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Still Life with Guitar, 1921 |
There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. ~ Pablo Picasso
We think of Picasso as an abstract artist or a cubist (or both). In reality he was a very proficient artist who chose to play with his subjects as a child would. He said, "It takes a long time to become young," and it is obvious that he was constantly working on it!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4kDFTcREdOiCsfU4STwPEmBQnmEsK_XLjP-9do3Vu3plKuy-gMzRgiamgkV4Mk86-MDCWL-G6T_03UzBOW4E1iOo1PDYfxKIURz_zLE6JvE1KLSj1SIg7Pv3MRjnC_PBsH7Sgw/s320/Guitar.progress1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJqlIXKVcR7tdixjrcHu1Pea_EDIu1SNAuFTXXMRlNXEDswetTabf4SYIQ_9HGQw9w-vllaKB5OCzxpNRdYO9WRgTSjYpRRRkWsAcU28j3J9eBhnKvwJJbMM6Oc8-ylL20dhmL1w/s320/Guitar.progress2.jpg)
We drew nothing. We simply cut out or tore the shapes freehand and assembled all the parts.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvQSVVpTQ8MBWqNOIQnJXtCGVcRJ8rmvZqyTQrVlvsBRYykFzdVRw36SoXqF9Hxd4NykxgYdQVu_hUxAXxCDvePYUscY4v01huxwmogjxGBPKyKd8F1UTUj0GVQNEhavhKRN8cg/s320/Guitar.progress4.jpg)
We started by creating the guitar from two guitar-ish shapes that did not necessarily match up from different types of paper. We cut out a neck, and we glued the guitar together. Some of us pretended to play our guitars before moving on.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1YmOl4gb8NISSTRjWYzX_ZdW5GTVLkD5qpeJCmyRPj4Xutoj-vV7l_yi-rQ8srHW0k442MzJVL2eSLJzwP1Xnxdux8eDV0FvBthj-RqzqSdFh8mu2LurO_KeMB19Gv5Ro7X1Z7Q/s320/Guitar.progress3.jpg)
We placed them on our substrate (14" x 18" poster board) and arranged other elements around and beneath them. Nothing was glued down until the composition looked interesting, balanced, and complete.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAPBBOkwPYkhjS-rpLcN5Jq0_QlRs7e5J7MOKl9SrqQNHFqO44pFzeASFSc2QbtzMUUeT_gcws52HOS_1Pp_S-FVQ4Jv2YGi1nEoV2jeHg42wHIPF2G3aijv-0hBHsVKlPCXHxtA/s320/Guitar.progress5.jpg)
After gluing, we added drawn elements and details, such as outlining, textures, shadows, and shapes - like zigzags, which gave some guitars an "electric guitar" feel. We used metallic Sharpies for most of our detail work.
I think they are all awesome!
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My sample |
Our thanks to Meri Cherry for this very cool art project idea!