We discuss:

🎨 How can thinking abstractly can transform your painting practice, opening up new creative possibilities even if you usually work in a realistic style.

🎨 What is “real” in art?

🎨 And why do we keep circling back to the tug of war between realism and abstraction?

To push ourselves, we set a painting challenge: create a work that sits right on the edge of realism and abstraction — predominantly abstract, but still recognizable.

The result? A creative experiment that forced us to blur the line between clarity and imagination.

Watch along to see our paintings unfold. Whether you’re an artist, art student, art collector or just curious about how abstraction and realism shape the way we see the world, this conversation is packed with art history insights, painting tips, and creative inspiration.

Do you prefer to work abstractly or realistically? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments (or use #smerdontoast when posting to social media) as we’d love to hear your thoughts.

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell for more episodes on painting, art history, and creative challenges.

------------

🖌️ About Smerdon Toast: Smerdon Toast is a YouTube and podcast series created by award-winning Australian painters Anne Smerdon and Seabastion Toast.

Each episode, we challenge each other with a different art challenge designed to push our painting skills and stretch our creative muscles.

From painting competitions and timed painting sessions to unusual art topics, we invite you to join us for a deep dive into the world of contemporary art-making.

🖼️ Shop the artworks from each episode:

👉 www.annesmerdon.com

👉 www.seabastiontoast.com

------------

Key topics from this episode: Abstract painting techniques, Realism in art history, Realism vs abstraction debate, Painting challenges for artists, How to think abstractly as a painter, Finding your balance between realism and abstraction

We discuss:

🎨 the pros and cons of going to art school 13:20

🎨 how to research the right art school for you 27:00

🎨 alternatives to art school for those that can't afford the cost or time of a degree 32:00

🎨 why learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting is so important

🎨 what secondary colours are and how we've used them

🎨 the science of colour 7:15

🎨 where you can find our foundational oil painting courses 46:20

Want to join the challenge? Share your work using #smerdontoast on Instagram, Tiktok or YouTube — we’d love to see it!

🖼️ Shop the artworks from each episode:

👉 www.annesmerdon.com

👉 www.seabastiontoast.com

🖼️ View our foundation painting courses:

👉 Toast’s foundation painting course

👉 Smerdon’s oil painting course

Follow along with the painting process as award-winning Australian artists Anne Smerdon and Seabastion Toast take on the deceptively simple painting challenge of painting something backlit (where the subject is drenched in shadow and the light comes from behind).

What sounds easy turns out to be a technical, emotional and philosophical minefield.

We discuss:

🎨 value (or tonal) massing and why tone does all the work when colour gets all the glory

🎨 painting techniques and losing contrast to gain atmosphere

🎨 the painting challenge and agony from working on a square canvas

🎨 the birth of abstract art and the realisation that maybe its not the subject but how we see it that matters

🎨 imposter syndrome in artists and the need for external validation

🎨 the joys of leaving things unsaid in your work

🎨 the art collection and art styles of artists Glenn Dean, Jeremy Lipking and Bonnard

Want to join the challenge? Share your work using #smerdontoast on Instagram, Tiktok or YouTube — we’d love to see it!

🖼️ Shop the artworks from each episode:

👉 www.annesmerdon.com

👉 www.seabastiontoast.com