PAINT AND LET YOUR HEART SING

Is your mood feeling a little flat? Your motivation lacking?

Well this can happen to the best of us at times. Sometimes we really want to paint yet feel we         feel unsettled as to what. If this happens to you it may be best to take a little time away from the   canvas to get clear.

Here are 10 “Springboard” ideas to get you  going.

1 Visit a gallery and see what other artists have been inspired by.

2 Browse through a book with beautiful photographs in it

3 Read your favourite poem. What visions come to you? What mood is evoked?

4 Look through your old sketchbooks-sometimes seeing where you have been helps you see    where you want to go.

5 Read Vincent Van Goghs’ letters to Theo. Feel the beauty he saw.

6 Pick out your favourite holiday photos.

7 Read a published travel journal.

8 Look at famous artists sketchbooks.

9 Read your diary for happy memories.

10 Take a favourite subject that you have painted before and come up with as many fresh ways to approach this.

Maybe in a different medium.

At this time of year the weather and flat light can seem uninspiring to a lot of Artists. However I have noticed this past week that at last it’s staying lighter later. Here around 4.30pm I have been taking a walk and noticed the light often is more dramatic at this time of day. With some beautiful lights in the sky, on the horizon line and hilltops. With the winter skeletons of trees in silhouette this can create a dramatic scene. Often fleeting, but well worth capturing. A great opportunity for a quick thumbnail sketch showing light and shade followed by a photo to aid the memory.You will find in no time at all you can build a collections of inspirations for future paintings. Plus this little exercise can do wonders for your observational skills. Come on put on your wellies and get out there!

So where are finding your inspiration these days? Leave a comment I would love to hear

For all the Watercolour Artists amongst you.  Bookings are now being taken for my Painting Course ” Improve Your Watercolour Techniques”

Monday 16th -Friday20th August 2010. This fabulous outdoor Painting Holiday is held at Malham Tarn Field Centre, North Yorkshire. Set in breathtaking Scenery. Each day we will be out painting the landscape and travelling round the Yorkshire Dales. W also have a studio at the centre for evening work. So if you have never ventured outside to paint before and don’t know where to start or you would like to improve your painting. This could be the course for you. Visit the Field Studies Council Website, to find out more http://www.field-studies-council.org/2010/courseinfo.aspx?id=371 to see more. I look forward to meeting you there.