead, Marsh is usually referred to as the red planet, because of its red color that can be seen from earth. Indeed, this is where Mars gets its name, the red color reminiscent of blood spilled in war, which is why Mars was named after the Roman god of war. Yet Venus is red in this picture, an interesting reversal that leaves the reader wondering and contemplating the meaning of this piece. Perhaps that is the greatest strength of Red Venus – the strikingly unusual depiction in this piece creates a sense of wonder in the viewer.

©1998-2009 Claretta Taylor Webb. All Rights Reserved