The Story Behind My Process
From First Spark to Final Stroke: Inside My Painting Process
I disagree that art making should always be playful. In a sense.
Not all art is created straight from imagination. Not all art is abstract or stream-of-consciousness.
Some art is the result of research, deep analysis, and methodical, repetitive WORK. It depends on your intentions for the art.
I do both.
I do playful, soul art sometimes. And often my process feels quite serious.
But let me tell you something important: ALL art-making is a practice. ALL art is the result of a series of micro-experiments.
Observing the world. Observing myself. Experimenting with ideas. Then with composition. Every color I mix is an experiment. Every single stroke on the canvas, an experiment.
Try this, try that, fix this, change that.
Until I basically get tired of adjusting things and just decide to abandon the piece as “finished”.
Creating art can sure be playful. But it can also be serious work.
And it’s WONDERFUL.
How I Work
If you’re here because you want to know about how I approach the WORK side…. This part is for you.
Courting Inspiration
I spent years trying to intellectualize how to “get” creative ideas. That’s a much longer post for another time. But what I have ultimately found is that I truly don’t create that initial spark myself.
Usually, I see something while I’m moving through my day that catches my interest. Ideas often arise when I listen to music. Most of my best ideas have arrived while I was driving, especially on road trips.
I can sometimes trigger sparks, too—sitting in my designated inspiration space with music that just gets me like Sigor Ros or Radiohead. Often after some meditation or intentional movement. But it has taken me a while to get to this point where this is possible… and frankly it’s still a work in progress.
Idea Development
I love to use writing as a tool for exploring that spark. I might free write, but often I use a set of questions I keep on my computer to drill down to what I mean and why it matters.
I think I’ve been doing this because I feel pressure to create something that’s “useful” for other people.
But between you and me… I kind of wonder what will happen if I stop caring about that and just let my wild images flow.
It can be a lot of work, especially for more complex or realistic pieces. (Which is why artwork costs so much money!)
Space for Growth
Truth be told, I’d like to find ways to loosen up and speed up the process. Just so I can get more ideas out. Because as an artist, you better believe I have waaaayy too many ideas in my head.
And that is where the play really kicks in.
When all is said and done, I wouldn’t agree that art making is always play, but art making is ALWAYS a practice, and that practice will absolutely grow and evolve over time.
Maybe through some intentional play, my process will change, and I will come back and write an addition to this post.
Speaking of playing, read about how I see fantasy as a wonderful tool for playing with reality here.
