Again with the inspiration

I find that the words other people in my life say to me is often the best source of inspiration. In fact I regard those moments as the way God speaks to the imagination He put in me. This happened recently when my daughter Chyanne mentioned that one of my paintings looked like her Lava Light. That revelation sparked a lot of creativity and lead to several paintings, one of which is the abstract spheres I already posted. Well another daughter, Crystal, loves the color blue and she always comments on the blues in a painting and usually wants more blue in them. So that has sparked another burst of creativity in that I'm trying to get as much blue, and perhaps only blue, into a painting that will still be interesting and dramatic. The picture here is a phone camera picture of the easel in my studio where I am starting the blue series. Two images, one dark blue spheres on a light blue background and the other light blue spheres on a dark background. You can see the beginnings on the picture.

Of course what artist could think, 'I'm going to try all blue paintings', and not also think, 'How about all red/orange?' So I started on of those also as you can see (it's painted over one I was unhappy with the way it was going)

So fellow artists, listen to those around you for inspiration, that's one of the reasons they are there around you.  Most of all, have fun!

Artistic insecurity

The problem with abstract art is that so many people are conditioned to believe that 'real' art is the only art. A painting or sculpture must be of something recognizable and preferably a reasonably realistic rendition of it. Artists spend countless hours learning how to do work like that and I am no exception. That also leads to a bit of insecurity in that you worry that others will not see what you're doing as true art, because that is what you have been trained by your art books to think. That leads me to want to post an example of the representative art that I  have done so that you know I can paint that way also. So here it is, a pretty little Western Scrub Jay that is native here in the Big Valley.

I love to paint birds also, so many colors and such motion in them. God's diamonds, rubies and sapphires.

The strange world of inspiration

Any artist can't help but reflect on the strange phenomenon of inspiration from time to time. I read long ago that one universal characteristic of creative people that they are interested in a wide, wide variety of things and are always reading, looking at magazines, looking at the world, anything that adds images and ideas to the mind. I've seen other artist's studios and bookshelves and they usually are covered in the same kind of books I have. Egyptian hieroglyphic books, heraldry tomes, old calendars, painting books, artists biographies, travel photo books and on and on. Currently the paintings I'm doing have 2 sources of inspiration. One is the awesome pictures of other galaxies taken by the Hubble satellite that are on the web and a chance statement by my daughter while looking at one of my paintings. She said it looked like her Lava Light, and the proverbial bulb went on in my head! It was great and I'm still painting with that in mind.

Here's the painting I was working on at the time, you can see the galaxy and lava light influence immediately.

It's 12" x 18" and painted on a panel with acrylic paints and several techniques. The background is done with water down paint, painted on then dropping 91% alcohol into it to create the patterns (the 91% part is important) Most of the glow at the bottom is glazing medium with yellow in it.

So this is my first post on my first blog! I feel like Luke Skywalker being introduced to the Force. I'm planning on using this blog to talk about and learn about art. Mainly abstract art, but I have a wide variety of artistic interests so who knows what ramblings will make their way here. So let's get started with some of my art work.

Here's a piece I'm calling Eclipse. It's 24" x 24" and is painted on masonite. Some interesting techniques were used to make it. First I put a coffee can lid down in the center, held it with my fingers, and used a spray can to spray the background yellow. Then to make the color rays I just scooped the paint onto my finger, placed it on the board and make quick radiating strokes with it. That way the paint didn't get to mixed together and kept the interesting color streaks that I like. I tend to get a lot of paint on myself.

 

If you have any ideas on techniques or subjects please leave a comment. I learned a long time ago that inspiration comes from anywhere and any time. I love finding out new ways of working too.

I hope you like it.