Abstract Mark Making Play – Colors & Expression is an exploration of how color can carry emotion, movement, and meaning without needing representation. By working with one main color and gradually shifting its value, intensity, and interaction with other materials, the page evolves into a layered conversation rather than a planned composition.
This practice is especially helpful when you feel unsure about color choices or tend to rely on too many hues too quickly. It encourages you to stay with one color long enough to understand it, to push it, soften it, and let it respond to your marks.
Color here is not decorative.
It is expressive.
It holds mood, energy, and intention.
Layer 1: Building a Base with Acrylic Colors
- Step: Apply chunks of acrylic colors in different values (use one color + white + unbleached titanium + Burnt Sienna).
- Example: I used pink as my base color.
- Brush Technique: Work with a small brush to give yourself more time to blend and spread the paint around.
- Pointer: Focus on creating a variety of shades from the same color. This will give your base depth and interest.
Layer 2: Adding Texture with Dry Media
- Step: Make marks with pencils, soft pastels, or oil pastels.
- Color Choice: Use the same color palette as in Layer 1.
- Mark-Making: Experiment with different styles—try small marks, long lines, or abstract shapes.
- Pointer: Think about how the marks interact with the paint—do they add energy or quiet details? Aim for variety.
Layer 3: More Acrylic Marks
- Step: Continue adding acrylic marks, changing up the values (light and dark) of your main color.
- Mark-Making: Try blending (“smooshing”) some paint, but also add small, detailed marks, long lines, or swirls.
- Pointer: This layer is about creating movement and flow. Think about how you can guide the eye around the canvas.
Layer 4: Introducing Contrast
- Step: Use water-soluble oil pastels to make contrasting marks with black and Burnt Sienna.
- Pointer: Contrast is key to making elements pop. Notice how the darker colors break up the lighter areas and add visual interest.
Layer 5: Adding a New Color
- Step: Introduce a new acrylic color that contrasts with the color you used in Layer 1.
- Pointer: This is where the composition really starts to come alive. How does the new color interact with the others? Look for areas where you can create a dynamic balance.
Layer 6: Defining with Black Acrylic
- Step: Make bold marks with black acrylic paint using a brush.
- Pointer: These black marks add structure and definition. Think about where the composition needs clarity or strength.
Layer 7: Finishing with Black Doodles
- Step: Use a black pencil or pen to doodle in the lighter areas. Add more pencil or pastel scribbles to bring everything together.
- Pointer: This is your final layer of detail—use it to add personality and a sense of completion. Think of these doodles as the playful finishing touches to your piece.
Layer 8: Final Scribbles
- Step: Scribble more lines using pencils or pastels to create additional texture.
- Pointer: Let this step be spontaneous. Think about adding energy to areas that feel too quiet or blank—allow the scribbles to act as a final burst of movement or detail.
These steps build upon each other to create a dynamic abstract composition, encouraging you to play with color, texture, and mark-making while adding depth and contrast.
Conclusion
As the final layers unfold, the page shifts from exploration into integration.
Black marks and doodles introduce structure, anchoring the movement created by earlier layers. Final scribbles bring energy back into areas that feel too resolved or quiet, reminding the piece that expression does not need to be tidy to feel complete.
By the end of this process, the page carries both restraint and freedom. The original color still leads, but it has been transformed—shaped by contrast, guided by marks, and deepened through repetition and variation.
This practice is a reminder that expression does not come from adding more, but from listening more closely to what is already present. When you allow color to evolve through layers, it begins to speak in its own way—subtle, bold, messy, and alive.
Let this page be less about results and more about response.
Less about choosing the “right” color,
and more about trusting how it wants to move.
