I’ve been reading several articles lately about artists and the way they get inspired. Early in my painting career I learned several methods that worked for me and I still use them.
I always look at my surroundings, whether my own back yard or the scenery whenever I travel, as a potential painting. When something really excites me, I take a photo for future reference. Sometimes the photo doesn’t give me the same creative spurt I had when I first saw the scene, but other times I will use it for several paintings in different ways.
PAINTING IN SERIES
I often do several paintings in a series and each painting just leads into the next and the one after that in a natural progression of ideas. As I’m actively painting one, the next painting is forming in my mind and I’m excited to start on it.
If I have a slow creative period, I use music to lift my spirits or I clean up my studio and size some canvases until I feel ready for the next painting.
OTHERS’ INSPIRATIONS
I have a cousin who is a talented photographer and she and her family frequently provide me with photographs from their travels. The views that inspire them provide me with a lot of reference material for paintings that wouldn’t ordinarily have. Whenever I need something different from my usual scenes, I go through the photos they have sent and usually find something to excite me.
I recently completed the painting above which was inspired by their photograph of a river in New Hampshire and my own vine maple trees. It is “Riverscape”, a 40″ x 60″ oil and wax on canvas, $4,500.
