NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY
Have you ever stood back and looked at your Trail, your Road to Creation?
I know, you have so many ideas, you don't know what to paint first. Inspiration is everywhere. It is. Hardly a day goes by that I don't see, or feel or sense a special moment. One I would love to capture on paper. But many times it passes with no results.
I know, you have so many ideas, you don't know what to paint first. Inspiration is everywhere. It is. Hardly a day goes by that I don't see, or feel or sense a special moment. One I would love to capture on paper. But many times it passes with no results.
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| THE HUNTER WAITS - Watercolour 12 x 16 |
Other times, I will sit and go through my reference material, spinning my wheels, looking for something.
You know, that thing that makes you want to grab your pencil, start a
plan and 'get into it'. Standing back
and analyzing your Trail will tell you lots about your work. You will gather knowledge about your process
and your goals; basically what makes you tick.
Why is that important?
Knowledge about your process can help you streamline your
energy. Gives you more time to focus on
what is important. Knowledge of your
goals gives you more control over your future.
For example: you rattle about, pick your reference and paint. Are you challenging yourself with new stuff
every time - if so, maybe you need to hit a holding pattern for a few projects and
solidify that knowledge. Or you find you
pick the same kind of material to work from every time - could be time to
change it up, and challenge yourself with new subjects, a new series or a new
technique.
My new piece, "The Hunter Waits" was a new challenge
for me. As many of my readers know, I
spend the summer camping, painting and gathering new reference material. For last few summers that has been on Texada
Island. Camping in a forested area right beside the ocean, lots of opportunity to
see seals, otters, birds and deer. My kind of stuff. Each
summer I find that I focus on difference things. This summer I really worked at incorporating
the birds I saw into my seascapes. Herons,
bald eagles, oyster catchers, crows and seagulls were the main order of
the day. I did get good shots of the
turkey vultures too but right now I am not inspired to paint or draw them.
When I look at my Trail from Inspiration to Creation for this
piece, I see several things that drove me:
1. Walking on the beach at low tide: as the tide
goes out the action starts, birds are plentiful, trying to capture whatever is
left behind. Tidal pools spring up,
rocks appear, draped in seaweed, sparkling sandy bars run along the shore and gooey
ducks squirt up as you walk by. I totally wanted
to put all of that into my picture.
2. Having
a resident pair of bald eagles near by: there was an eagle nest by the bay
where the campsite is located. Eagle
sightings were a common occurrence and when the neighbour campers put their fish
heads out for the birds, we had an awesome sight of Eagles, Turkey Vultures,
Crows, and Seagulls, right at our doorstep.
I got fabulous shots of all of them. I really wanted to put the birds into my picture.
3. Reading
about a painting technique: I have been trying different ways of underpainting
with watercolours. I want a looser
underpainting but yet my tight detail for my birds and animals. Resolving this without having my animals have that 'pasted on' look is my issue. I was
looking at Kim Johnson's work in "The Art of Watercolour" magazine and
really liked what she was doing. I tried
two smaller pieces of a crow and seagull and decided I was ready for
something bigger. "The Hunter
Waits" was the result. See my crow in this post here.
What does your trail look like? Study
your trail, find your new places.
I did take several work in progress pictures for "The Hunter
Waits", especially the under-painting part, I will share those with you on the next post.
Late summer and fall are still good times for painting and drawing outside. Check out my series of Drawing Tips for Summer Fun. It is a four part series starting here. Great ideas for quick sketches in your journal or plein air pieces. Best of all when the cold wind blows you can take these ideas inside and keep on going.
Late summer and fall are still good times for painting and drawing outside. Check out my series of Drawing Tips for Summer Fun. It is a four part series starting here. Great ideas for quick sketches in your journal or plein air pieces. Best of all when the cold wind blows you can take these ideas inside and keep on going.
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Have a great artful day, Wendy
