A Different Kind of Painting Inspiration

  

 

 

"Fractured" Reminds me of sunset light shining through tall grasses.

Last January I saw that Nicholas Wilton's free course called the"Creative Awakening Challenge" was going to be offered in February.

My art making plate was already dangerously full last winter, but this class was exactly what I had been looking for. I had been searching for awhile for another way to approach my art making and Nicholas promised that his 20 minute a day "Bloom" practice could really transform the way I made my art.

I had never allowed myself to paint this type of sadness before, it helped me.

 

The class was only for 25 days and when I read that we would be making paintings too and not just listening and observing, I squeezed a little more space onto that overflowing plate and signed up.  

"Feelings of Hope" I felt compelled to start with pink and green.

 

Essentially, Nicholas was teaching us how to tap into our own feelings as inspiration for creativity. This may sound very odd to many of you, but this was never a topic discussed in my time at art school. 

 

Design, Value, Color theory, drawing skills, all the essential building blocks were covered but never anything about how to use emotion as inspiration, this was very new territory for me. I suppose they just expect that you already know how to do this, but I honestly didn't, of course I learned how in the sense of using color and design to reflect a mood, yes, but not tapping into what kind of marks and color choices reflect me.

"Headache" I tried to capture how awful I felt that day.

Imagine using NO photo references, just sitting with an emotion, choosing a color and putting it down on the paper however you want. Then choosing how to respond to that color and continuing for 20 minutes or longer if you wish, but only 20 minutes were required. 

"Feeling Stressed" The work load was overwhelming me.

  

It was fascinating over those 25 days to see what colors I chose, what marks I loved making. I had no idea how much I loved cadmium orange as an exclamation mark of color, or how just the movement of scribbling with a colored pencil could feel so good and then the satisfaction of spreading thick acrylic paint over it all with a palette knife.  I could use any materials I wanted, I used acrylic metallic inks that I rarely use, it was so much fun!  

"Feeling a Little Blue" I love this painting so much.

I chose to make small paintings on paper, some of them amazed me with their power or beauty, others were not that great, but it didn't matter. The point was to practice gaining confidence in connecting to my own inner north star.

These paintings are the first seven I made in order day by day so you can see how varied the images were. I certainly wasn't sure what I was doing at first, but I did figure out a format eventually. For me, 5 x 7 inches was a good paper size and after the first four, I changed from painting in my sketchbook to heavier 185lb watercolor paper.

"Constrained and Contained" An image from a dream that morning. 

All of this exploration involved making abstract art and after 25 days of trying this type of creating, I was interested in figuring out how to take what I learned and combine it with my usual style of realism, but I will save that post for another time, so until then, challenge yourself to try a different type of inspiration for making your art, you might surprise yourself.

Happy Creating! 

>^-^< 

Tina 

 p.s. If you are interested in learning more about Nicholas Wilton, his website is:www.art2life.com  This link sends you to the Sunday Bloom tab where he posts weekly insights about art making.

He also has a YouTube channel called Art2Life 

 

Did Your Eyes Understand What My Paint Brush Was Saying?

I recently had an interesting conversation with a friend who asked, "what if I want to try painting, but I can't draw at all?" and "would what I make be considered art if it doesn't look realistic?" We had a great discussion about how only using the elements of color, shape and texture is a completely valid way to make art.

If you have ever wondered this yourself, perhaps you would like to try the challenge of creating Abstract art. The on-line dictionary defines Abstract art as art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve it's effect using shapes, forms, colors and textures.

Personally, I find making Abstract art really challenging! It feels safer to go by the visual roadmap outside of me instead of the one inside of me. I know the beautiful things I see in the real world will most likely be beautiful on the canvas. It's kind of scary for me to go creating without a clear visual destination ahead. 

Many people think abstract art is so simple, a child can do it. Perhaps they can, but can you re-create that childlike creative freedom as an adult? Try it and see. It is possible to have an unexplored gift for this type of painting, so of course it would seem simple to you. Remember the best abstract art still has to balance the elements of color, shape, texture and design to be visually interesting.

Abstract art is also about exploring the emotional internal landscape and being able to successfully communicate that world to others without using obvious, recognizable images. See what I mean about it not being a simple art form?

What I find the most interesting about really good abstract art is how much it is an expression of the individual artist, like an emotional fingerprint or snapshot.

In the interest of expanding creativity by trying new and scary things, I am going to step out of my comfort zone of realism and put the the advice I gave my friend to the test.

The first element I am going to focus on for inspiration and some direction is color.

One of my all time favorite resources for color inspiration is a site called Design Seeds. The blog owner creates these beautiful color palettes from photos of just about anything. If you love color as much as I do, prepare to spend some time here. You can search by color palette or subject matter. Click on the button, "explore by" on the top of the page. Here is the page I found by searching one of my favorite colors, periwinkle. Design Seeds inspirational color.  
So many lovely choices! This is the one I decided to use.

Next I mixed up my palette from acrylic paints. I used three colors, Chromium Oxide Green, Cadmium Yellow Light, Prisma Violet and Titanium White to make the six color palette. 

The next element I chose was shape. I went with circles, mostly because I had all kinds of various sized cups and bottles handy on my desk. Also, after choosing the color palette it gave me an idea of what I wanted to convey and I thought circles might be a good choice.

I traced/drew the circles in pencil on the canvas and then painted the green background around them using brushes and a canvas knife.

Next I added the purple and pinks... Yikes, I have hit the ugly stage and I have no idea where I am going with this! I know the emotion I want to express, but I'm not certain how to get there. I find I am thinking a lot about design and what I know about color. Hmmm...when in doubt, paint it out, i.e. bust out a big brush full of Titanium White! ;D

Whew, saved by the big brush! The white softened the hard edges of the pinks and purples and I felt I had a direction again. I started adding some little detail circles in light green and found myself naturally making the seashell swirl that I have been doodling since I was a teenager. I went with it. This is what I mean by Abstract art being a sort of fingerprint. Each artist has their own "go to" shape they naturally make and this one is mine. I haven't used it purposefully in a painting in years, but there it is.

Now, the important question. What emotion or idea does this little painting convey to you? Comment below or on the Facebook page. I'm curious to see if I was successful at sending my message to you. 

Happy creating!

>^-^< 
Tina

p.s. If you want to see a masterful use of acrylic painting techniques in a short 3:22 minute video, check this link out on YouTube.    SurajFineArts - Abstract painting