Wasting Creative Energy

Last week I talked about using 3 mediums to paint the same scene.  I completed two, which I  already posted.  My plans were to take the scene and expand it in a panoramic (10x20) format in oil.  As I did small sketches in my sketchbook to work out the composition, values and clarify my idea I became frustrated.  I'm not sure what the problem is, but I know from past experience that to push this painting until I have a clear vision, is a waste of my time.  The frustration stems from knowing it's not right, but not being able to identify why or what.  Yet.  I need to step away and get some perspective.

Experiment on Yupo paper

Sitting there on my easel was a photo of a friends dog he graciously let me use for a painting.  I knew right when I saw it, I had to paint it!   I put it there as a reminder and I had been looking at her for over a week now.  I quickly switched gears and decided to play with some ideas for the painting of this dog.  Playing is how I like to start a painting anyway.  So I did a few dot to line drawings to find the right angles which I knew were important for the tilt of her head.  I did a fast sketch on some Yupo which I bought to experiment on and see if I liked it.  Disaster!  (a new learning curve I don't have time for right now, but will explore in the future!  Yupo is a synthetic paper with a smooth nonabsorbent surface.)  While I loved some of what happened with the Yupo I lacked the control I wanted.  This "playing" is not a waste of time. In that freedom I saw what happened on the paper while finding colors and strokes I thought would work on a finished piece.  This time I had an idea, a clear vision of what I wanted to say and how to say it.

Gurdy-inquisitive and playful

My earlier frustration told me that this painting  needed to keep that playful spirit and convey what I experienced in the brush work and color on the Yupo.  Most important, I decided to let go, have fun and not worry about the outcome.  The painting that resulted was spontaneous and had the playful character I was looking for. The energy and playfulness was there.

Sometimes it's better to shelve something that is good in favor of something better.  It's not that I can't or won't revisit the idea or that I wouldn't have worked through it and made something happen.  But for me it's better not to waste too much creative energy on something that is frustrating me.  That photo sitting there for a week was begging me to paint it.  Most of my paintings are painted in my head before I ever do a sketch or bring out a brush.  It's part of my process.

I know that we don't always have the luxury of putting a project aside.  But if I do have to push through I often take a break or set off in a different direction while I look for inspiration to finish.  It usually comes, and if it wont the result is never my best work.

Now I will put those pictures of Glacier back up and ponder what, why and how.  If it never comes into focus maybe I will scrap the whole idea and instead use the 10x20 as a vertical for a waterfall!  Who knows what will present itself?  This I know:  I don't have enough time to paint as it is.  Why waste it trying to make something happen when it is repeatedly falling flat.  The next inspiration is just around the corner-or was there all the time! 

A Hint Taken from the Season's

Farewell summer.  The day's are cooler and the colors are beginning to turn.  Mother Nature is not rushing into fall but instead is easing into the change. (so far) I appreciate that.   A more gradual approach to change suits me better.  I find I don't like change and yet tire of sameness.

View from Many Glacier - Pastel

Fall is my favorite season.  I'm not sure why, but I think it's the color.  While spring has startling color after the muted tones of winter, Fall makes a much bolder statement. I love the paradox of the colors  so warm and intense, just as we loose the heat of summer.  It's like natures last hurrah before a blanket of snow covers the earth and the cold makes dormant the very trees that screamed life only a month before.

I need the rhythm of seasons.  Just as I get tired of one another starts!  It must be part of who I am because I also find myself loving variety in my art as well.  Right now I am painting the a Glacier park scene in 3 different mediums with different formats.  I like each painting for a different reason.  But how would I have known if I had finished the first one and not tried any other way?  This approach allows me to find what best expresses what I want to say.  It may seem to others like trying to reinvent the wheel or a waste of time.  Maybe if I had thought out what I wanted to say thoroughly I would have know which format or medium best expressed that?  Since creating is largely intuitive for me, decisions make themselves in the process of even the best planned paintings.    Often it is better than what I planned originally and I go with it.  Sometimes it's a huge mistake!

I may not do this multiple painting thing often, but I find it valuable.  I helps keep my skills sharp in all mediums.  It helps clarify the idea or reason for the painting in the first place.  I stop when I feel I've said everything I want to say about that subject. 

Quick journal of a lone last larkspur of summer.

I'm taking my sketchbook journaling in a different direction as well, by recording what nature has for me each day.  The last Larkspur or hummingbird of summer.  Nothing big or dramatic, but the small "poetry" presented in nature.  With this in mind I look for something to paint that day and do an quick sketch in watercolor or pencil.   What a gift!  Like a gratitude journal in paintings! 

Try one of these or both and let me know what you think.  How do you explore a subject or make decisions on execution?  Look up the inspiring work of Kevin Macpherson's Reflections on a Pond.  http://www.reflectionsonapond.com/
While he does not change his medium he paints the same scene everyday of the year.  Now that's exploring a subject!

Just a few ideas to keep things fresh. A hint taken from the seasons.  We are nothing if we are not creative! 

