Lithium - the chemical elements series of abstract paintings

Before I tell you why I am creating a series of paintings inspired by the periodic table of the chemical elements it is, perhaps, worth exploring what abstract art is (to me at least) and hopefully dispel the notion that some have that it is all just rubbish created by randomly throwing paint at a canvas. I hope to show you that there is a lot of thought put into it and the paintings can have an underlying meaning to them.

what is abstract art?

Abstract art can be very subjective and I know that not everyone gets it. In fact, I was one of those people. Years ago, my wife took me to the Tate Modern in London to see an art exhibition (long before I ever became an artist) and I really didn’t get it at all. One particular installation was a stack of red towels, in different shades, placed on top of a tall white rectangular column. I honestly thought we had something very similar in our airing cupboard at home!

As I got into art I started to do a lot of research about the different forms and genres, including impressionism and abstract art. This research led me to dig deeper to find out what motivates artists to create impressionistic or abstract paintings. Surely it can’t just be random splodges of paint. And it became clear that it wasn’t. Far from it. I learned that a great deal of planning goes into the art and especially so if the artist is trying to create a series. A series of paintings need to sit together and have a sense of cohesion otherwise, why would they be a series? Okay, I guess I could create all manner of different paintings and call them my November or Winter Series but that would mess up the point I’m trying to make!

Xenon - the chemical elements series of abstract paintings

Ultimately, I would argue that abstract art is not pretentious nonsense and all have a sense of purpose or meaning. Of course, the artist may leave it to the viewer to decide what that meaning or purpose is by providing an equally abstract title that offers no immediate clue as to what motivated the artist to create the piece in the first place. However, that doesn’t mean the artist didn’t think about the composition and plan carefully how the painting would look when finished. Even if it does look chaotic.

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Using nature to inspire abstract art

Now, I love order, so the idea of simply throwing paint around and hoping for the best was never going to work. I needed something to hang my art against (and not just a wall!) and it didn’t take long for an idea to develop.

Some of you may know that I’m a scientist by day and indeed have a PhD in chemistry and so I thought I would try to combine my day job with my love of art. The result is an abstract series of acrylic on canvas paintings inspired by the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements. My aim is to eventually create an interpretation of all 118 elements.

Some of the paintings will have colours inspired by the colours of the elements themselves but many metallic elements are simply grey. Some elements burn with characteristic flames and so I have tried to use some of these in the paintings. Others may be radioactive (or have isotopes that are radioactive) and are therefore constantly decaying by emitting particles. Again, I have tried to convey this sense of dynamism in the artwork.

Chemical elements are popular

The idea to create a series of paintings inspired by the chemical elements seems to have gone down well. When I started out, I thought I would end up with a collection of paintings that I could show off and tell the world “Hey, look I painted 118 chemical elements”. The paintings turned out to be very popular indeed. Many of my early paintings sold almost immediately. Others were specifically requested by customers who had a particular interest in an element because they had worked with it.

Thorium - the chemical elements abstract series

When I started painting the chemical elements abstract series I used a variety of different sizes of canvas (and still do if specifically requested) but now I try to keep the canvas the same size. So, all of my production paintings (in other words not commissioned) are created in acrylic on 8 x 8-inch (20cm) box canvas.

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I hope you found this article interesting and useful and I’d love it if you would check out my abstract series on chemical elements and let me know what you think. Is there a series of paintings you would like to see me paint? Let me know.