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 

 

Autumn Walk in the Park

 

"Autumn Walk in the Park" ©2025

 

In my last blog post I mentioned that I hoped to use the small 3.50 x 2.50 inch paintings in my sketchbook as inspiration in painting larger artworks.

I rarely paint fall landscapes, so I made a goal to make several in my sketchbook this year. Out of that group, this little mini painting really captured a fall mood, so I decided to try painting it larger and on canvas. 

 

Small, but has a mighty big mood.

 

I have to admit, in the end I couldn't resist the the pull of the referring back to the photo. Which is a really good inspiration point and nothing wrong with using it, I just hoped to get closer to that wonderful expressiveness that lives in these little paintings.

 

October 19, 2025 photo

To be fair, my larger 7 x 5 inch painting isn't an exact copy of the photo either and that is exactly what I am striving to do, create an interpretation that is mine but still hopefully expresses why I thought this moment was worth painting that other people will resonate with too. 

 

"Autumn Walk in the Park" ©2025

 

I believe that what the camera captures doesn't always compare to what the mind's eye sees. I may not be able to step very far from my references yet, but I will keep trying because think there is an important skill there for me to learn. 

If you find you are feeling stuck in the same old, same old in creating, think of a small way to push your boundaries and feel that excitement of exploring the unknown again. 

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina 

 

Summertime Sketchbook Tour

 Summertime and I can never get enough of sunlight shining through the various types of green leaves, whether it be flowers or trees, I'm always looking for those glorious, glowing moments. 

Here's a quick look at a few "stop me in my tracks" inspirations which have made it into my July sketchbook pages so far...

Early morning in a nearby park and the blossoming Russian sage is captivating, I took so many photos!! I love the soft purple surrounded by all that green.

 

 Photographing into the sun, hoping to get a balanced image of the brilliant sun rays and dappled shadow below pine and deciduous trees.

 

The formal arrangement of repeating sprinkler arches and strategically placed trees is satisfying to me. It feels balanced, serene.

One of my favorite trees to photograph, I always find it's twisty branches so interesting.

 

 A reminder that all of these little gems are truly small, only 2.50 by 3.50 inches, it takes me about an hour to paint each one. My goal is to choose my favorite ones, then paint them larger and try to capture that same fresh brushwork.

I haven't been successful yet, but I keep trying. I find it's often helpful to have an inspiration and goal to keep me focused and moving forward to improve my skills. 

 What type of creative journey calls to your heart? Decide on one small step you can take on that path and begin.

Happy Creating! 

>^-^< 

Tina

Beware The Reference Photo Trap!

 

"Shades of Pink"

 

Question: What does that blue diagonal section on the right side of the painting above look like to you? 

Is it a river with a mountain range behind in the distance? 

Is it a sidewalk in shadow, speckled with sunlight? 

Here is the original photo I took for reference to give you the answer.

Beauty behind bars.

 

When I put the photo and painting side by side, you can see I actually painted what I saw fairly accurately, minus the fence bars, of course. 

Original photo and "Shades of Pink" painting

 

I painted "Shades of Pink" in 2021 and it never felt quite right to me and I couldn't quite put my finger on "why" exactly. 

This spring, I decided to try again to figure out the problem. When I asked for input from my husband, and my cousin, both of them with great artistic sensibilities, it finally became clear that they were visually confused by the sidewalk in shadow and they both thought they were seeing a river with green mountains in the distance.

My problem suddenly became obvious, I had been trapped by one of the biggest pitfalls of painting from photos! 

I've known for over 30 years that sometimes what you see in a photo may not translate well into a painting, even if you paint what you see accurately, it may not look right no matter what you do.

Both of them gave me some useful advice on how I could clear up the confusion. My cousin in particular had this excellent insight to share:

Essentially, the sidewalk lacks context, there are no visual clues to suggest what it actually is, there is no grass growing in the sidewalk cracks, and we can't see the tree that is casting the dark shadow. So I could either add more detail to the sidewalk or I could emphasize the cast shadow. 

"Shades of Pink" with more shadow, less "river."

I didn't want more details in the background pulling the focus away from the poppies, so I chose to increase the shadow. It only took a little bit of time and paint and like magic, a painting that has puzzled me for years already looked so much better!

Now, that one lonely poppy bud really looks odd and I think the painting needs a few more buds to balance it out. Since they don't exist in the original photo, I used a little digital "copy and paste" to test out where to place them.
 

The One has become Five.

I think it is an improvement! It is these kinds of visual puzzles that make the art of painting both frustrating and very exhilarating when you finally solve them. Now it's time to get out the brushes and paint those buds in for real.

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

Perception Shift

 

This painting is a failure. 

