Playful Inspiration

Like a sketchbook, this little weekly planner is a place where I can experiment and play.  

Often a color and a texture -- like a watercolor wash in ultramarine blue -- is the starting point for an entire double-page spread.  As artists exploring possibilities, all we need is a starting point!

I have been walking by a grove of sassafras trees every day, and have felt inspired by their bright, flaming leaves against the blue sky, their twisted limbs dancing among the foliage.

The things that catch our attention and inspire us show up in our art when we play.

After the watercolor washes dried, I added days and dates in ink and filled in the main events of the week.

Aside from ultramarine blue, I used yellow ochre, and a mixture of azo yellow and alizarin crimson for the sassafras foliage.  The limbs are a mixture of ultramarine blue and burnt sienna.

What has been attracting your artist's eye lately?

What medium, colors, & textures interest you?

That's all you need to start an experimental sketch.

Happy Creating! 

Bubble Planner

Another week, another weekly planner page! 

 

This week's inspiration came from looking at a variety of jar lids and other round items, and wondering what the page would look like if I traced them.  

I traced them with a pencil, then used India ink and a brush to create bubbles and swirls.  

I simply followed my intuition.

I recommend tuning into your intuition as a practice.  

 Kindly ask yourself what to do next in your art, and listen to the soft voice of your intuition -- not the noisy, judgmental voice of your inner critic, but the quiet suggestions that often sound unusual, unexpected or downright weird.  

Try those things.  

It's only paper, and you can make wonderful discoveries. 

It helps you to learn to trust your own artist's voice.

 Happy Creating!

When You Don't Like Your Artwork

One of the things that keeps people from creating in a nature journal or sketchbook more often is the fear of making a page they don't like.

It's important to remember that you won't like every page.  You will have days when your sketches fall flat, and nothing seems to work.  Perhaps you're tired or distracted.  Maybe you're out of practice and not feeling inspired.  We all have these days. That's normal.

Maybe you're experimenting, and you haven't found the way it works yet.

The important thing to do is to keep sketching -- keep creating!

Keep trying new things, exploring different approaches, different media even.

Remind yourself that if you like every page in a sketchbook, you're probably not trying hard enough.  

Every artwork does not need to have a purpose other than the experience of creating it.

And if you turn the page and keep creating, you'll find subjects that inspire you, and techniques that work for you.

Pablo Picasso famously said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."

I don't love every painting and sketch I make, but I know that making "bad" art is part of the process. If you trust the process and keep creating, you learn, develop new skills and make wonderful discoveries.

The "meh" pages make the "Wow!" pages more satisfying.

Happy Creating!

Mark Making for Pencil Drawing Class

Today is the start of Beginner's Pencil Drawing Class at the Community College of Beaver County.  On the first day of class, we practice mark making.  It's a wonderful way to get familiar with your art supplies and to give yourself permission to play.

I began with an ink brush, creating on old book pages.  

Each different medium - ink brush, pen, pencil, etc. has its own magic for creating marks, and it's relaxing to discover what sorts of things each medium excels at.

Mark making is a great way to see your own style develop if you are new to art.  Even if you were to copy another artist's marks as closely as you could, you would be creating in your own hand. 

It's a good practice in fact to visit a museum and copy the marks or even the whole composition of a master artist.  You learn so much through the process.

So long as you don't claim the work as your own original idea, it's perfectly ethical.

I find mark making a relaxing project, good for when you don't have much time, or for when you've seen another artist's work and been inspired.  It can be a form of notetaking on the marks you saw that you liked.

Next time you are stuck waiting in your car, or have 10 minutes to fill, try grabbing a sketchbook (or even the back of an envelope!) and a pencil and making marks. It's a great way to keep your creative gears turning.

Walnut Ink Update

I've been testing out my homemade Walnut Ink to discover its properties.  

I'm finding that I can use it like watercolor paint, watering it down to lighten it, or adding layers to darken it.  If I want to lighten a spot, I can even scrub out dried ink spots with a clean, damp brush.  

I added white colored pencil marks to show the window light reflecting on these salad tomatoes.

This combination of supplies reminds me of Rembrandt van Rijn's ink and white chalk drawings.

Above: Rembrandt's Three Studies of a Child and One of a Woman from the Harvard Art Museums

Rembrandt's fluid lines and masterful portraiture show the possibilities of such simple materials as ink & chalk on brown paper.  Inspiring!

Testing out an art supply just to become familiar with it is a great way to trick your brain into not judging any artworks you create.  Because you are merely exploring and experimenting, you are freed from expectations.

What material would you like to test out and explore today?

Happy Creating!

Playing with India Ink

A new bottle of India ink and a stack of watercolor paper invited an afternoon of playing with shapes, brush strokes and drawing implements.

Each tool creates a different mark, and by experimenting with a variety of different strokes and expressions, I made discoveries.

