Monday 13 October 2014

Painting a picture is a funny thing

Painting a picture is a funny thing. 

It's so easy to look at a finished piece and think 'if I knew it was going to look like that then I could have done it a lot quicker'. 

The finished piece of art doesn't show its stages of incompleteness and indecision, it simply radiates it's cohesion and harmony.

I am guilty sometimes of looking at other people's work and thinking 'I could do that!' And yes I probably could, now that the piece has been created, but would I have gone through all the creative decisions that they did to get there in the first place?



The answer is probably no.

What would you do when faced with the infinity of a blank page? For the options really are infinite and can stop a lot of creativity in its tracks. But if you go beyond that and get something down, what choices do you then make?

What size, what shape, what colour, what subject, what medium, what style, what, what what? A million decisions need to be made and this is often at the stage when the answer to those questions is actually 'I have no idea!'

I rarely start a piece of art with the completed vision sitting like a photograph in my head. 

The beginning for me is the impulse, the drive to create something, anything ! 

And so then I get drawn to colour and I play and let the paints do their own thing.

I like a certain amount of randomness in my work. It's good to have control, but it's good to let go and experiment. To see where you might go. New visions and images start opening up and this is so exciting! 

My Glitter and Earth pictures come together almost serendipitously. With my handmade stamps I can compose pictures quickly and without that feeling of infinite search that can be so exhausting!

Before I know it they have a life of their own and then I can build up the scene, adding texture and of course glitter. 

I can't quite help it. I love the way that different coloured glitter reflects the light. It changes the picture ever so slightly as you move it. It's entrancing and beautiful. 

I love the process of making my cards and pictures. I find it meditative and healing.

At the moment, looking after my little girl, my time is so precious that my art has become my surfing and my yoga. I take flight in my moments of creativity and I connect to something that is beyond me as well as part of me.

This connection with something outside of me, gives me confidence in the finished piece. I feel like I'm channeling energy, prana, something
 divine. In this way my work is guided. I don't create. I am simply the vehicle that facilitated it! 

It's a journey every time and it's important to me that the process is one of joy, because that is what I want to share with the world.

Thanks for reading and being part of my journey.

I'd love to hear about your creative journey! Have you ever said 'I could do that' after looking at somebody's work and then actually tried?