The Creation Process: Idea + Effort = Success NOT!! - Painting & Drawing Tips

As Artists we are all familiar with the Creative Journey, it is one we travel often. And with a great deal of enjoyment.

However, the Creative Journey is not always filled with joy . . .

Organized my colours, clean my water and I am READY TO PAINT!!!

You know what I mean. Every Creative Journey starts with a Big Idea.  It is tossed about in your mind until the urge to follow through can no longer be ignored.  Then you begin. . . 

Everyone's journey is different. Some fast. Some slow.  Some methodical. Some haphazard.  There is no right or wrong.  We each have our own method.  

As you know I started my picture of the Ring-Necked Pheasants  2 weeks ago and I blogged about the planning stage.  (See here to read more) I did more planning than usual because I was trying something new, molding paste.  

Close Up of painting on the molding paste.  See how the colours are changed by the paste.  Lines forming where there are ridges in the paste.  Does make for interesting texture. 

Well, I am here to tell you, the Creative Journey is not always filled with joy . . .

There can be challenges.

1. I was really being good and first did colour swaths to make sure of my colours.  Well, that didn't work as I soon found out.  The paste tends to grab the pigment sometimes making it more opaque than when just on paper.  Colours didn't mix on the pasted area properly.  Sometimes they ran along the lines created by the molding paste and showed up somewhere else.  

Tried out different colour combinations to see what I liked.  Little did I know that they would not look like this when I painted them.  

It took awhile but I learned: no big wet washes.  For a real splash of colour, brush had to be fairly dry.  

After Painting the background I was excited but a little worried.  (Blue edge on birds is the frisket) 

2. The foreground just seemed to be a out of control.  

I took a picture and changed it to the grayscales to see if it followed my Notan sketch.  It did but still  . . .(See Notan sketch on other post here ) 

I really found I had to be patient.  I needed to work with the patterns of grasses in the foreground but I needed my pheasant painted in before I dealt with them.  The foreground would not make sense until the pheasant were there to give it some meaning.  But it was hard to leave it alone...

As the birds began to appear the foreground begins to make more sense.  I have started to add a few darks in places to suggest grasses and small bushes. 

3.  Glazing colour over another colour, something I love to do, was very hard.  It was easy to lift pigment off the molding paste so that really helped in making corrections and changes.  But when it came time to glaze over an area to create depth there were problems.  Brush too wet, colour underneath lifted.  Worked an area too much, colour underneath lifted. Underlying pigments not dry when glazing, colour underneath lifted.   Fiddle with a spot (not that any of us would do that), colour underneath lifted.  Needless to say I painted several areas more than once.  

Yes, I did have moments when I was frustrated and discouraged.  The joy was not with me.  However, my idea was still burning in my head.  Once I painted that first pheasant in the back I was hooked.  I was determined to finish.  I wanted to see how my idea would play out.  

RING-NECKED PHEASANT IN THE FIELD - Matted 16 x 20, watercolour.
 Very pleased at how it turned out.  Lots of interesting things happening in the foreground, glazed several times to change the colours.  (note around the head of the middle Pheasant) even reshaped the background a bit.  

I really started to listen and pay attention to my materials and try and learn how to work with them instead of fighting them.  That lifting thing turned out to be really great.  I was able to lift off lots of pigment and really start again in parts of the background that I felt had gotten too dark.  I did glaze. A lot.  I made sure things were really dry before moving into an area.  I was patient.  (sometimes it is best to just take Max for a walk and let things get good and dry.  Max loved that part).  I tested my brush constantly to monitor how wet/dry it was. I even started to feel the joy again. 

Black & White Study of RING-NECKED PHEASANT IN THE FIELD
Always intersting to see the finished picture in black and white. I can really see that there are lots of interesting shapes to balance with my Pheasants. 

And best of all, I finished it.   

Are your Creative Journeys full of turmoil and challenge or do they run smoothly?  

Next up, my Intober Tangles 2019 Collage - didn't quite finish it in October, but Wow! Wait until you see it.  

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