How To Become A Better Painter

Students ask me all the time....."How do I paint like that?" I can only imagine how many painters throughout history asked the same question....repeatedly, to their mentors, their teachers, their friends, in their own heads...they asked it. I can also hear the answer given as if it was a never ending echo that binds all artists. Paint....just go paint and practice, practice, practice. 

Yes, you can take a class, you can practice techniques until you are blue in the face, in fact, I hope you paint yourself with a blue face working on those techniques, it would be fabulous, but seriously, the key to becoming a better painter is to paint, often, daily, and sketch as well. There is one more thing I would add to that as a caveat of sorts.....give yourself the freedom to make a complete mess. 

There are voices we put in our own heads such as, "I can't draw," "I can't paint," I will never be good enough." I do it, everyone does it, but there must come a point in our artistic journey that we have to silence those voices...harshly, and put them to rest. We must replace them with these, every day we seek to create:

"I WILL EMBRACE THE PROCESS, NOT THE PRODUCT."

"I WILL GIVE MYSELF PERMISSION TO MAKE A MESS."

"MESSES ARE ACTUALLY THE BEST WAY TO LEARN."

"I AM AN ARTIST, I AM CAPABLE OF THIS JOURNEY, I WILL BE SUCCESSFUL IN GROWING, EVOLVING, AND ENJOYING MY CREATIVE PATH."

But we all must first do the work~

The paintings you see here are me...making a mess out of frustration. I am fascinated by the act of mark making, with fingers, with tools, with objects, with paint. I am also way beyond frustrated with some neighbors as well, so I first gave myself permission to just play with the paints and marks. 

I then gave myself permission to make mud in places...oh lawd, the dreaded mud!

I then imagined throwing eggs on their head. 

And I then covered most of it up and wrote my frustration out as marks. 

"I Could Throw Eggs" 8" by 5" acrylic and charcoal on paper

DETAIL SHOT

I have no clue what I will do with this, but that wasn't the point. The point was, I explored color, value, marks, transparency, negative acrylic painting, all the while imagining eggs dripping down the heads of some certain folks who I pray for often, lololol. 

The painting is simply that....a painting of practice and if I am ever to become a better painter I need to paint at least a 1,000 of these or so....

Go forth and make marks friends, paint, write, create, make a mess, and we will all celebrate our crap art together with the knowledge that we have invested time in ourselves and our creative gifts. :) Peace to you friends, so glad we are on this path together, and I promise....no egg throwing your way! 

Night Paintings

For as long as I can remember I have struggled with taming the creative mind, especially at night. Not sure what it is, but it's as if the night beings come and kiss the forehead spreading wild imagination babies all over the place and they begin to hatch in ones head. Being a creative, I think we have all been there haven't we? I have learned not to fight this though, and rather trust that on these nights, it is wise to get up and create. 


I call these "Night Paintings." It isn't really about creating a piece to sell or wow the socks off anyone, rather, it is about being true to those creative juices and letting them flow, as there is always something to be learned by them. Some times....more than others, I paint total crap and am totally cool with that. It releases space in the heart and mind I think for more sound, conceptual paintings to see the light of day. Other times, I totally love what I create and am grateful to have listened to the impetus to get up...and dream out loud. 


I started my first painting by simply placing random watercolors on the wet paper. I had no color palette in mind, just let my instincts go where they needed. I added graphite, watercolor pencil, and had a riot of a time placing paint to flow. Now, to be honest, there are times when these paintings can get totally overdone and turn to mud. It is so easy to do, especially of I rush through them, so, I went slowly. 

I did end up changing the page up at least 3 times, and then, when there was nothing but the 4am birds cackling, I looked at the piece and knew it had to be two paintings rather than one. With the aid of a mat, I knew exactly which section to cut out and keep, and which to throw in my collage pile, These two paints, "Night Flowers" and "Little Beach House" are what came of my first go of painting through the sleep.

