Growing in My Creative Practice

detail from 20"x40" work in progress

I've been experimenting with a potential commission piece in my painting. I usually paint intuitively; to work with a specific size of canvas and colour palette is new to me.

But I'm enjoying the challenge.

detail from 20"x40" work in progress

A relatively risk-free experiment, whether the potential buyers end up buying the piece or not the experience is pushing me out of my comfort zone.

It's a great way to grow.

"Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new." ~ Brian Tracy

 ~~~

How could you stretch out of your comfort zone today? Are there opportunities that - although a little intimidating - could offer you a relatively safe place to experience growth in your creative practice?

Art-making Mantra #3: Just Play

"Curiosity gets us further than curriculum. Serious art requires serious play - and play, by definition, is anarchic, naughty."

~ Julia Cameron, Walking in This World

Every time I channel this mantra I hear the sing-song voice of my first abstract painting teacher: "Just play", she'd say when I got too stressed out about a particular piece.

What does that mean?

the result of anarchic, messy, play - a piece in progress

In the context of working on a specific project, it means loosening up.

Play is letting the brush dance lightly on the canvas to the chaotic rhythms of Coltrane. It's spending half an hour following the evening sun with your camera, guided only by shadows and light. It's making wild and crazy marks on the page with your palette knife because it feels good.

Play means not thinking, not trying, not striving. It means suspending the censor and not worrying about where the piece is going. There'll be time for that later.

Play means being in your creativity.

Art-making Mantra #3: Just Play.

How could you let yourself play in your art today? Whatever your medium, I dare you to let your brush dance.

Unpredictable Art

A few weeks ago I was into painting dancers. I created this:

Disney princess-like painting

Though I liked some of the colours and textures, it was a little too "Disney" for my taste (not dissin' Disney, it just wasn't where my headspace was at the time).

So I played, and ended up with this:

 top-down civilization, 9x12 on canvas

Seriously. There's no way I could've predicted that when I laid the first brushstrokes to the top one.

I love making art. It keeps me on my toes.

5-Day Challenge: Day 5

I did it! Five days of going to the table and five pieces started!

Yesterday's results were, um, interesting. I ended up painting an abstract cityscape - I think - and it's very green:

cityscape - work in progress, 16x12 on mat board

The jury's still out on this one, but I'm OK with that.

The point of this week's little experiment was not to finish five paintings, but to simply show up at the table and that I did. I even learned some lessons and gleaned insights along the way - fodder for a post to come no doubt.

Thank you for stopping by and for leaving me words of encouragement as I reported on my progress. I had a lot of fun and I intend to do it again.

Maybe next time you'll join me?

5-Day Painting Challenge: Day 4

Day 4, still painting - and LOVING it!

Yesterday I had about forty-five minutes at the table again before heading out. I tried to continue Frida's face from Day 3 but it just wasn't happening.

So I picked up a piece I started in early February but never finished (also seen here when I blogged about Art-making Mantra #2):

work in progress, 12x12 on cardboard

The piece has been sitting on my studio shelf for five weeks. I liked the movement and lines in it so I kept it out hoping I'd eventually see - perhaps in a sudden flash of inspiration - how I could transform them into something interesting.

A few weeks ago I borrowed a kid's art book from the library called Looking at Pictures. On the very last page I flipped to a photo of Cézanne's Bathers. Bing! My inspiration.

Bathers by Paul Cézanne

Fast-forward to Day 4. After a fruitless try at Frida's facial features with about a half hour left I finally pulled out my library book with Cézanne's picture, my pastels (water-soluble) and a photo of another painting, by Degas this time for good measure, called The Tub. And I played.

No perfection necessary, just fluid lines loosely transformed into a woman's shape:

still a work in progress - now inspired by Cézanne, 12x12 on cardboard

Lesson learned: Even a small half hour can make a big difference.