Yes, you read that right, I painted this sunrise in 2009, it was the view from our house in Taos Canyon looking towards the east, I used to love to watch the sunrise colors shine through the branches of a group of juniper trees and one young ponderosa pine. 

I remember struggling with this painting for a long, long time. My sunset colors were too bright at first, I toned them down, but I couldn't get them to blend how I wanted, purple and yellow made an awful muddy color where they met in the sky, I couldn't get the dark color for the trees to be less transparent, plus the clouds looked just awful to me. I finally reached a point where I declared it “finished enough," put it away and decided painting sunrise/sunset landscapes was just not for me.

15 years later...

Imagine my surprise when I pulled it out of the cardboard box it was stored in last week and realized, it’s not as bad as I remembered, I had actually captured the look of those sunrises from that particular place and time!

What in the world was wrong with my perception that I thought this painting was such a failure?

If I remember correctly, I think I was too invested in making it look exactly like the photo. I had the idea that if I followed the colors in a photo precisely, my painting would be successful, I couldn't fail, and I was truly disappointed that I couldn't get the clouds or the colors to express the joy I felt on those mornings.

The irony is that this spring I finally made a little sunset painting that I absolutely love. I was taking a class on painting light taught by Jed Dorsey, and instead of following the reference photo for the class assignment exactly, I combined his color strategy and my own memories of Greece.

 

The sunset colors are kind of over-the-top bright, but I love them, as well as the whole glowing rocky shoreline moodiness of the painting. I didn't think I had sunset painting capability in me, but there it is!

This was truly a lesson learned, I think being so obsessed with perfection clouded my judgement, I couldn't see clearly what I had done right! I also never imagined that letting go of the strategy to copy colors exactly would give me more of what I was looking for.

Let go of the fear of doing it wrong, and trust more -

Happy Creating!

>^-^<

Tina

Seeing the World in Black and White.

 

In the 36 years that I have been making paintings, mixing color to exactly match the subject has been a big priority for me and over the years, I have become fairly confident at it. 

With that in mind, I was very intrigued when I saw a free YouTube class taught by artist Dianna Shyne called "Freedom with Color" where she was offering another way to paint besides just matching the colors of the subject, so of course I signed up!

In the class, Dianna gave a great condensed explanation about the qualities of color, encompassing Hue, Value, Color temperature and Intensity which was a great refresher for me and very helpful for people who are new to making art.

What I absolutely loved was watching her painting demonstration where she took those qualities of color and made three completely different paintings using only her black and white photo, posted above, for reference.

Honestly, I had thought of trying this myself before this class, but was feeling like a bit of a 'fraidy cat, not knowing exactly how to start. It was freeing to watch her do it, it seemed completely do-able, especially if you only chose one color family to practice.

Next Dianna gave us the assignment to:

1. Choose a black and white photo, either hers or our own.

2. Paint a study in one color, matching the values in the photo.

3. Paint another study and play with color. 

All my values in place.

I started with a value sketch based on Dianne's reference photo. This always helps me to simplify shapes and decide where to place the darkest dark and lightest lights.

I was excited to try this for myself, but I admit, it was such a different way for me to think about choosing colors and the options were so wide open, it was a little overwhelming!
 

Sunrise

Thankfully, all that work I did playing with complimentary colors in my sketchbook came to the rescue, I had some experience on how they could work together, so I chose purple and yellow to start, with a little orange to warm things up. I began with imagining an early morning sunrise.

Winter stillness

For my second practice attempt, I chose blue and orange which is another complimentary pairing that I've had success with, all I needed to do was add was a bit of white. I had more of a wintry vibe in mind and I ended up really liking this one a lot.

Summer Evening

 Last, I decided to try adding some green to what I had learned from the other two paintings, secretly hoping I might come close to the original color photo, I couldn't give up all my color matching habits that quickly. :D

Eventually Dianna did allow us to see her original color photo, the sky has more purple and the water reflections are more pink, but overall I think I did surprisingly well!  

 I found this exercise so incredibly fascinating and helpful, it really made it clear to me that getting the values correct, the dark, light and middle tones in the right places, is truly more important than matching the colors of the subject exactly!

Ever since this class, I've been inspired to drop all the color out of my reference photos and practice painting how light or dark the subject is, not the exact color.

Here's an example from one of my sketchbook pages, with all four studies painted from the same black and white photo of one red pear. 

 

One pear, so many colors!

If you are wanting to experiment with the way you use color, I can definitely recommend trying this strategy.

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

Stuck? Think small

 

Some of my favorites.

I have a confession to make, it used to take me several years to fill up a sketchbook because frankly, I didn’t use it that often.  

