Free Abstract Art Lesson 2 Demos Creating Artworks for Beginners TV Show

get a viewers my name's Graham Stevenson

I'd like to invite you to come on a

journey of creativity and learning and

adventure through the series color in

your life there's an artist in every

family throughout the world

lots of times as an artist deep down

inside all of us as well so graduate

kids your brother's your sisters your

aunties uncles and mums and dads and

come and see how some of the best

artists do what they do

you

well good eye viewers and welcome back

to color in your life well we are in

Sydney on Parramatta Road in Annandale

it's a pretty busy road you can hear the

traffic at the back and we are at the

art fusion art studios with mr. Glenn

aqua how are you welcome to the show my

view Glen is a fascinating artist is an

abstract artist that does some

absolutely amazing stuff but I think

that what separates Glen from a lot of

other art teachers is that this man

enables people to get rid of the word

fear out of their life when it comes to

us the most important thing that we do

here is take the word fear out of art

over the years many years I've developed

a lot of different art styles and

techniques now put those into simple

step by step formats so the artworks

that I create you'll see on my website

most of those artworks are on step by

step format so people come into the

studio and they can do lessons with me

one on one mm-hmm and that way you've

got me there to keep you under control

sure but also on the DVDs and downloads

which so all around the world people are

able to do the same lesson that you do

in here with me yeah I like to show the

most simplistic way to create something

really amazing yeah

and take that fear out of the art that's

that's the whole idea of its to show

people that yes you can create something

really good and you don't have to have

any experience people from all around

the world don't come here to do the

lessons with me they're doing it online

and they've got the same results so

you'll see those on the website and it's

fantastic and we're going to do two

styles today one Glen cause carnival and

the other one is a galaxy series where

he really puts the paint down and lets

it sort of do its own thing but it it's

fascinating and these pictures are just

they just jump off the canvas it's

amazing see what he does when they

finish they're just beautiful but I'm

going to step out of the picture and I'm

going to let you start the first one of

the carnival you're really going to

enjoy the stuff guys it's a lot of fun

so get ready for a good time

okay away we go let's get started on

this artwork now I'm going to use a

brush on this artwork and it's the only

time I'll be using a brush on the whole

artwork and that's just to do our

background and simply I've just got some

artists acrylic paints which I've

watered down a little bit so them spread

easier when we're going to just paint

the whole canvas red I quite often like

to have brushstrokes still in there

because that is just a background to the

rest of the artwork that we're going to

do also as part of all of the setup that

you've got and you can actually see this

on your website as well but you also

build all of your own stretches and

frames yeah I've got a step by step free

video on the website teaching you how to

create your own canvasses epsilen now it

was your darling wife Kim that actually

got you involved in in artwork many

years ago can you tell me what happened

there one day my wife came home and said

she wants an artwork for their new

apartment so she went and bought a cheap

canvas from a $2.00 shop and came back

and on our balcony she started to create

an artwork and it was an abstract and

just using the paints we had from our

home itself and some artist paints she

bought and created an abstract artwork

and I thought that looked like fun so

she went and bought another canvas and

brought it home and I helped her with

the second one and then I went bought

another canvas and another one and Here

I am today you got a fantastic gallery

right on Parramatta Road and you know

the presentation particularly when

people drive past at nighttime I mean

this just simply colors everywhere I

mean you really can't miss art fusion or

when you're driving on the road now

that's the whole idea every time I

create a new artwork especially the

large ones at the moment I have one in

the window it's 3 meters long and 1.8

meters high and it fills up the whole

window and I'm always doing different

styles so my window changes constantly

and yeah that attracts customers there

we are we've done we've got a coat of

paint on there it's red you can see the

brushstrokes I haven't been real fussy

with it

want it to be this is an abstract

artwork we're not doing a fine art so

that's it we'll let that dry fantastic

all right Glenn now that surface has

dried yep where do we go from here what

do we do well as I said earlier that's

the only brushes we're going to be using

in the whole art work the rest is all

going to be used with a bricklayers

trail which you buy from the hardware

store it's all brick glazed well that's

what a bricklayers trail looks like but

this one has a rounded head on it and

you can buy them in any hardware store

you can use whatever implement you like

to create this artwork but this is what

I use and basically nearly the whole

artwork will be created using this okay

so it's a big form of a palette knife

you know that's my palette not just

quietly so the first thing we're going

to do I'm just using these are a student

grade artist acrylics they're hard to

buy in Australia but anywhere around the

world is for any artists acrylics you

like we're looking something with a bit

of substance to it so it's more of a

structured paint but for these types of

abstracts I just use your student grades

especially if your learner you don't to

be paying huge amounts of money for very

expensive paints just to try and learn

something you can upgrade to the bigger

paints later if you want to but I

courage all my students to use the

cheaper paints it's not as hard on your

pocket and you'll get a great result

from them as well testing so you just

like lose it out yep put some on the

thing I'm marking around I'm just going

to use some yellow with the red yeah

even though I've got the red on red yeah

it's going to be a different red but I'm

suddenly going to change that anyhow

okay now all I'm going to do is pull

that across as that with my special

pallet knife very cool and make it stand

out a bit more I just put a bit more of

the yellow in and I'll just press a

little bit lighter so the yellow stays a

lot more dominant and all I'm going to

do is just wipe the rest of that off I'm

not worried about getting it completely

clean yeah and then we'll just go to

another color all together

this time I just use a bit of white with

it which will help lighten the whole

artwork up and again and the amazing

part about a lot of the work that you've

got with all of these series and we'll

talk about them as we go through the

show but all of these really have been

invented and developed by you over the

years I've developed all these different

art lessons and art styles and I've

created them by seeing examples of

different artworks all different things

in everyday life and I've come back and

tried to put them on canvas something

will happen and I'll say that was an

amazing effect how can i replicate that

so I'll just develop it over a couple of

years or however long it takes now I

have taken all that and put them into a

simple step-by-step format mm-hmm and by

doing that I've made it so people out

there artists who are looking for new

styles and and different designs they

can create their own by just following

along step-by-step so I'll make it as

simple as possible and take the fear out

of trying to create an artwork fantastic

this is why it's so much fun when you do

the corporate workshops as well you know

you basically get people in to you know

enjoy themselves and yeah really have a

go at it

yeah the team-building that we just do

simple techniques and techniqu we do

with the Katyn building is one of our

lessons and it's a pretty much foolproof

lesson so we can have a group of people

and I can control them all to create a

really good artwork each it's not a

free-for-all where they just make a mess

with paints and they're all amazed at

what they've created it's fantastic and

I'm not worried about being neat

abstract art neatness the harder you try

the harder it becomes to do is the way I

feel with abstract artwork so don't try

to be super neat with everything because

it just doesn't work with these styles

of artworks one of the things that were

sent to you when you actually started

your your career is that you

run a gallery and a studio at the same

time I've been told that by a lot of

people fortunately I didn't take any

notice of it because you know otherwise

I wouldn't be here today with a

successful gallery yeah

and teaching what I do to the world

because otherwise I wouldn't have had

the incentive to keep going if I was

just relying on trying to put him

through a gallery I wouldn't have this

space that I have I wouldn't have the

interaction with the public that I have

yes

and the interaction with the public is

what really helps me it gives me ideas

they come to me with ideas and say Glenn

can you create me something like this I

might never have thought of that before

and I'll just always say yes and then I

work out how to do it that's how a lot

of my styles are developed is because of

being given something to do and then

while I'm trying to create that artwork

I find a whole pile of different effects

that happen at different things that

happen and away we go now you do have

your own formulated texture medium that

you've actually put together yourself

for the flower series that you do that's

right yeah I developed the my own

texture medium which is much cheaper

than your main modeling pace on my

flowers DVD especially I show you

exactly how to make it up yourself and

you also work a lot with interior

designers as well yeah purchasing works

for various public places or somebody's

home

fantastic particularly with your style

because it's so conducive to that yeah

yeah the interior designers are they're

very good for ideas as well actually

because they'll have a set idea for a

particular space that they're trying to

fill yeah they'll have a color scheme or

it might be just be a style or a

technique again that suddenly gives me

something new to create and from that

another style will come and once I find

something that works out to be a really

interesting style then I perfect it into

a step-by-step format so I can then pass

it on and that's what my whole aim is

with my lessons is to pass it on to

other people I get so much joy and

benefit from that because of the people

who contact me back and thank me from

all around the world and you'll see that

feedback on the web

yeah we've got such a comprehensive

website as well people can come in there

they can obviously download the DVDs buy

the DVDs that you haven't got at

competitions in your website yeah yeah

we conduct the competition so they're an

international competition we have two

categories we'll have the international

division and the Australian division on

the website you'll see the competitions

all the entries that have come in on the

different competitions plus the winners

and so forth so you get ideas from that

