Studio notes: Exploring several directions
A little art update
Recently I caught myself thinking that my creative practice is nonlinear, I tend to focus on one direction or project and then switch to explore something different. I don’t really control this, because it’s how my creativity works (and always did), instead I try to embrace it and adapt my practice and routine.
After I did my 100 landscapes it felt like I needed a change from this subject matter. Currently I want to explore other directions, but using the ideas that came to me while painting the landscapes within my 100 day project.
Being more expressive
One of the directions I explore at the moment is being more bold with shapes and incorporating more unlikely colours into my work. To practice I have been doing some expressive studies of southern magnolias in watercolour and coloured pencils. I am still intimidated by going too far with the colours and lines, but getting there little by little!
In the past weeks I have been also experimenting with little abstract compositions created from a bigger piece. So far it has been really fun! I plan to glue the studies as pages into an old book cover and continue working in it as in a sketchbook.
Sketching on location
Last week I made a little trip to the Cote d'Azur in southern France and made some sketches there, I mostly focused on flowers and plants, but also did some quirky boats! I am really glad that I started a plein air practice this year, I still need to practice more, but it has been very inspiring and I feel how I am now being more present and noticing much more when working outside.
Getting out of my comfort zone
As I mostly create landscapes, flowers and abstracts, I am not very confident with other subjects, so this year I try to push myself into drawing and painting as many different things as possible. I feel that this helps me a lot with my observational skills as well as eye-hand coordination. Also this year I started going out to draw and paint on location, which I am not exactly comfortable with.
This weekend we had a lovely stroll in a gallery and a drawing session with
here in Vienna and it turns out that having a painting buddy helps a lot with reducing stress and having more fun when working in public! And of course we had so much fun that we forgot to make photos!I also took part in a lovely drawing session hosted by
, where we faced the challenge of drawing animals and plants that are good at camouflage.
Further inspiration
Is It Okay to Have Multiple Art Styles? - Laura Horn. I don’t know how Laura does it, but her podcast episodes are always so timely and answer the exact questions I am thinking about at the moment. In this episode she discusses that it is normal to explore various things and work across multiple styles and genres.
If you found something useful and inspiring, feel free to leave a comment or share this post!
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Thank you for being here!
Until next time!
Lisa
Thanks for mentioning us Lisa 🥰 That trip to the South of France sounds lovely, must be an ideal place to draw :)
I love your Magnolias, each petal has a lot of depth and seems to pop off the page. White flowers are hard to colour and you have done a fantstic job