After my last abstract painting in bright, bright colors, the canvas I'm working on now is the antidote--muted and darker. But I was still interested in applying some of the techniques I had learned in the previous painting, so I drew freehand circles in black across the canvas. Unlike the previous painting, which has its momentum from bottom to top, I wanted this canvas to have a focal point near the top center, so I began with smaller circles there.
Then, using a brush, I flattend and softened the black lines. But I did not want to go down the path I'd followed previously. I wanted something looser. So I did not fill in these circles, but instead drew more circles in white, which had a "floating" effect. This is all still pretty much background:
