Quote Originally Posted by Enug View Post
As usual dear DA there is much to ponder in your comments.

I'm not aiming to exhibit or sell my paintings - they are just for my personal pleasure. Naturally I want to improve - hence my studying of techniques by reading and watching videos - mainly brushwork. - I would love to be able to paint loosely like our dear friend Pat. Not being able to do this is frustrating and I guess caused me to feel a little depressed about where I was going. I am by nature a perfectionist and this is probably holding me back and preventing me from allowing my own personal style (if I have one) from developing.

As for copying - sadly my imagination let's me down - I need a photo or painting to give me ideas - I'm trying to let them guide me rather than follow slavishly. If I sit here at my computer waiting to be inspired it could be a long wait.

I have found the romantic landscapes of the Hudson River School of artists very appealing and might delve into those for some inspiration. I also enjoy painting animals - especially their eyes.

Well that's enough of the pity party - let's fire up AR and get painting!!!!

Thank you to Pat and Bobbi, for your lovely comments - they are really appreciated.

I totally get what you mean about imagination. Funny thing about imagination is although its product is new in many senses, what is new relies on what one already knows, imagination must draw upon content which is known to come up with the heretofore unknown. A centaur is a primitive example of this, two known organisms, a man and a horse, are literally split and re-combined. Although primitive, it illustrates that the basic exercise of imagination, whether it on a concrete level, or a more abstract conceptual or thematic level, relies in application of what is known. For this reason, I believe that exercises directed to technique could actually assist with imagination.

I am nowhere near as experienced as you having clocked a such a small amount of time (life gets in the way) with my tablet, but I have heard that "studies" are a great way for building up a tool box for painting techniques and ability: I think it also could work for imagination itself.


For example, say you know you want to paint scenes depicting Greek villas and landscapes, perhaps you want to be able to make 3 or 4 pieces to cherish.

In the beginning perhaps you don't know what the buildings are like. What the trees and fields, and mountains, are like. What the hazy air and ocean views are like. How these should be arranged into a mountainside scene, or a village scene etc. The idea is to obsessively paint LOTs of typical Greek buildings, lots of olive, Cyprus (or whatever kind of trees?) over and over, from references. This of course builds up your artistic technique and understanding of what these things look like and how you need to paint them. One approach could be to paint things separately first, e.g. 10 buildings, 20 trees, 5 hazy mountain seascapes, and then to start painting groups of these together in compositions taken directly from reference. Imagine doing this so many times you could deal with any of these in your sleep. You also have seen a variety of compositions, real life arrangements, landscapes etc. and in addition to your technique being primed, when looking at a blank page, you realize now your imagination is filled with a multitude of possibility, from which you can imagine something completely new BUT something which still makes sense, in the context of Greek villas and landscapes.

It's like a artistic playground which once you immerse yourself into it and play around enough in it, you have a certain mastery that supports a freedom of creativity.


If you have a particular setting or theme I think such an exercise could be effective. Again, I have nowhere near the experience you have and I cannot tell you from first hand knowledge whether doing this works. I think its definitely true that studies work for technique and getting to know what particular things look like and how you have to paint them... I think it is almost unavoidable that such an activity would also be a great boost to creative imagination as well.


When I have time one day I plan to try doing the above... IF you happen to do so before then, please let me know how it works for you!