How to stay inspired in your art practice

Sharing some tips that work for me

Sometimes you can feel a little uninspired and it is hard to get into the creative flow. It can be a result of having to make too many decisions which can be frustrating: What will I create today? How? What substrate should I use? What colours? And so you keep on asking questions instead of actually creating.

Here are some of my practices to limit decision-making and get inspired to create. None of the practices are aimed at producing finished works of art, instead they help me to get into the creative flow, explore new ideas, practice and just have fun in the studio.

1. Short bursts of art practice. Quickly make a small collage, painting study or sketch (e.g. set a timer for 5, 15, 20 minutes). It is handy always to have collage fodder, reference images, work in progress and your old work (e.g. your sketchbooks) on hand, so that you can easily get into creating without having to make additional decisions. I like to go through the pages of my sketchbooks and add things here and there - a piece of collage to a portrait, details to a landscape, a quick sketch of old work.

2. Create colour studies and swatches. My two go to exercises are (1) swatching colours from a reference (e.g. from a painting of your favourite artist or from a magazine page) and (2) experimenting with mixing colours, e.g. mix all you colours with white, black and any other colour (e.g. a gold ochre or a burned umber to create more muted colours) or mix all the colours with each other to create your own colour mixing chart. Register your results in a sketchbook. Make notes about the colours you like and how you mixed them.

3. Create value studies and sketches. Use limited supplies and some reference images. Experiment with creating studies using only black and white. Use graphite, charcoal, water soluble pencils, ink pens, etc. For my whites I like using white gouache, pastels or acrylic pens (such as Posca). Pay attention to the darkest and lightest values. Experiment with working on different backgrounds, e.g. on craft paper or grey paper, etc.

4. Create master studies. Choose an artist from the past and study those aspects of their work you’d like to explore in your own art (e.g. colours, brush strokes, composition, etc.). Create quick studies. Do not try to repeat the work identically, experiment with using other supplies and substrates, crop the image, change colours, etc. Study several paintings, reflect on the process and make notes. Create further studies based on your notes and studies, not on the original paintings. This way you will experiment with incorporating new ideas in your art, but won’t be just copying already existing artwork.

5. Create compositional studies in a grid journal. Divide your page into several rectangles and play with compositions, e.g. using collage papers or any supplies of your choice (but make sure to use limited supplies, so you will have less decisions to make). Feel free to try abstract compositions, play with landscapes, still lives, etc. Make notes about the compositions you find pleasing and why.

6. Create an inspiration board or a handmade art journal using your studies, sketches, old artwork. When you are not in the mood to paint, you can still spend some creative time in your studio. Collect various scraps, sketches, studies, collage papers, pieces of old work, etc. and put them on your studio wall, a pin board or into a sketchbook. Try to find common threads and features in your artwork, make notes.

7. Repeat ideas from your old sketchbooks. Find ideas that you like, repeat them, but change some of the parameters, e.g. use different supplies, colours or bring the ideas into a larger substrate. Some of my portrait studies travel from one sketchbook to another and I always find something new to explore!

8. Go outside and create sketches and studies from observation. Pack a small kit with limited art supplies and go for a walk in your town. Get inspired by what surrounds you and create quick sketches of whatever catches your attention. Use these studies to create more work when you are back in the studio or add them to your inspiration board. This is also a great exercise to improve your observational skills.

Hope this was helpful! Feel free to share your own practices to stay inspired in the comments!

Until next time

Lisa