So many times when we think of paintings, it brings to mind mostly oils and acrylics.  But there are a few artists out there who are creating artwork on canvas utilizing a medium usually reserved for more prosaic pursuits– like making out grocery lists.  Artists like Joan Salo are creating large scale artwork using pens.

These aren’t your traditional pen and ink drawings.  These are pen-drawn abstract paintings on canvas, as rich and vibrant as any oil painting.  These are like the spirographs we did as kids, taken to a whole new, grown-up level.  Vibrant colors, rendered in an organic, yet orderly composition.  These paintings have such a sense of movement, they almost seem alive.

Some patterns are creations of color and shape woven together like textiles, creating a plaid-like composition.

While others seem more like representations of wavelengths..

… or call to mind a colorful cave filled with stalactites.

Whatever it is that we see in Salo’s abstract works, she is reminding us that artists have long taken every day tools and used them to create the extraordinary.

To see more of Barcelona artist Joan Salo’s work, please visit her website.

All images are courtesy of the artist’s website.