as well now your YouTube channel how do

they get in touches art fusion is that

correct yes art fusion one yep is the

main channel yeah you've got the links

from the website as well okay just go to

the website it will take you straight

through okay okay the next step we're

going to do I've just got some artists

acrylics with some water just to make it

more liquid and that's what we're going

to do with the next stage you can use

any colors you like I'm using black

black always gives a lift to an artwork

I think it makes all the other colors

pop so all I'm going to do is just drop

some under the canvas anywhere where

I've got a real messy area yeah I'll put

some in there and if you can see the

black when it hits the different colors

it just pops yeah and just randomly

there's no right or wrong you know if I

was to say that anybody had influenced

you when I first saw your work I'd have

to say Jackson Pollock sitting in the

background it's gotta be yeah look a lot

of people say some of my works Jackson

Pollock Jackson Pollock invented

splashing paint yeah and that's all

we're doing basically especially what

I'm doing now we're just letting paint

drop onto the canvas and that's just

bringing the black into it again and

lifting the artwork yeah I'm going to do

the same with white this is how quick

and easy this artwork can be basically

what I'm showing you is just a simple

technique to make a very vibrant

exciting artwork it's fantastic it

really is it's as I said it just jumps

off the canvas yes great

and now we're going to do another few

little things in the artwork will be

finished that's how quick it is that's

wonderful

now I've just got some house paint

that's all this is straight out of the

tin I've just put it in a smaller

container to handle yeah all I'm going

to do with this just just let that run

across the canvas so we've got a

different shape all together on the can

of us and just by adding those few on

there suddenly we've got another

dimension to the artwork again which is

drawing the eye to the artwork it's all

those colors and all the different

shapes is what gets people's attention

just wipe most of that off my fingers

now I'm going to go this in yellow again

just house paint I'm going to do the

exact same thing again this one's a

little bit make it more drops in

different random areas just so the

shapes a little bit different to the

blue but again it's just creating that

interest in the artwork I call this

pretty much the ultimate abstract feel

that really really does give a an

amazing effect and that's why I call the

style Carnevale

because it's just like a carnival on the

canvas that's the first thing that came

to you and I created one what will I

call this artwork and that was the only

name I could come up with so people can

come along and do this with you and you

supply everything yep yep they can come

and you can do it individually one on

one you can come with a couple of

friends and all do one yourself I have a

lot of husband and wives couples come in

it's just something I've developed and

like to pass on save you going through

all the hassle of trying to work out how

to do it I do it step by step for you

it's fantastic there you go that's a

complete artwork created for you very

quickly when that's dry we'll take a

nice photo of it so you can see it

properly with all full detail testing I

hope you enjoyed that grow that's

wonderful so well now let's move on to

the galaxy one which I think is going to

be just as fascinating as what we've

just seen here totally different but

just as much fun fantastic

okay blend your Galaxy series and these

are pretty impressive looking pieces of

work than fantastic in fact so how do we

go about putting one of these together

well they're all created just fluid

paint on fluid paint we're using

different thicknesses of paint in

consistencies of paint we mix them

together and one will react different

with the other right well I'm going to

mix up a few paints color here is a

Viridian green okay I'm using blue we're

going to be using all in the blue-green

tints and tones just put a bit of water

in this one and give it a good mix you

want to make sure it's mixed up really

well we'll just pour some on and then

we'll add a little bit of white into

that a little bit of blue

this is where the paints do all the work

is going to tilt it backwards and

forwards and let them mix in

now this one I'm going to make it run

across over here and I'll be tilting

over that way and the faster i tilted if

I tilt it fast you'll get it running

with little arms like this you can do

the whole canvas if you want to in one

go and then keep adding colors but this

one I'm going to create a bit of an

interesting shape to the actual artwork

if I want to close this over here it's

not doing it by itself so I just closed

that over with my fingers and just by

doing that while mixing the paints this

world and it will make it run more solid

this looks very interesting now I'm very

exciting but don't get your hopes up

that that's going to stay the same as it

won't

every time we tilt the canvas this is

going to change so as we're building it

the artwork keeps changing and by the

end of it this will look different to

what it starts off with now so don't get

upset and think that's got to stay the

same if you want that to say the same

you've got to let it dry then you do

another one over the top so you can work

that way as well but we're going to do a

complete artwork and just run it through

now you've done some like quite quite

large pieces you know you these are

still reasonable sized canvases but what

of the commissioned work you've done I

mean you've done a couple of pieces 8.5

meters long yeah for restaurants and

