This will be the year that I will keep my resolutions.....I say that every year and every year about a month into those resolutions they disappear. Last week as I was thinking about what those resolutions would be for me this year, I thought about how us artists usually come up with wanting to paint more. I make that resolution almost every year, and every
year it doesn't happen. Then I started thinking that this may be too big a commitment for most people, myself included, that have so many other things in their lives that are happening.
Yes, I am making excuses, but for a good reason, most people don't paint for their profession and they don't make a living doing it, so this is probably the main reason most people can't sit down and paint every day.
What I have come up with this year for that paint more resolution is
not to paint more but to be more creative.
Most people I know really don't have enough time to paint every single day, but I think most people can make a few minutes available every day to be a little more creative. Being creative, I believe can help you in so many wonderful ways and I'm betting that it will also help you when you do get that time to paint.
Here are only a few examples I have come up with for things I want to do to be more
creative:
• check out a new medium and see what artists are doing with that medium
• take reference photos of things you normally wouldn't take pictures of
• sketch your morning cup of coffee and give yourself only a few minutes
• draw on a strange surface with a strange medium
• talk to an artist friend about an artist that you may not like very much and one you love
* Have someone, I'm thinking a kid, do a
squiggly line for you and you draw something out of that line.
• Float some pigment on a sheet of watercolor paper and try putting all sorts of weird things into that wash
• draw each letter of the alphabet to be an object that starts with the letter you are drawing
• check out a how to video on youtube and then give it your best shot
• play some games like Pictionary, Scribblish with artist friends or anybody
• try drawing a caricature of
someone
• paint with coffee
• check out an art book at your library
• try drawing something you see but do it upside-down
• come up with creative things to do
Creative thinking and doing is so important to the artist and helps you grow as an artist in so many ways.
My resolution this year is to try and be creative every day and I hope you can give it a shot too!
