Art making ideasi
Ideas. Inspiration. A little creative mischief.
If you’re drawn to abstract and semi-abstract art, sketchbooks, colour and a little creative mischief, this is your corner of the internet.
Here you’ll find stories, videos, inspiration, art making advice and gentle nudges to help you create art that feels exciting to you.
The fertile void…
The ebbs and flows of creativity and exploring the fertile void…
This post is about the ebbs and flows of art making.
I rotate through times of productivity and quieter more reflective times. Passages of dynamism and periods of downtime. Times when I’m making complete artworks and times when I’m searching, seeking, preparing…
Creativity ebbs and flows
Sometimes in my art-making there are times when everything feels easy and falls into place and I’m highly productive and then there are times of pause when I’m searching for the next thing... I have learnt that all these states are transient, no season is permanent and perhaps it is just the nature of creativity, it ebbs and flows.
Ideas need time and space to develop and grow. There are times when I am planting seeds unsure if they will become anything and times when my art making bears so much fruit that it feels abundant, verdant and productive.
In any fallow phase there is a need to enrich and prepare the soil, a winter of sorts, where things are slower to take root. I now know that after every Winter there comes a Spring,
The space inbetween things
In art composition there is a concept called negative space or inter-space, where the space in-between and around the subject is as important to the whole as the subject itself, the emptiness is as important as the fullness.
It strikes me that this is often true in the cycles of my art making, the space in-between is important. I can only harvest ideas once I have given them some space to grow.
Artist’s are gardeners
I like this quote from Joan Miró the renowned Spanish artist. He said:
“ I work like a Gardener or a winemaker. Things come slowly. My vocabulary of forms, for example, I didn’t discover it all at once. It formed itself almost in spite of me.” Joan Miró 1958
Seasons of creativity
I find it so helpful to just acknowledge the different seasons that my creativity passes through, to know that some seasons are for planting seeds and some seasons are for growing ideas, whilst at other times I will harvest them.
The fertile void
The analogy of an artist as a gardener is a powerful one, it helps me to see the bigger picture, to get a wider perspective. There is a cyclical nature to creating, to know that seeds that are planted today may take a good while to fully flourish and grow and some may never grow…
Not every season of your creativity will feel abundant, but this doesn’t mean it should be neglected, creating a garden can be a long, yet magical endeavour and the same can be true in art making… it must be nurtured and nourished.
There is a concept in Gestalt Therapy called the Fertile Void which I find really interesting when applied to art making. The space, the pause, the gap in-between things can also be a fertile and powerful place, a place of growth, magic, possibility and potential…
The process of painting: a winding journey
The painting process: pivots and pathways…
Today I want to talk about how paintings can sometimes take a completely unexpected turn. How the art we’ve made previously can inform what we are making today and how sometimes our ideas just take time and many different iterations to get where they are going...
Destination unknown
One small experiment or drawing might lead us somewhere unexpected.
One small starting point, might lead us down a new path, which leads to another path which leads us to somewhere exciting.
In revisiting an old path we find a new route through.
I frequently find that something small can be the catalyst to a whole new body of work. Finding the paths to follow is part of the joy of art making. We have to really pay attention to the things in our own art that are calling to us, notice the things that delight us, bring our own unique combination of fascinations together and combine them in a way that feels personal to us. Art making is often about learning to follow our own internal compass and noticing where it is directing us…
Art Work in Progress…
Bringing together fascinations
The three acrylic paintings I am currently working on started as a response to some quick blue, white and pink painted studies... But as the paintings progressed they took a different path. A few drawings in my sketchbook from several years ago provided a sign post, a catalyst, a compass and the paintings changed direction... These paintings are now a combination of different ideas, from different eras of my art, different experiments combined together to create a new route.
A winding journey
I’ve found in art making, that only rarely do things come to me quickly and fully formed, more often than not we just have to give our art the time and space it needs to unfurl and evolve.
I circle back on a well trodden path and find a new route through,
Combining together ideas and influences. fragments of ideas, something from here and something from there.., following an old path, following a new path, our art making is a journey which sometimes takes us to unexpected and delightful places…
Art making manifesto
A little of what I believe to be true about about art making…
It is useful to think about what we believe when it comes to our own art making.
I wanted to summarise my personal beliefs and be clear about my own philosophy and wisdom. Things about art which I know to be true, the guiding principles behind my practice.
So here it is. My art making manifesto. A set of beliefs in a few short words, but also a set of intentions. A small reminder, a note to myself and perhaps others. A written set of ideas to guide, remind and direct me… my north star of art making.
