Example of prep work for a painting
While I’m in the final stages of finishing my current painting, I thought I’d take a short break to write about what I enjoy most about creating a piece of art.
Jumping straight in to it I just LOVE not spending too much time planning my art works. I don’t know if it’s a rebellion against all the prep work that you are forced to do during school and college, I never much enjoyed spending days working through tens of thumbnails, then carefully working through colour and tonal trials, planning out every last detail. By the time I was ready to move on to the final piece I’d often feel fed up with the idea already. Now I’l just do a couple of thumbnails to find the composition, jot a few notes about tone and colour then I’m good to go!
Listening to music is a really important part of creating art to me. 90% of time time I’ll be listening to soundtracks, if I find a piece of music that really suits the mood of what I’m painting, I can listen to it on repeat for hours. When I lived with my parents it used to do their heads in!
Underpainting stage for a new painting
Starting a new piece will never cease to be an absolute pleasure. Especially when it’s not all that thoroughly planned, even you as the creator don’t know what it’s going to turn out like! There is nothing like making those first marks on a new canvas, you’ve entered a world of endless possibilities.
When a piece finally stars to take shape especially if it’s been a very challenging process (like my current work in progress!) when you can finally look at your work and feel a sense of pride, it is a wonderful feeling. Throughout the past, and sometimes even now, a piece will never reach that stage and all you can do is walk away from it and write it off as a learning curve. One of the hardest things is to make failed projects a positive experience by taking a good hard look at all of the problems, and making a note of them so that hopefully you won’t make the same mistakes again.
There is of course so much more that I enjoy about creating art, I think I could go on forever! Can anyone else relate to any of these points, or add new ones of your own? 🙂
Ethereal Night Art 