Artist Studio
8 x 10 watercolor on arches I once read a passage from the great painter John Sargent that said something to the effect, “when outdoors give yourself 15 minutes and then paint what you are looking at”. This is good advice for the artist looking to get more creative because we spend so much time
Continue Reading “Creative Jumpstart: Pick a familiar subject”
Lets take a simple format for a landscape just a horizon line, not in the middle of the paper, and perhaps a line above it indicating some feature like a row of trees or distant piece of mountains. I want you to play with color, using many different options, yellow skies, grey skies, red skies,
In this jumpstart, I will use a very simple subject and try to get some good mileage out of it. Now remember our goal here is to get moving, turn a corner or just fire up the creative juices and this exercise should really help. Take the backs of several of those less successful pieces
Continue Reading “Creative Jumpstart: skies, lifts, and scrapes”
Draw a scene from memory I have just returned from a trip to Southern Brazil and along the way I took at least 1 thousand photos of which I will probably never use any of them to paint from. I use photos sparingly and only for specific detail information and color ideas but rarely do
Continue Reading “Creative Jumpstarts: Draw/Paint a scene from Memory”
Personal trainers say that it takes 21 days to develop a habit, one that you can really get into and own and happily I have found that for the artist this can also can be applied to the training of the creative person. Everyday carve a little time that is dedicated to exploring some aspect
Looking Down Today I want you to imagine you are looking down on an imaginary landscape. For mine I am looking down on a piece of farmland as it borders a body of water. I take the back of a failed painting and yes I have a bunch of them and if you don’t you
Tape your paper into 4 rectangles or squares, whichever format makes you the most comfortable. I find it easier to make a composition on a rectangular page than a square but the square is much more fun to deal with, especially if you are looking to create something a little out of the ordinary.
Unless you are Koko the elephant who paints will his tail or Marvin the Miraculous who paints with his feet, you will probably be using a brush to deliver your creative intentions to the canvas or the paper. I am a firm believer that in transparent watercolor, the quality of the brushwork is one of
Put in Some Drama In this exercise I want you to add some conflict or tension to your compositions. This will represent a challenge to those who have never stepped out of the comfort zone of copying a photograph. Think about a way to arrange your shapes, change the values, colors or proportions to make
Take out a good quality drawing tool, something like a 4B or darker pencil, a graphite stick, something that is holds on to the paper but does allow some modification. Start somewhere on the paper and begin to draw a line, try not to lift your drawing implement vary the pressure and angle really try
The “Creative Jumpstart” is designed to give frequent short exercises that you can use to expand your creative environment and to push you towards a daily artistic habit. My goal is for you to look at your art as being part of your daily routine and not something that is unapproachable and daunting. Use the