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| "Talked Into It" casein & wax pastel on arches watercolor paper mounted on cradled board 6 x 6", available here |
The other day, my friend, who has known my paintings for a few years, asked me about my process, "Where do you start?" An interesting question that I never had asked of me before!
Right now in my current paintings I start with a ground color, since I know I'll typically scrape away parts of the painting to reveal it. Then I think about a general color palette, knowing full well that it'll change as I paint. And I just go from there, drawing, painting, scribbling, scraping, layering, until I'm happy with where it lands. Sometimes I draw shapes, sometimes words usually from things I'm thinking or a conversation with myself, or what I'm watching on tv or something my husband says. Sometimes it turns into an inside joke with myself and I name the piece after that.
Anyway-- I'm thinking of all of this as I continue to post my new small paintings in my Etsy shop.
So tell me, where do you start?
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That's a great question for any creative endeavor, Jamie! And a corollary: how do you *know* when you're done?
Once, when trying to organize my thoughts and express myself, I was advised by a sage friend to "start in the middle", and the beginning and end of my story would autofill, so to speak.
I love the concept that creativity is a problem-solving approach to life. And yours is wonderful to gaze at on the wall, too!
That's always stumped me! Usually, my work just hits me; if I sit down to do…I simply stare dumbly at the blank medium.