When I was first starting I admit I copied a lot of different artist's work to try to improve (not very long ago!).  I still get inspiration from some of my favorite artists, mentors and teachers and when I'm at a loss for ideas I certainly will paint from those but try to put a new spin of colors and textures to push myself.  I see a lot of artists copying other's styles and doing exact copies and not giving credit to the artist or even admitting they are doing it.  I have done this and justified doing this but after you have been an artist for a while, it is good to stop copying and start the process of coming up with your own original inspiration.  That's more difficult but much more satisfying in the end!

For a a while after taking lessons from Jackie Schindehette, I would paint just like her and this one is actually from lessons I took from her.  As it is exactly like the one she did, I did not sell it but gave it to an auction and now it hangs in Sherrie Christoff's home.  I did a series of paintings inspired from Jackie and I call them all by her name.  Now I know better and do not copy other artist's styles.  I copied Donna Leeward's style at the beginning as she was my first teacher, I tried to copy the great Daniel Keys but he's a modern day master and no one really can copy his style even if they tried!  

My most successful paintings were not inspired by other artists although looking at other art inspires me to create!  I would say I more want to be inspired by successful artists work ethic, marketing and social skills of which mine are sorely lacking leaving me feeling socially awkward at times.

I hope you found this helpful and food for thought!

Happy Painting!

St. Marys Paintout

I participated in St. Marys paintout April 6th.  Paintouts are exhausting and can be exhilarating.  You have to paint in extreme weather sometimes in a very short period of time.  I met a great group of painters from Jacksonville, First Coast Painters.  It is a great way to connect with other painters that love to do what you love!  I had won third place out of thirty there a few years ago and I didn't win anything this time, but Im ok with that.  There were some famous painters this year and I felt happy to be part of that group.  Randy Pitts was there and I have been following him for many years and was a bit starstruck!  He only got second place!  Any way, I drove home exhausted but feeling happy about the possibility of painting with this great group!  They were so friendly and welcoming.

Learning Art

I have been teaching an art class for several years and it has been an incredibly rewarding experience.
The reason I teach is to share my love of art.  I also love seeing some of the concepts dawn on my student's faces as they progress.  Art truly enriches my life and I want to see that in their lives too.

Art has challenged me every step of the way.  I haven't always been successful in every painting and I try to relay that to students.  You will learn something in each painting and the more you paint, the better you will become.  Some artists say you should paint every day.  It takes discipline and sometimes I don't 'feel' like painting and some days other things get in the way and that's ok.

One of the best things is that you can paint as you age when you can't do other more active things.  I think you can have lots of adventures just experimenting with color, subjects, styles, colors, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

I created a video about painting trees, sky holes and edges while doing a demo on a painting of a citrus grove below.

Edges are either soft, hard or lost in a painting.  We can use hard edges to draw the eye toward our center of interest or as part of the composition by using brushwork that shows the line between two values, light and dark in a painting.  This will draw the eye to that area.  Using softer edges with less contrast between values if we don't want to draw the eye there but it can be used to move the eye from one spot to another.  Lost edges are between two similar values and brushwork can be used  to wipe one similar value into another.   Edges all work together toward the composition success.

Sky holes have mostly soft edges and some hard edges inside the tree and make the tree look real.  If you look at a tree, you will see the sky peeking through mostly the top branches, but also the bottom larger trunks.  They can help separate the branches.  Sky holes should be slightly darker than the sky and I smudge the edges slightly to give a softer edge as you don't want them to stand out too much.

More about what I am up to:

I participated  in our local art show (FAFO) and had a good show.  I left a few hours early to take a Lori Putnam workshop in Tennessee and had a fabulous time!  It was a great group of artists and I learned a lot.  Lori was very entertaining and seemed like a nice person to boot.  We painted in Tennessee during fall color and it was my first time for me to do that.  I was in heaven!!  I am doing a five day intensive there next year.

It is the beginning of the year and I have put out some goals for my art career.  I have traded out art lessons for social media marketing and it is weird seeing someone else post stuff about me.  I have a hard time looking at it and have decided I won't look at it as it feels so self-focused.  I'm not too used to that.  Any way, I will try it for 6 months and see how it goes.

Myself and several sweet ladies are opening an art gallery called 'Studio B'!  We are  going to give it a few months and see if we want to continue.  So far I am having a blast!  But I need to keep painting!

Until next time,
Keep painting!
Laurie

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Successful Art Show

There is a point in your art career where you start to feel like all the work and growth is starting to go somewhere.  That time for me is now.  I have participated in about six art shows and some of my friends have seen my paintings and have encouraged me through the last few years.  There were times when I felt maybe I should just paint and enjoy it and not 'put it out there for others to either critique or enjoy'.  I had many times doubted if I even had any talent.  Going to shows can be hard on the ego, watching people go by your tent making a beeline for the guy next to you and feeling invisible.

So, for the next year I decided to grow as an artist.  I tried lots of new techniques and studied other art that I liked.  I read books and watched lots of you-tube tutorials and just decided to be brave and paint for the fun of it.  I loosened up deliberately and used a pallet knife and experimented.  It finally felt like play, like fun!

All of a sudden people are buying my art.  I finally decided to do some marketing and send an email to my contacts and tell them I would be at the local show.  Well, they showed up and the buying began.  Now, I am out of paintings and can't even keep up with the demand!  It's been a little stressful but I will take it any day.  On top of that, I did an exhibit and had an offer to be on an international website as a featured artist.

So, if you are an artist struggling to find your way, take it from me.  You can do it!