One of the first assignments in The Abstract in Nature was to select a natural object and zoom in on it to create an abstract painting using only black, white, and grays. Prior to taking this class, I have concentrated on learning to draw realistically; this was a complete shift in thinking for me.
It took me several weeks to finish the assignment, each attempt was deemed “too representational”. I painted over my earlier attempts and tried again this weekend. I used large brushes and acrylics thickened with glass bead medium or molding paste to play with texture and brush strokes. The blueish paint is Payne’s Gray.
Priscilla Read - Art Journey 
Love it! Sucks that we have to work so hard to get the best result!