Color, Texture, Art Play

This week I’m carrying color lessons forward, experimenting with texture, and trying to keep the whole thing playful.

It’s the beginning of week 8 in my Creative Visionary Program workshop, with four more weeks to go. We just wrapped up color in week 7, and I’m still thinking about how much there is to learn from working within limits.

Last week was an exploration of complementary color and color harmony, so I was still using a fairly limited palette, but with a little more going on as the palette opened up. I found the second week of color more challenging than I expected. There was a lot to hold at once: finding joy in the subject matter, applying the principles of value and design, paying attention to saturation and desaturation, and mixing a range of colors from a limited palette.

It’s all starting to build on itself.

And I’m still trying to keep it playful. That might be the hardest part: staying in the playful flow while also making decisions that require thought. I want the work to feel loose and alive, but I’m also learning how much attention goes into getting there.

This week we are working on creating texture with different tools and materials. One more thing to add on! There are so many different ways to create texture, and I can already tell this is going to be a big area of exploration for me. I have one work in progress, and I’m going to start another one so I can try a variety of techniques without worrying too much about the outcome.

I may go back to a really limited palette for this next piece, just so I can concentrate. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I also know that this is part of the process. I just need to take a breath, make the next mark, and move through it.

I do feel like all of this is going to help me figure out what works best for my work. Not only in terms of content, but also the kinds of marks I love most, the materials I want to explore, and how I want to approach color. It feels like each assignment is adding another layer of information, and eventually I’ll be able to sort through it and see what really belongs.

Every morning I start with a short meditation. I have a couple of favorites that my friend Suzanne has recorded, and they’ve become a nice way to begin the day before I head into the studio. Here is a link if you want to check those out: Yoga + Food + Mindset / Meditations

I have also been doing a lot of reading lately, more fiction than normal. Maybe it’s all part of the same thing: filling the well, letting different kinds of stories and images move around in the background while I paint.

Here is my current list:

American War: A Novel by Omar El Akkad Click here to go to the book on Story Graph
This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman Click here to go to the book on Story Graph
Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell Click here to go to the book on Story Graph

American War was riveting and really thought-provoking. A scary peek into a potential future we would not hope for.

I am in the middle of This Is Not About Us, and it definitely has my attention. I love books that I can’t put down.

Art Matters is so great. The illustrations combined with the writing feel really joyful. I read it in one sitting. The illustrations make the book for me.

It’s starting to get hot here in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Right now I am enjoying some lovely humidity, but I know it will become oppressive in a month or so.

For now, I’m off to paint.

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot—I stumbled across this really lovely article — The Bountiful Path by drlisabelisle and wanted to share it with you.