Picasso

Abstract art has always baffled me, and I've had a time learning to appreciate it. My drawing teacher in Charleston, Lynne Riding, could draw anything and make it look incredibly real and "academic", yet here are her most prized paintings:

http://www.lynneriding-art.com/

For the longest time it confused me how she, with such a talent that I continually strive to acquire, chooses these bizarre, seemingly child-like doodles?

And then I remembered Picasso's bull breakdown, which shows the progression of a piece from academic to abstract:

http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/animals_in_art/pablo_picasso.htm

These artist are in an entirely different playing field, reflecting visions from a foreign creative dimension that requires their audience to break the easily-accessed understanding and recognition of what's known, what's expected, and what's familiar.

Out of the box.

Oh, the many things in everyday life we try to stuff in a mental box of suffocating expectation. I am ignorantly guilty.

So, thank you abstract artists of the world, for a beautiful reminder to take a deep breath, give a second thought to a first impression, and then maybe a third, to search for hidden beauty, to find common ground with what appears to be unrelatable, in people, in ideas, in actions, in creations.