Abstract Studio Prompt Series: No. 6 - Road Drawing

Welcome to my series of blog posts demystifying the process of making abstract art. Abstraction doesn’t have to be intimidating or confusing. In this series, I will encourage you to explore your everyday surroundings in unexpected ways, allowing you to use your daily life as rich subject matter for your art.

Artists you might enjoy for this prompt include Henri Michaux, Andre Breton, and Paul Klee. Take a look at each of their drawings.

Prompt: The next time you are a passenger in a car, bus, or train, bring your sketchpad and pencils or pens. Touch your drawing material down to the paper, and, keeping a loose grip on the drawing tool, allow the bumps and turns of the vehicle to move your hand around on the page, yielding abstract line-work and possibly some shapes.

Decide if you want to do this for 5 minutes, or for hours, and if you want to look at the drawing the entire time, or surprise yourself by only looking at the end.

Consider building upon these sketches in some way when you are back in your studio.