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Paint Away Pain: Creating an Abstract Painting

Painting Through Pain with Pastels

Yesterday was one of those dark days, marked by severe pain. A painkiller did little to help, so I decided to paint. I did not expect much to come of it and chose a sheet I had already begun: rather botched, but with a few ideas worth keeping.

My shares had also fallen sharply, which did nothing to improve the day. I put on Schubert sonatas played by Alfred Brendel and stayed with the painting for several hours. The work and the music distracted me from the pain.

What emerged is, to my eyes, one of my better recent works. My attempt to find my own way into abstract painting is gradually taking shape.

An Abstract Painting Takes Shape

I am especially drawn to the colours and to a construction that feels both forceful and sensitive. Red and rust passages are crossed by dark diagonal forms, with quieter purple and green areas between them. Small pale gaps let light through the dense arrangement.

The original colours are better than this scan suggests. My new scanner did not reproduce them faithfully.

Abstract pastel and ink painting with red and rust fields crossed by dark grey-black diagonal forms, purple accents and pale yellow gaps
Paint Away Pain – mixed media painting with pastels and ink

These three details show how the broad movements meet smaller shifts of colour:

Upper detail with intersecting black and grey strokes over red and purple areas
Central detail with dark diagonal forms, muted green passages and red openings
Lower detail with black shapes beside a pale yellow gap and red-purple passages

I began with little confidence in the sheet. By the end, the construction and colours had given me something I wanted to keep looking at.

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Comments

20 responses to “Paint Away Pain: Creating an Abstract Painting”

  1. Marjan avatar
    Marjan

    Painting the pain away
    A beautiful sentence, as are the paintings

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you very much, Marjan, I am happy you like it! All the best!

      Reply
  2. Martha Kennedy avatar
    Martha Kennedy

    I’m sorry to read about your pangin and the stock situation adds insult to injury. BUT this painting is interesting and has a three-dimensional feeling. Art is the greatest remedy.

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you, Martha, for your kind words! The stock market has overheated and a healthy correction was necessary. Nothing to worry!
      I only mentioned it because, among other inconveniences, it was another. Just one of those days….

      What was positive is that I made use of this depression and created a sheet that, in my opinion, means a step forward.
      Bottom line: you should never let yourself get down. (Sure, we as artists and of this age know anyway 🙂 )

      Reply
  3. swabby429 avatar
    swabby429

    You are in good company. Henri Matisse created paintings as a way to cope with pains, too. Creative work is one way to channel difficulties into something good.

    Reply
  4. zettl.fr avatar
    zettl.fr

    Yes, that’s right! Pain can be a good fuel for a weak engine 🙂

    Reply
  5. cheriewhite avatar
    cheriewhite

    Great idea! And the paintings are beautiful! 🙂

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you very much! I am happy you like it! I really think this works well because when you paint your mind is focussed on something different than your physical feelings.

      Reply
      1. cheriewhite avatar
        cheriewhite

        Gotcha! I haven’t tried it but I have high hopes for it. I’m so glad you found something that works to bring you out of depression and anxiety. Depression is the worst because I’ve been there. I battled it when I was young and I wouldn’t wish.it on my worst enemy.

      2. zettl.fr avatar
        zettl.fr

        sure i know what you are talking about and am happy to hear you left it behind.

  6. Cally Blind avatar
    Cally Blind

    I’m not an artist so I cannot truly give an artistic on this painting.

    But as an (ordinary) audience, I feel the pain and some intense feeling out of this painting. (I don’t know what that feeling should be called.) But all of that, this picture is very appealing to my eyes. It is intense, aggressive, strong, and beautiful at the same time. So powerful!

    Reply
    1. Cally Blind avatar
      Cally Blind

      Oh, typo! I meant that I cannot give an artistic opinion* on the painting. 🙂

      Reply
    2. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you, Cally Blind, for your kind words. It seems to me you completely understood what it’s all about. You remember our discussion about Haruki Murakami. We had the same feeling when reading his novels: there is something present and attracting our attention even when the topic is quite “simple” at first glance.

      Reply
      1. Cally Blind avatar
        Cally Blind

        Right! I remember that. It’s the ‘simplicity’.

        By the way, I got back to the picture, there’s one more word ‘fight’ popped up when I looked at this painting.

        And that made me ponder about it last night.
        – Did you plan before painting? (I meant in this piece, did you plan about the shades?)
        – Or did you just paint it away at that particular moment (without planning)?

      2. zettl.fr avatar
        zettl.fr

        Thank you for your question and your interest! On the subject of “fight”: As you know, Chinese thinking is shaped by the terms yin and yang. These are always related and the area of tension between them can often be seen as a fight.

        As for the question of how far I think in advance about where to put shadows, for example. No, that comes from the act of painting. In advance, it is only necessary to deal with the topic in principle, choose the painting medium, composition, style, and implement the idea in general. Everything else has been learned over time.
        In this specific case there is another tryptich from me in which the mountain is the central theme. But it looks very different.

      3. Cally Blind avatar
        Cally Blind

        That’s what I thought that the artist learns overtime during the process. Thank you for giving a clear answer. I understand a bit more 🙂

        I visited your website again to look at this set of your paintings (abstract). Incredibly beautiful in visual, emotion, and the meaning of each one!

        …

        Thank you again and stay healthy, Herr Zettl!

  7. notontherocks avatar
    notontherocks

    Beautiful channelling of emotion.
    Art alchemy ❤️👍

    Reply
    1. zettl.fr avatar
      zettl.fr

      Thank you so much! I am happy to hear you like it!

      Reply
  8. whitelist nft c'est quoi avatar
    whitelist nft c’est quoi

    I know this web site offers quality based articles and extra information, is there anyother web site which offers such information in quality?

    Reply
    1. Zettl Fine Arts avatar
      Zettl Fine Arts

      Hello and many thanks for your kind words! Hard to answer, it depends on what topic we search. All the best!

      Reply

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