Having a sketchbook was a requirement back in my art school-college days, so of course I had one, but after college, I might sketch out a few ideas, but I was more likely to draw something directly on the canvas or paper and get straight to painting.

 

Early in 2019, I bought my first Canson Mix Media sketchbook and that little change helped shift my whole approach. The paper is sturdy enough to handle wet media like acrylic paint and sketch-wash pencils, so figuring out a value drawing felt more like painting than using regular pencils and I liked that, a lot.

I didn't realize the type of sketchbook I had was part of what was holding me back from the valuable skill of practicing!
 

Learning that I can make several small paintings in the same time it would take me to do one large painting, with very little risk, means less stress and more practice, and more practice is the best way to ease anxiety and gain confidence in making art. Plus, I can see which of my painting ideas are successful before attempting to paint them larger.

"Indian Paintbrush" - for Fred

I have wanted to do a series of paintings based around the flowers that are blooming in my garden, but it always took too long to do a full size painting, keep up with the season and everything else in my life that I need to do too.   

My solution this year, think small and practice in my sketchbook and don’t worry about larger paintings right now.

The crocus and miniature yellow daffodils are always the first to arrive in my little garden and so far I am pleased with these little 2.50 x 3.50 inch paintings that I can get done in around an hour and a half total time each. I often sketch out the design one day and paint the next. Hopefully, this time I will be able to keep up with the blooms this year.

If you find yourself stuck on a creative project that isn’t moving forward, perhaps try changing one small part of your usual way of doing things and get those wheels rolling again.

Happy creating!

>^-^<

Tina

p.s. No, I'm not getting any perks or money for mentioning Canson brand, it's just the type of sketchbook that suits me best right now. I was genuinely surprised how that one small change made such a difference for me.

January Blooms

 

The creative process rarely goes in a direct line...

In the spring of 2023, I started 3 mini-geraniums from seed. They bloomed so well all summer that I didn't have the heart to let them die in the fall, so I brought them inside to my studio.

 I was amply rewarded because when the snow was at it's deepest in January, they were blooming with all their hearts. 

The low winter sun shining through their petals was such a boost to my winter time blues, I wanted to make at least one painting of them, to try a capture some of that summertime beauty. This winter I was determined to make that wish happen.

 

I set one of the potted geraniums down onto my office chair and was able to take this wonderful photograph. The way the sunlight made the petals and leaves glow was very inspiring to me.

Several small practice attempts in my sketchbook this year led to the 6x8 inch painting on the right, but unfortunately, I didn't feel like I came close to expressing what I was after, I know I've missed something when the photograph is better than the painting!

 

 I went back and studied more of my original photos from 2023 of the flowers against the snow and tried again.

 This painting is much, much closer to the feeling I was hoping to express, so it was definitely worth trying again. I think there may be an even better painting waiting to come into existence, but I won't know until I give it another try. It's a zig-zag journey from one painting experiment to another.

Happy creating!

>^-^< Tina

Oh, Christmas Tree! Revisted

 

Which one do you resonate with? Honestly, I like them both, but it was an unsolved puzzle that made me want to revisit this painting.

The key to solving that puzzle was found in that black and white drawing on the upper right hand side of my sketch book, plus going back to the original source material.

 

 

This was the original inspiration, and even though my painting from 2020 is nice, it has bothered me since then that I didn't capture that same sense of winter magic, I wanted my lighted tree to glow at night too, dang it! 

(Note, I would give credit to the artist if I could find them, if you know, please tell me.)

 What helped me see the solution was dropping all the color out of the original so I could get my brain to register how truly dark that background sky and foreground snow really is. 

 

The irony is, this is my first sketch in 2020 and I had the right idea. It's a mystery to me that I ended up with such a different final painting. 

 

I do know that even as a beginning artist, I always struggled to get the dark values truly dark. My brain seems to default to seeing a lighter value unless I consciously remind myself to triple check.

 

 

Even with this year's painting, I wish I had taken a photo of how light in value that first sky background was at the start. It took at least four more layers of ultramarine blue and purple to get that value dark enough!

 I'm pleased to say that now I feel that wonderful sense of completion from finally solving a puzzle. After the success of this experiment, I'm always going to make a value sketch of every subject before I start painting!

 For example, here's an interesting exercise I created for myself. I made the value sketch first from an idea in my mind, no reference photos, gasp! Next I did my best to match those values in color, it's not an amazing painting but I think I matched the values well. I'm determined to train that brain of mine!

Happy Creating!

>^-^<

Tina

P.S. One of my favorite things for making those value sketches, besides plain black acrylic paint and water, is a water soluble graphite pencil. The brand is "The General's Sketch and Wash" No links to sponsors or anything, I just wanted to share.