Sketchbook Journaling

That I was able to paint plein air while on my vacation in Montana was a gift!  Unless I go on a specific painting vacation do my vacations and my painting go together.  These days however I always take a sketchbook and a very small box of paints and I try to do at least something small when I can steal the time. And I look for small snippets of time more often now!

I remember the first time I took a sketchbook and paints.  I was so timid I never took them out!  The next time I did them in my room away from the eyes of onlookers.  Gradually as I gained confidence, I became a brave artist and painted away from any crowds.  The more accustomed I became to it the less I worried about others and the more I wanted to record my adventures with my art.  When focused, I don't notice the occasional onlooker, and they usually don't bother me either.

Notice the picture # for future reference
Yes, I took a lot of pictures!

A sketchbook travel journal is a wonderful way to keep memories even if you don't actually paint much in them.  You can take a photo, note the number of the photo and make notes for the future painting.  I note colors and impressions, details and even feelings to evoke the memories back at the studio.  That way when I go to paint it the scene comes to life again. 
If you get a chance, you can paint a small scenes as time allows.  A sketchbook journal is the perfect size to do quick studies.  Many of my paintings are unfinished because I had to move on.  Some of those unfinished sketches are favorites of mine.  I'm not sure why, but I try to remind myself it's not always about finishing.  Sometimes it's just about starting-isn't it?! 

 I noticed that while I had many photos, I couldn't remember even a week later where exactly I was, why I took the photo or other relevant things from my vacation.  As the idea evolved, I began to make written notes about each day of my travels.Now my journals are full of written records of my journeys with pencil sketches as well as tiny and small watercolor sketches.  Now when I go through them it is much more than a photo album, it is a record of my experience in the "here and now" of "then and there", if that makes sense.  I don't know about you, but when I get home it takes weeks to get back into things and by then the memories have faded.  But having those written notes is nice.

I have sketchbooks that are just for travel, but I also keep sketchbooks for everyday.  Every once in a while it's such fun to go back and read my impressions of something or see a quick sketch.  I don't write a daily journal nor do I sketch daily. I find I'm doing it more and more as a way to observe and then reflect on some of the important and the not so important things that interest me artistically.  I try not to be serious about them either.  They are for my eyes only and I have fun and play in them. 

Recently I was rereading The Pastelist's Year by Elizabeth Mowry.  She writes about a journal that she keeps to record nature and the impression it leaves on her during her walks each day.  I thought I might take my journals in that direction for a while beyond the travel journal and sketchbook where I work out compositions and things.  I love the idea of recording the wonders I see on my walks. 

So there are many ways to keep a sketchbook journal and just as many reasons.  I find the value of keeping one grows with each journal I fill.  Besides which, they are just fun!

Change Your Scene

First painting of the week. 

I spent the summer thinking about how to keep my work fresh and ever evolving.  About how to keep my life and art from getting predictable and staid.  There are a few things I figured out might help, but the most significant thing I did was experience a change of scenery.

A change of scene helps jump starts my creative juices.  Seldom do I come back from a trip and not have an abundance of ideas and reference for paintings.  Most of the time I have ideas in abundance when I'm there, but when I get home the reference photos just sit.  I am not a great studio painter.  I realized this summer that I am an experience painter!  I paint best from life.  On scene.  Everything translates to the painting better if I do it as a whole experience.  I personally like the paintings better as well since they tend to be loose and more painterly because I don't have time to fuss with details.  I have to get right to the point before the light changes or the subject moves, etc.

My change of scene this summer was a week in Montana.  My husbands brother lives in Helena and my youngest is working at a hotel in Glacier National Park.  Joe, my husbands brother and the director of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the state of Montana and Alice his wife shared their Montana with us. I am ready to pack my stuff and move there tomorrow!  Montana is such a rugged, untamed and expansive place.  You never lack for a vista and my painters eye was on overload the entire week.


Rarely when I vacation (unless I go with a painting group) am I able to paint since we are usually on the move and packing around painting equipment is heavy! But my husband encouraged me to take it and paint whenever I could.  For a plein air painter, Montana is a gold mine! 

sketch of the first day's fishing excursion,
does not do it justice! Painting fast means
you have to think quick and make fast decisions.
I shouldn't have kept the front flowers!

The first day turned out to be a day just this side of heaven!  Long story short the guy's wanted to fly fish so we dropped them off downstream and headed upstream so Alice could fish the pond and I could paint on private property.  Golden hills dotted with pines (and pine scent), grazing cattle, a rushing creek in a field of wildflowers with grass so tall it came to my thighs! All against a backdrop of mountains and an expansive blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds!  My kind of place!  I was able to paint two plein air watercolors while the men fished for almost 5 hours.  The sun was hot and the paints dried out fast but I persisted.  It was the perfect day. And there were four more to go!