board of directors rooms I love doing

the big canvases one of the things with

the abstract artwork and I everyone who

comes to do a lesson or people overseas

and whoever doing the Downloads most

people are afraid to go even to a canvas

this big to me this is one of the

smallest canvases over work on to create

this artwork on this canvas size is much

easier than creating it on an artwork

this big so the smaller you go the more

finer detail you've got to have into it

so abstracts usually are simpler and

easier to do the big e ago I'm going to

put this little bit of sandy color in

now that was just by doing a bit of

yellow ochre very small bit of brown and

some white so we'll give it more of a

beachy feel and I've just run a little

bit down along there as well

it's not the sort of thing you want to

be to be Precious about your floor with

know that no no I should have said

something about that you need to put

something to protect your floor I'm

working in my studio and my Studios just

a mess as Graham will say there's

gallons of paint on the floor in here so

please yet protect your floor actually

from a bar when you look at it I see

looks like a picture of the Great

Barrier Reef with sandy rivers flowing

down to work yeah well I'm someone yeah

you can get an amazing effects as I say

you don't really know what they're going

to look like when they're finished but

some of them you just stare into them

and you just people see all sorts of

things into them

yeah well apart from doing these really

huge pieces as well Glen is that you do

also in-house work as well with with

people yeah awning artwork for them yeah

yeah I'll go in home to people all the

time I do this where I go to their home

and because when they come to the studio

there's just artworks everywhere and

it's almost impossible to work out

what's going to look good in the right

space and the right size so I'll go to

their home and we'll measure the right

size so it frames properly on the wall

of the space that's got to go on and

then we'll work the design out and

colors and everything so it's exactly

what they want in their home we're going

to just continue on in the same process

you can make whatever shape you want in

your artwork that's up to you and

sometimes the paint will take you in a

direction you had no intention to go in

I want this one to look a little bit

different so run it right out and get

some interesting shapes happening on

that side so the patterns just keep on

evolving and that's why I love the

galaxy series because every artwork just

is really interesting to work with now

the beauty about all of this is that

you've got 22 individual art lessons

that people can take on your website I

can download them or order the DVDs but

all of this information can be seen

literally through your website what is

your website address back and WWF fusion

productions

I'm a you at fusion productions calm

that I use so I would suggest you guys

going there because there's some

fascinating techniques all step by step

we can get bought in there I know that

much no no now what we find is that

people might by wonder experiment and

then they come back and buy another and

another and another because they have

fun doing one and they can't wait to do

the next one yeah I can see why so as

you see each time we move it we're

creating a different look to the artwork

and see by just it's all moving and

making its own patterns but as I said if

you wanted this one to stay as it was

you would let that dry off then you can

do another arm and then another arm or

you can go like we've done here and just

keep on going and see where it ends up

so there you go Graham what do you think

credible stuff man absolutely and it you

know it's sort of like looking into

another world just one section of it

yeah looking into another well it's a

painting within the painting yes it's

amazing well when this is dry we'll be

able to photograph it properly and when

you zoom in on it you'll see all

different things in different areas yeah

and that's the fun part about these

artworks people come and look at them

and everyone see something different in

them yeah so they're an interesting

artwork as well not just good exciting

to look at and people come in and see

all sorts of shapes and it's great fun

when people walk into the studio and say

oh I can see a whale in that you know

I've never seen it but they see it

straightaway so it's good fun great fun

really it's really experimental

okay Glenn fantastic day thank you pal

thank you for coming it's been great it

was amazing and you know we got you got

two for the price of one today which is

pretty fantastic but as you can see so

much fun and so interesting as well it

was an absolute pleasure to be with

today now as we said before you've got

twenty two lessons on your website

that's right yep yep going to go in

there guys

because there's some fascinating stuff

that Glenn does and have a look at his

website he's got our competitions going

on they're huge community very

successful men at what he does so I

think Glenn really knows the art of

selling art and being an artist but

doing it as a businessman as well so

he's if you want some questions go and

ask him is more than happy to answer

questions absolute mony an email away

and your website art fusion productions

dot-com a you fantastic studio and

fantastic gallery here in Annandale on

prometo road so come down and see the

guys down here as well we're going to

head off we've had a great time in

Sydney again come to comedy live.com do

you and obviously our Facebook page and

YouTube as well until we see you guys

again remember as always make sure you

put some color in your life and happy

painting see you guys bye now

see ya

you

you