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Abstract art exercises

Six practical ways to generate abstract work without waiting for inspiration.

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Six practical ways to generate abstract work without waiting for inspiration. The aim is not to create one rigid rule, but to give you a dependable starting point you can test in your own practice.

The working principle: make the simplest useful decision first, then add complexity only when it improves the work or the business.

Practical checklist

  1. Limit yourself to three colours.
  2. Make a painting using only one tool.
  3. Translate a landscape into five large shapes.
  4. Make ten small studies before choosing one idea to enlarge.

What to do next

Try the advice on one real piece of work rather than redesigning your whole practice at once. Record what changed, what it cost and whether the result was genuinely better.