Discover and deepen your creative style through the process of creating 100 small mixed-media paintings! INTRODUCTION WE’RE SO GLAD YOU DECIDED to join us for this potent adventure of discovering and developing your unique creative style. We believe that cultivating an authentic creative voice translates into a more courageous, inspired, and world-changing way of living. We also believe this is a vital time for each of us to offer our personal and heartfelt stories and visions to the world. OUR PHILOSOPHY AS YOU TAKE THE FIRST STEPS on your style-finding adventure, we want to begin by sharing a few big-picture concepts that will help lay the foundation for your journey ahead. While the invitations within these pages are certainly not presented as a step-by-step manual, understanding how you will be spending your time and how you can most effectively move through the material is always helpful! We can’t wait to get started... SETTING THE STAGE TO CREATE PREPARING YOUR SPACE and gathering your materials can be a fun and exciting time to set the stage for your art-making adventures. The exercises presented in this book do not require a large or fancy studio space or expensive materials. In fact, we believe necessity is the mother of invention, so working with limited space and the supplies you have on hand can actually invite even more unique-to-you discoveries along the way. GATHERING INSPIRATION FROM YOUR INTERNAL LANDSCAPE YOUR INTERNAL LANDSCAPE is a vast and limitless space where your personal and familial histories mix with your current passions and interests, along with the many preferences and personal tastes you have developed and honed over time. GATHERING INSPIRATION FROM YOUR EXTERNAL LANDSCAPE IN THE LAST CHAPTER, we invited you to soulfully explore your internal landscape as a way to remember where you’ve come from, what has always been true for you, and what is stirring in your heart and imagination right now. This chapter invites you to turn your lens of noticing outward as you find unique ways to synthesize the world around you. EXPANSION WITH NEW MATERIALS YOU MAY RECALL FROM the beginning of the book that the eighth “ingredient” for finding your own style is Expansion: Continually growing your knowledge of new materials. With that in mind, we’re excited to introduce you to an array of some of our favorite art materials we affectionately call the Art Salad Bar—an inspiring buffet to satisfy your creative cravings! FOR THE LOVE OF COLOR WE’RE VERY EXCITED TO SHARE this chapter with you because it’s all about one of our greatest loves—color! For years, we’ve jokingly called ourselves chromasapiens because we find color to be one of the most endlessly fascinating parts of life and art. We love how color brings art to life, and we also love the many ways we can infuse our lives with color. INCORPORATING INSPIRATION FROM OTHER ARTISTS WE BELIEVE THAT GENUINE CURIOSITY, honest self-inquiry, and the ability to metabolize personal life experiences create the foundation for developing a unique creative style. That belief informed our decision to begin this book with an emphasis on inner work, while saving this chapter for last. Fresh Paint uses mixed-media art projects along with prompts for movement, meditation, and writing to explore personal experience, individual preference, ancestry, intuition, and body wisdom. LIGHT ON DARK MANDALA In this book, we respectfully borrow the word mandala to invoke the creation of a symmetrical circular image, while inviting a spontaneous way of creating and honoring our own place within the cosmos. In this exercise, we’ll also explore the use of light colors on a dark surface as a way to explore contrast. To begin, use gesso or black paint to cover at least one of your painting papers. When it’s dry, use a light-colored oil pastel, pencil, gel ink pen, and/or paint pen and write the four words you live by from the Writing Inquiry on the four edges of your paper—one on each edge. Let these words be the guardians of the four edges of this piece. STAMPING WITH VEGGIES Some of our favorite unusual mark makers are vegetables, and we especially love working with potatoes because they’re inexpensive, easy to carve, and offer an infinite number of options when it comes to creating shapes for stamping. We also love that potatoes are temporary, and no two potato stamps will ever be quite the same. Feel free to use these same guidelines to experiment with other veggies (or fruits). Some of our favorites are the bottom of a celery bunch, a corn cob, the inside of a pepper, the rind of a melon, and a slice of eggplant. The organic stamp-making possibilities are truly endless! INTEGRATE AND CREATE If you haven’t already spent time looking at and considering what you love about a few pieces of art, this is a great time to do that. Remember, this is not about replication or taking too much from one source. It’s about choosing specific things about the artwork that really speak to you and allowing that specific information to serve as a guidepost in your creations. As you create using this inspiration, continue to weave in your inner explorations, outer explorations, new materials, and the magic of the moment. WRITING INQUIRY: What You Love and Why Before we dive into new materials, take some time to reflect on your past, current, and future relationships to different creative materials and processes through this Writing Inquiry: I have always loved creating with _______________ . Lately, I have been curious to explore creating with _______________ . One art medium I have been afraid of is _______________ because I think _______________ . An art medium I enjoyed working with as a child is _______________ . I wonder what would emerge if I were to combine _______________ with _______________ and perhaps even a little bit of _______________ . I once tried working with _______________ but never picked it up again because _______________ . If I could work with ANY new material in my one hundred paintings, I would be most excited to work with _______________ . I find _______________ (art material) so frustrating! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE _______________ (art medium) because when I work with it, _______________ happens. PAINTING CHALLENGE: Using Art as Inspiration without Copying Spend some time with one of your favorite paintings mentioned in the Writing Inquiry. Notice specifically what you love about it and create a painting or group of paintings inspired by what you love. Remember, this is about choosing specific things about the artwork that really speak to you and allowing that specific information to mix with other sources of inspiration and serve as a guidepost in your own creations. This is not about replication or taking too much from one source. As you create using specific inspiration, continue to weave in your inner explorations, outer explorations, new materials, and the magic of the moment. When you’re done, consider drawing upon more than one artist for inspiration and combining those elements to create another set of paintings. What happens when you draw from three or four different artists? The possibilities are truly endless. Here are some more examples of what might feel inspiring about a painting: A type of brush mark The energetic quality of a line The spaciousness of the composition The thickness of the paint The size or scale Text elements The color palette A specific shape
✔ Author(s): Flora Bowley,Lynzee Lynx
✔ Title: Fresh Paint: Discover Your Unique Creative Style Through 100 Small Mixed-Media Paintings
✔ Rating : 4.4 out of 5 base on (136 reviews)
✔ ISBN-10: 0760370680
✔ ISBN-13: 9780760370681
✔ Language: English
✔ Format ebook: PDF, EPUB, Kindle, Audio, HTML and MOBI
✔ Device compatibles: Android, iOS, PC and Amazon Kindle
Readers' opinions about Fresh Paint by Flora Bowley
Beata Shepard
I'm still in awe of the intricate plot and the way everything seamlessly came together. The twists kept me guessing until the very end. It's one of those rare books that leave a lasting impact.
Laura Hill
The themes of resilience and hope resonated deeply with me. This book taught me valuable life lessons that I'll carry with me for years to come.
Violet Tyler
This is a book I'll cherish and recommend to everyone. It touched my soul and made me reflect on life's profound mysteries.