Quick watercolor sketch on the boat
of the gates of the mountains

The next day we took the pontoon boat down the Missouri river where steep limestone cliffs form what Lewis and Clark called the Gates of the Mountains.  Again the scenery was breathtaking.  I had taken my gear and painted small sketches as we moved down the river.  This was such a challenge and so much fun to paint and catch "spots of color" (a term Charles Hawthorn used) of the right value that explained the forms! 

View from Many Glacier Hotel

I was able to paint again when we went to see my son at Glacier.  Many Glacier Hotel has the most amazing views and we got up early and watched as the sunrise painted the mountains orange while a moose and her calf grazed across the lake!  The boy's went fishing once again and I set up to paint just outside the hotel.  The view was breathtaking and as is always the case it was hard to decide what to paint.  I chose a view and painted to my hearts content.  AND I was actually pleased with the finished piece!  But who could go wrong with such beauty? 


So Montana taught me that for this painter, the experience is key.  Until I experienced the grizzly bear up close and personal. (I haven't figured out how to turn that into a creativity blog yet, but it'll turn up!  stay tuned)  This change of scene did more than give me reference material. What I know now more than ever is that my experience of a place is heightened by taking the time to paint it.  I will remember the experience more richly because I took the time to really absorb it.  Get a sense of the place.  Fully observe the colors.  Inhale its essence.  Soak it up in all ways with all my senses.  And as artists, isn't that what we do?  As a chef, a decorator, a musician or any of the arts?  It's all about our senses and experience! 


So to keep my work exciting and fresh I know I need to vary my experiences.  (that's always been true of my life anyway!)  That I am a much better painter in the studio if I first experienced the scene as fully as possible.  This is often done in my sketch book and I will detail how that helps and what I do in my next blog.  For now, go experience your art!  Keep things fresh and consider a change of scene. I highly recommend Montana!

Slugs and Cheerleaders

One day my friend referred to someone as a slug.  Since we are both gardeners, I understood right away what she meant!  I had to ask her what she thought the similarities were.  To this she replied that a slug moves very slowly.  It eats whatever is in it's path, even and especially decaying things.  It is plump in the middle and rather slimy leaving a slimy trail behind it as it travels.  Basically it is a pest that makes a mess out of your nice carefully tended garden.  And finally as any good gardener knows, to bait a slug you set out a saucer of beer.  The slug is drawn to the beer, wades right in thus drowning itself!  Suicide by beer!  Now hold that thought.

I walk every day.  Almost every day I don't want to walk.  I get up and say to myself, "I don't think I'll walk today."  It's weird because I have to literally force myself to do one of the things that I enjoy so much and is so good for me both mentally and physically.  Some day's I sneak myself into it by just putting on my walking clothes when I get up.  That way, if I feel some energy I'm ready to go.  Most day's I'm ready after a cup of coffee jump starts me.  Some day's I just have to force myself by telling myself I'll just do a short walk today which always turns into the full course. 

Once I'm out there I always wonder what all that hesitation was all about.  I regularly get ideas for blogs and paintings or figure out a problem while my brain wanders and my feet plod on.  Every day I marvel at creation and the amazing natural world-never the same day twice!  My body loosens up and I feel the energy of the walk fill my body.  I just feel better all the way around.  And while I'm walking I'm so very grateful for that day and the ability to walk.

Back to the slug metaphor.  All of us have an inner slug.  I'm sure my inner slug is not about nurture, or I would have gotten rid of it long ago by the simple act of defying it every day.  Nor is it all about nature.  If that were the case I would have drowned in my beer years ago!   I keep repeating...balance!  We all have something we need to balance.

A lot of what I do as a teacher is encourage people not to quit!  I do that because I wish someone had done that for me when I was making my way in the art department.  Many of you have told me that my encouragement has meant a lot to you and that means a lot to me.  One student even called me a cheerleader!   Which is in a way, what I do for my students.

But in the end its all about putting one foot in front of the other isn't it?  It's hard to learn a new skill but there is a certain thrill at trying something new and then getting the hang of it.  The real test is whether you hang in there when it gets tough.  When you don't progress as you think you should.  When you didn't get out of a class what you wanted.  When the skill set seems to be more complicated than you bargained for and you cant paint (or cook, or write or sing or dance) the way you want.

When I haven't walked in a while I notice changes.  My energy level goes down yet I feel antsy.  I ache more and have less flexibility.  My mood is less optimistic.  In short, I feel "sluggish"!  In my last blog I talked about taking a break and the restlessness I feel when I've been away from creating too long.  I was getting that antsy feeling, but noticed I didn't really "feel" like going out to paint.  So just like with the walk, I gave myself a little push and viola!  Back in the saddle I went.  And I wondered what all the hesitation was about! 

Soon I will be starting classes again. I am eager to get back to what I love to do. I will see many familiar faces eager to get back to the routine and time carved out for their art. A class is a great way to make time for your art. It surrounds you with like minded people and hopefully helps you move forward with your skills. But what if you are not able to take a class for some reason?

In coming blogs I will be exploring how to stay in the game of art.  I'll give you some practical ways to help you make your creative endeavours more vital and less random.  I will be your cheerleader!