Organic Abstract

 I loom knitted the organic shapes and attached them to this large painting.  I used spackling paste and acrylic paints to create texture on the canvas.   The shapes are all open, except one.  It is closed up.  It is one of my favorites.

However, at our local art fair, people just could not deal with the open spaces.  Almost every comment was, "Well, what do you put in these holes?"  I had 4 separate suggestions to put some nests and birds in them.  One person thought it was one of those games where you throw a ball in the circles and asked me if there was a ball that went with it.  It was the first time I had to explain many times that an abstract has no specific meaning.  It is more about concept, movement, lines, patterns, shapes, color or textures; the simplicity or exaggeration of one or all.  That an abstract allows the viewer to experience it and interpret it his own way--different from anyone else's version.  What I found most interesting was how uncomfortable people were with the empty spaces.  There was a compulsion to "fill an empty space with something".  Interesting, right?