Sparks of inspiration February ’25

Some good things for the month of February

On Technique

• How to Paint Looser: Mastering Brushwork Techniques for Impressionist Art - Will Kemp. “Keeping a balance between realism and looseness” is something I am working towards at the moment, and the article has a lot of helpful advice.

• Why Limit Your Palette? - Learning to see. Although I frequently advocate for using limited supplies and colours, I believe it’s best suited for projects with a specific goal in mind - to learn more about value, colour mixing, a specific material or technique, etc. I agree with the author of the article - using limited palettes by default can have its negative effects.

Nurturing Creativity

• How to Prioritize What Matters Most in 2025 - The Creative Thursday Podcast. An uplifting and warm solo episode from Marisa.

• Running a Creative Audit - Art Juice Podcast. A “creative audit” can help you to clarify future directions in your art, this episode provides several questions to reflect on within your practice.

• Creativity can be a balm for the soul - Helen Wells. A little love letter to sketchbook practice.

• Creating My Own Path into a Nurturing, Artistic New Year -

  Anne Butera
  . I love the idea of nurturing creativity and giving yourself space and time for exploration.

Inspiration from the master

• How Did Rachel Ruysch Become a World Famous Still Life Painter? - The Collector. I’ve been exploring ways of being more expressive with my florals and I recently stumbled upon wonderful paintings by Rachel Ruysch, one of the female artists of the Dutch Golden Age (yes, there were several women who succeeded as artists during this period!). I really enjoy the fact that she “invented” some of her flower arrangements and combined plants that typically bloom at different times. I also LOVE her dark backgrounds.

I hope you found something useful and inspiring on this list. From now on I decided to post fewer links in my monthly inspiration issues, because I realised that 10 links can be overwhelming and it’s probably not realistic to read it all considering the amount of information we’re exposed to on a daily basis. I’ll post anything between 5-8 links from now on and hope it’ll make it easier for those who enjoy reading the monthly “sparks”. It’ll simplify things on my side too :)

Thank you for reading and being here, everyone is greatly appreciated in this space!

Feel free to share this post with a creative friend and I’d be happy to hear from you in the comments.

Until next time!

Lisa