This is what I believe, you may not agree…
I think it is a useful exercise to document what we believe to be true for ourselves. Define our own wisdom.. Perhaps you may like to try and write your own manifesto and guiding principles.. Just thinking about what we do actually believe to me true can be enlightening.
MAKE MORE ART
The more art we make the better our art becomes. The more art we make the more likely we are to develop skills and ideas. The more art we make the more confident we become in our decisions. The more art we make the better we are able to spot patterns, connections and themes. The more art we make the better we are able to identify reoccurring pre-occupations and fascinations.
SKETCHBOOKS ARE MAGIC
Sketchbooks are a great place to try things out and explore. They are a place to ponder, wonder and play. A place to safely gather together the hints, whispers and clues of an artistic practice. A place to collect and curate small corners and large curiosities, a place to develop skills and processes.
EVERYONE’S AN ARTIST
I believe everyone’s an artist, it’s a natural human instinct to interpret and understand ourselves and the world through creating. Art-making is a skill, developed by practice and not an innate talent which we either have of don’t have.
DEVELOP THROUGH DOING
The idea of art being a ‘practice’ is right, we do indeed have to practice. It is in the action that we discover ways of making art which feel right, that we discover ourselves as artists.
EXPERIMENTATION EQUALS DISCOVERY
I find that the more I experiment the more I am likely to discover things about my own art and the things that excite and interest me. I find it valuable to try things and then reflect on the signposts and signals I find within those experiments….
BE MORE WEIRD
It’s our particular visual quirks and sensibilities, our own peculiar weirdnesses that make our art feel uniquely ours. We should lean into these, whether it be subject matter, process, colour, the way we mix or apply materials. Our weird bits can be our interesting bits, they are part of our artistic voice and style.
INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE
Inspiration is everywhere and making art helps us to seek and find what we are personally interested in. Creating art helps me to see the world with new and curious eyes, it brings more wonder and awe into my life. I notice more, pay more attention to details and become more fascinated by random and unexpected beauty in the world around me.
PROCESS OVER PERFECTION
This one is the art making equivalent of “it’s the journey, not the destination.” As artists we all need to develop a selection of processes and methods which feel good, enjoyable and which match our own interests and sensibilities.
DELIGHT YOURSELF FIRST
Rather than think, “Will people like what I’ve made?” perhaps a more useful question is “Am I making art that I truly love?”
Our art is an expression of who we are…
Thoughts on developing our art style…
Music used in video: Softly to Myself by Kylie Dailey
In this video and blog I share some thoughts on developing an art style which feels personal and particular to you.
Our art is an expression of who we are…
Our art is such a personal expression of who we are, our experiences, our fascinations and our curiosities.
In my tutorials and content I am conscious and careful that I don’t want to teach anyone how to make art that looks like mine; I want to encourage, cheerlead and share advice about how to make art that feels and looks wondrously and uniquely yours...
The art we make is an extension of who we are and what we are interested in, so it needs to feel like it belongs to us, that it came from our hand and our heart.
And I think that is what developing our art style is all about, it’s about ensuring our art feels like we’ve made it, it’s about making art which feels completely ours, an expression of us, a reflection of who we are and what we are fascinated and curious about. .
Make lots of art
I frequently get asked about how I developed my style of art and how others should develop theirs. I believe the way to develop your style is to make a lot of art, average art, beautiful art, any art…we have to try things out, experiment, not know where it is taking us…
Seek signposts
It is only when you have made a significant amount of work, become more comfortable in your skills and tried numerous approaches that you can look back through it and see what it is signalling to you. The art you make contains important signposts to your style.
Get inquisitive
Look at a selection of art you have made and get inquisitive and question yourself:
What aspects do I particularly relish?
What appeal to me?
What speaks to me within my own art?
What do I enjoy making?
How do I enjoy making it?
What kind of marks do I relish using?
How does my art feel?
How would I describe my art?
Ask questions about your own art and listen to your answers they contain powerful clues.
Follow the clues
Think about your art, the subject matter, the technique, the materials, the colours, the marks, the feeling that it stirs, paying attention to what we are drawn to in our own art is the key to creating distinctive, personal art that feels like it is ours.
Evolving and changing
Our art style is an ongoing conversation with ourselves, an expression and voice for who we are and what we are interested in. Our art style is not a fixed thing, which we arrive at and never depart from. The way we make art is us sharing our point of view, our opinion, interpreting the world and our place in it…and as such elements of our style will change and evolve and elements will remain constant. I’ve been making art for twenty years now and my style feels to me as if it is in constant slow motion, it changes and evolves and takes on new iterations and elements and sometimes it circles back to themes and ideas…
In one sentence…
To develop our art style we have to make lots of art, reflect on the art we have made, get curious about the aspects of it that light us up and do more of that. It’s a continual process of taking note of what we love within our own creations and doing more of it…
How a painting progresses
A little insight about how paintings evolve and develop…
I’ve been working on some paintings for the last few weeks. In this blog post I wanted to share these paintings with you and give a little insight into my thought process and painting process.
