My fascination with abstract art

The type of art that aligns most with me

I always loved art! I loved to draw, to paint and to scribble. I remember that even in school I would regularly doodle around, sometimes sketch up my friends in class or the teachers. And sometimes I would play drawing games with my friend Mel, where one of us started with the head, folded the paper, the other one drew the torso, folded the paper & then the first one drew the legs again. Then we unfolded it all and laughed so much about the creatures we created.

So it was a given that I picked art as a major as well. I liked the classes because of our teacher, and we learned to paint all kinds of different styles. Somehow, I was always drawn to abstract art…

At home, my dad was an artist. An extremely gifted one as well. He worked at the opera and did everything artistic that was needed for the stages of the opera pieces. He painted and drew all his life, so we had many paintings of his hanging at home.

He was able to make the most beautiful landscapes, paint watercolor pieces, oil paintings, portraits, flowers, nature or the most twisted surrealistic & dark pieces. He was able to do it all.

And little Daria always compared herself to her dad. Always. I admired his paintings and knowing that I had inherited some of his gift, I usually felt that I was not good enough.

I did not have the skills and the patient to paint anything realistic. The older I got, the better I became and I was able to draw portraits as well, quite accurate too, but somehow I never enjoyed it very much. Especially not for myself. If it was a task at school, I would nail it, but I would just not be drawn to sit down & paint or sketch something realistic.

It often also frustrated me, because it never turned out how I wanted it to look. The real thing I looked at was always more beautiful. And I did not see the point to just copy reality, for this we have cameras.

Somehow my love for abstract art was nothing I shared openly, I felt a bit ashamed about it even. I believe that mainly because many people would dismiss it as “not-real-art”. Or something “anyone could do”. I never thought that, I always admired abstract art, BECAUSE it did not represent anything I can see in reality. It would always be something that comes from the inside of the artist, their mind, heart or soul.

Abstract art could be anything, super simple or very complex, usually causing some type of reaction in people. For me it would always be about: do I like to look at it? Does it fascinate me? Or does it cause any type of emotion in me? And all that very subconscious, I would not consciously think about the art piece, I would rather feel it.

These are the reasons why I love abstract art.

Ca 1.5 years ago, I had this sudden urge to paint, it just popped up during my meditation! Years, even decades, I would never see the point to create art for myself, paint for the sake of painting and because it brings me joy. I somehow always thought that it needs to have an external purpose. So I was surprised that the urge came up, so I got myself new art supplies & started painting.

Of course it was abstract art that I turned to, shapes, patterns, colors, mixed with and into each other, just creating new shapes and patterns. And the 1,5 years that I am doing this now I realized a lot: its not easy to make a nice abstract art piece, at all. When I look at the first paintings when I I started compared to what I do now, it’s a huuugee improvement. I shredded many of the first paintings into small pieces because I did not see thee point to keep them.

I learned a lot about myself in the process too. I usually go about a painting session very mind-less, I don’t have a vision, idea or composition in mind. I give myself complete freedom & feel into what I am drawn to, which color, which tool, which paper & then I just start painting & scribbling.

It brings mee a lot of peace and freedom, I dont have to think, analyze or disseminate anything. I just go with thee flow & create something from the materials that I have. It is amazing!

At some point, I accumulated sooo many pieces, that I felt bad for them sitting in my desk. So I started to exposed them to my social media following, which was a huge deal for me. Overcoming shame and fear, doubts and worries… I discovered: there are many people who love abstract art & even my pieces! I even sold several of them already! This made me so supper happy each time someone wanted a piece I created!

So yeah, this is my abstract art journey so far and I am excited to see where it brings me. I would like to be a bit more present about it, share more and explore it deeper… will see how I approach this challenge of my life :-)

Do you have a favorite art style?

Love,
Daria

P.S.: for now, you can see some of my work here:

And I regularly update what I sell here: https://dariachrobok.myshopify.com