After my first round of paintings dried, I looked them over and noticed that I liked:  

• Bold, thick lines next to fine, scratchy marks, 
• Graffiti-ish strokes combined with dots, slashes & fine marks, and 
• Repeated slash marks done quickly & with energy.

I noticed that I didn't like marks that looked too carefully thought out or representational (trying to look like something in reality).

My favorite pieces were wild, messy & free.

I took my top picks and reduced them in size on a copying machine, then combined them with other elements, like this handmade paper from yucca plants.

I've always been a fan of bold contrasts next to earthy midtones.

What type of marks do you like to make?

I encourage you to experiment with whatever you have on hand -- a ballpoint pen, pencil or a bottle of ink and a brush.

Then take notes on what you liked making, and which artworks you like the most afterwards.

The more you experiment, the more you discover.  The more you know about what you like, the more satisfied you will be in your artmaking.

Happy Mark Making!

Copyright 2023 Betsy Bangley, Betsy's Bliss Art Blog.

Experimental Painting

I've had the opportunity to read some great books & magazines lately, and, inspired by my reading, I decided to try to paint more freely & expressively.

The only way to achieve this is to experiment.  Not every experiment works, and even those that I feel are successful, like the one above, have parts I like (the loose yellowy-green fronds against the dark blue shadows) and parts I don't (some parts just got mushy).

I painted this frothy fern as I sat at the breakfast table, as the morning sun spilled in and backlit the foliage.  I was taken by the glowing yellow green fronds right next to deep shadows.  I painted quickly, without a pencil sketch underneath, looking at the fern as much as possible.

In the moment, I felt like I was painting haphazardly, wildly out of control!  When I stepped back, I liked the result of picking out the part that fascinated me and trying to express that.

It was incredibly freeing to remind myself that I didn't have to make a photo-realistic "likeness" of the fern, and that precision is not better than expression. My goal was to just express the sense of light pouring through greenery. 

Every time we experiment with our art-making, we learn and grow.  We make discoveries.  It may feel risky, wild, and unkempt, but even if the results are wonky and imperfect, they are worth trying just for the possibilities they hold.

I hope you'll make a list of art experiments you'd like to try and then recklessly pursue them!

The Importance of Playing with Squiggles

One of my aims in teaching art is to liberate people to create.  So many of us feel that we must make something of meaning or value, something pretty or even Perfect.  Of course, we all know that there is no such thing as perfect in any human endeavor, and saddling ourselves with these expectations before we even pick up a paintbrush or pen can turn our hands to lead.

I recommend giving yourself over to the experience of discovery as you draw or paint. Look at your subject and find the parts that fascinate you, then dive in and play with ways to represent those things. Removing any expectation of the finished result opens you up to create freely.

Another great way to play with your creativity is to focus merely on mark making.  I was inspired by Amy Maricle, of Mindful Art Studio, to take up a brush pen, loaded with India ink, and paint swoops, swirls, and squiggles on heavy paper I had cut to various sizes.



I set up outside on a picnic table and just let the painting happen.  By keeping my paper small, and having stacks of these little "canvases," I could create, explore designs and marks, then set the work aside and start fresh on a blank page.  I found myself drawn to thick and thin wavy lines, like the curve around a woman's hip.

As I created, I experienced the bliss of the present moment, the brush slipping over the paper, a Song Sparrow warbling nearby. The designs evolved, becoming trees, grasses, simple curves, then tadpoles swimming in a pond. Occasionally, I would dip back into familiar shapes and symbols, often used, and I noticed that these were not fulfilling to me.  I sought a fresh experience, and the explorative marks were the ones that felt exciting and refreshing.

I finished the experiment by cutting scrap pieces of white mat board to post card size, and making tadpole post cards.

Tadpole post card.

At the end of the experience, I laid out my favorite paintings on a board, and placed them where I would see the artworks as I walked by.  The joy of the creative experience lingered for days, and every time I passed by my little paintings, I felt a thrill.  I created that!

I hope you will try this technique, too.

At the end of my experiment, I added a Micron pen to my tool kit. Perhaps my next mark-making project will begin with bubbles & ovals!

Experimenting with Art

I have learned that the best way to make discoveries and improvements as an artist is to experiment without any expectation of the finished product. Go on a journey with your art supplies and try out new techniques and ideas.

Getting out my watercolors to play in my journal/planner, I experimented with creating artworks within the bounds of a two-inch diameter circle. Allowing yourself the license to just play with colors, forms and designs frees you up for new creative openings.

I also like to splash colors on my journal to create backgrounds for "Good Things" lists.

I picked up the "Good Things" habit from artist & designer Christine Castro Hughes, who says "I think everyone should keep an illustrated journal.  Just do it! The joys and beauty are usually found when you're not trying too hard, so let yourself loose.  Make a mess. Don't aim for perfect. Allow mistakes.  Have fun."