SETTING AN INTENTION
Before I started painting this series I spent some time thinking about the kind of paintings I wanted to make. I looked back at my sketchbooks and previous painted studies. I made a few notes on how I wanted the paintings to feel and be. Setting the broadest of intentions for the work. I wrote ‘dreamlike, bold, interesting objects.”
I chose to use acrylic paint as I wanted to build up layers of paint and for each painting to have a hidden history which occasionally reveals itself.
I also spent some time thinking about the colour palette.…but this changed in the process of making them. And then I started, My one definite plan was to keep coming back to the paintings day after day until they were finished and to use my sketchbooks as a resource and guide rope.
LAYERS OF PAINT
I built up layer after layer of paint, letting each painting take shape and become what it was going to become. These paintings were painted with Sennelier Abstract Acrylic Paint on 360gsm paper from a UK brand called Seawhite of Brighton.
I find when I work with acrylics in this way, it can be a fascinating journey of both discovery and concealment. The fact you can build up layer after layer is what makes painting with acrylics, for me, a dance between flow and frustration. It’s not until the later layers that the painting comes together and reveals itself.
STAGES OF PAINTING
In creating paintings this way, I seem to cycle through phases of ease and effort. The early layers start with a sense of play and possibility. I freely engage with the colours and paint. As I know that only tiny remnants, if any, of these early layers will show through in the final painting, there is a freedom and boldness that comes at the start.
Then comes the difficult middle bit, where it all looks a bit muddled and messy and I’m not sure what to do next. Each painting seems to oscilate between ugly and good looking so quickly. It’s in this middle phase where I am trying to consider composition and work out the direction of each painting and what it might become.
This middle phase always seems like a little bit of a tussle, a rewarding wrangle, I have to paint over sections I love to find a composition that works. Each painting frequently looks bad in this phase and I find it hard to believe it could ever become beautiful. But I persevere and keep going. Some days I leave the studio feeling like the paintings are worse than when I started the day. But then the next day everything just comes together and I can see what they might be.
The final phase of my painting process is where I refine, clarify and resolve each painting. Here I make smaller, less dramatic changes until I am happy that all the paintings are how they should be.
As these paintings progressed I kept thinking about making space, the importance of spaciousness, the sentimental importance of the objects we travel through life with….giving myself space to dream and unfurl. And somehow the final paintings do appear a little dream-like to me.
SPACE TO REFLECT
Once I believe they are all complete and finished, I leave them for a few days or more and keep coming back to them to see if I spot anything that jars, or distracts or doesn’t feel exactly right to me.
This time and space to reflect gives me a new perspective and more objectivity, Looking at them long and hard when I’m not in the process of actually painting them is a helpful thing.
And then believing they could be finished turns into knowing they are finished…. and they are.
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Looking back to go forward…
This blog is about reviewing our work, looking back at our art with an inquisitive and curious eye…
In this video I show you some recent studies, sketches and sketchbooks and chat about how I often review my artwork as a way to take stock and inform my next art making move….
Spending a little time looking back over previous creations is a lovely way to recall, retain and be reminded of things that may have been forgotten and can bring clarity about what to make next.
REMEMBERING AND REMINISCING
Looking back over work we have previously created is like catching up with old friends, remembering and reminiscing.
CONNECTIONS AND COMBINING
When we look at our work collected together we are better able to see connections and themes and ways in which we may like to combine elements and ideas together to create something new.
I find it useful to review my work with an inquisitive eye, asking questions such as:
What do I find interesting here?
What is calling to me?
What do I find visually pleasing? A colour, a mark, a line quality, a combination or juxtaposition?
Why does this appeal to me?
How does it feel?
How do I want my current art to feel?
How could I evolve this?
How could I develop it?
I find that what I have already created holds important signs or signals and reviewing it can ignite something new or prompt me to explore and expand on a theme or technique, spending time ‘mining’ our own creations can be a useful way to better understand our own artistic sensibilities and style.
THE PAST INFORMS THE FUTURE
There is a lovely continuum in art making, everything that we’ve made before, we bring to our new creations, nothing is ever wasted, it’s like everything we’ve already made informs everything to come….and I relish that continuity and evolution…