Starting with a blank sheet of paper and just doing whatever “feels right” is way too little structure for most of us. This video gives you a step-by-step starting structure that you can improvise on top of to create a dragonfly of your own style.
It sounds simple to simply keep listening for the little voice of intuition, but which one? Many of us have many internal impulses warring within us. How do you know which to listen to?
Making small adjustments can help you paint more personally meaningful paintings based on photos. (Or, what happened when I tried to execute the plan we created for the boat on the river.)
If you want to paint more intuitively, how do you decide how to begin a painting, or what to do next? How do you know when you’re done? Here are a couple of activities to start exploring pieces of a system or structure to guide creative choices when you’re painting intuitively.
It can be helpful to think about style and voice as two pieces of your “creative identity” that come together to create the overall effect you want your paintings to have.
A subpainting is a small excerpt of the larger painting, used to solve a problem in isolation, make stylistic choices or try creative alternatives. Think “Crop, don’t shrink!” It’s also a great way to find a quick and easy postcard idea inside a more complex image.
Why I stopped doing traditional thumbnails, value studies and color studies to plan my watercolors.
Try exploring different watercolor effects and “textures” and asking “What does this watercolor effect remind me of? What could I use it to suggest?”
Don’t ask “What do I need to fix?” about a painting. Here’s what to ask instead, and some tips for helping an unsatisfying painting undergo a creative metamorphosis.
Here’s an exercise to help you stimulate your creativity, loosen up or find your own style.
Make your own symmetrical circular designs for mandalas or other circular paintings. All you need are a plate and a piece of office paper! This video shows you how to do it.
An exercise for exploring (and collecting) things you enjoy doing (not just seeing), as a way to expand and explore your personal style.
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