"Night Flowers" 11'' by 12" acrylic on paper

"Little Beach House" 4 " by 12" acrylic on paper

My next instinct was to go to bed, at this point it was 5am...and then I thought to myself, I always wake about 6:15, so what's the point of going to bed now, so I kept on. I didn't photograph the steps in this piece, it is totally bizarre and wish I had. He is an unexpected delight that seemed to come out of the shadows and show himself. Maybe this is what the night beings look like...maybe he is a dream master, I haven't a clue. What I do know is that "I Live In Your Head" is one hoot of a painting! It is odd enough that I love it but then again I sit and shake my head that it is just too odd...if there is such a thing. 

"I Live In Your Head" 12" by 16" acrylic on paper

Living life as a creative means choosing to listen to the spirit when it calls, to get up and create even in the middle of the night, and trust that path to be the one to follow. I live this way with my faith, my creativity, and my writing, and for me, I can't imagine counting sheep any other way. 

The Freedom of Bike Riding Painting

Do you remember the first day you learned to ride a bike without training wheels as a child? Mine was a Saturday afternoon during the summer when we lived in Florida. Banana seated bicycles were all the rage and I had a raspberry blue one, which sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight. I can remember the feeling of pure bliss and freedom when my feet, ever so gently pushed one after the other and I managed to keep the wheel and handle bars straight, and it felt as if I was flying! I have never forgotten that day, that feeling, and my need to feel free with reckless abandon. 


These days I can no longer safely ride a bike without some type of training wheel to keep me steady because I have had many spine surgeries and a fall would be life altering. There are days, when I feel the wind in my hair, and hear it whisper to ride, but I know I have to remain still...and steady. That feeling is difficult because with the loss of being active that comes with 25+ surgeries one has to mourn the exciting, playful acts such as riding a bike that cannot be accomplished anymore. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about bike riding, the freedom it gives, the joy and jubilation, so I have decided to spend some time through a series of paintings working through this. 

I first chose a color palette. 

I then took some time to think through my feelings and intuitively began to place color and paper on paper. 

I then began to tinker with color and pattern, but not in a forced way, a more playful way and revisited the lesson of Juliette Crane in my Lifebook class for a bit of inspiration as well.  

My first painting, "The Freedom of Bike Riding", is strictly an intuitive piece based on my love of a playful color palette with collage. The abstraction comes from all the myriad of feelings one experiences while soaring on a bike, and the image is a reflection of the freedom one gains by being upright on wheels. Many times, through a painting, I will think through an emotion that has lingered, and mine would be the sadness over the loss of riding bikes. I hope through the process I can gain some joy of the experience once again, albeit in paint, and  have it take me back to a place and time that gave me much joy. 

Negative Acrylic Painting

Hey Ya'll! Lately, it seems on Pinterest I am seeing a ton, and I mean a ton, of negative acrylic paintings floating by in my stream and I decided I would try my hand out at it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this type of technique, you basically pull an object or image out from the background by covering the background colors to 'reveal' the image in the foreground. Lots of mixed media pieces are using this technique on canvas and in art journals too! 


Because time was an issue with me, isn't it always?, I decided to give myself two parameters before trying this out. 1. I chose to paint small....really small, 4" by 4" on canvas board. 2. I only allowed myself 20 minutes from start to finish (after the background was dry.)

With that in mind I went at it, slinging paint on my little canvas in hues that appealed to me being careful not to 'mix' the paint but rather fill in with it. Once I was happy, which was didn't take long, I let the background dry. Once it was dry, I set the timer and began covering the background with layers to reveal the vase and table. I did use a Derwent Watercolor Pencil just to add some contrast but I simply painted quickly and loose. Once the dinger went off I stopped. 


                                 (second painting)

This process was a ton of fun. I could see working like this in large format with reckless abandon! After my little 'mini-shot' was done, I went ahead and did some research about negative acrylic painting and found several videos by Robert Burridge using this technique. Below is one showing his method of making a vase with flowers. He paints much bigger and looser than I do, but viewing the video showed me how I could change my approach, especially when I move up to a larger paper. I am really intrigued by him, his teaching style, and plan to spend some time tinkering with some ideas he shares. 

I do hope you consider trying out negative acrylic painting for yourself! Of all the processes I have learned to date, it is was one of the most fun and rewarding! I also am planning on sharing this in a Google+ hangout soon!