Tuesday, April 7, 2015

How I get my ideas for paintings!

"Rhythm of my Mind"
 
Do you ever wonder where I come up with my ideas for abstracts?  I have many different triggers to get ideas, but one of my favorites is to do "little abbeys" and then use that little 4" x 6" painting as my study for a larger painting.  I start out by dragging my loaded brush across the cold press 140 lb. watercolor paper, and the skipping action is how the whites are saved.  (I do this in a drybrush fashion.)  Then I add collage papers to liven up the colors and add a center of interest by adding a totally opposite color in that area.  After that dries, I weave a unifying color through the painting, and lastly add blacks near the center of interest.  Below is the small study that I used for the finished painting, "Rhythm of my Mind".  Even though the colors are different, you can see some similarities, I hope.

I'm going to be giving a demonstration on this process this Thursday night for the Minnesota Watercolor Society.  The meeting starts at 7:00 and is held at the Christ Presbyterian Church, 6901 Normandale Boulevard, Edina, MN. Hope to see you all there! 

4 comments:

  1. How you get your ideas.....that is a great subject matter. Glad you wrote about it. I would love to come to your demo, but Dallas, Texas is such a long haul! Your artwork is energetic and so cool. Love to see what you are up to. KMW

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  2. Ooh, fascinating, I wish I could come too, it would be so interesting.

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  3. Thanks for sharing - I love the finished painting

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