Sources of Artists' Inspiration: How I find Inspiration.

'Walking Through Colour,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper, 29 x 21 cm

I find my inspiration in many different ways. Firstly, Nature always inspires me; from childhood when I spent hours walking through fields and forests and making up names for the various spirit-worlds I felt I encountered in each place, to my current emotional connections with the land, I continue to find exciting sources for ideas in my artwork. 

Landscape is usually the starting point though not always. But as I am also part of Nature (!) I like to let my hand find imagery by allowing it the freedom to translate uncensored various aspects of landscape experiences and memories. They become a composite of emotional and physical experiences, a parallel for journeys. They are also journeys in paint, each brush stroke being part of my response to paint and changing imagery in my mind.

''Night Walk,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper, 29 x 21 cm

This week I began to make a series of small paintings on paper to gather 'clues' and elements for possible paintings. These small works always help me because I can play with forms and colours randomly and make changes quickly with thick acrylic. I have not tried to force a 'finished' painting, they are merely ideas.

'Lakes and Rivers,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper

So, I'm taking various landscape elements and forms that mean something to me and assembling them spontaneously to see what might 'work' as a larger paint 'poem'. I'm open to possibilities and once I start working on canvas, things may be discarded.

'Night Trees,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper, 29 x 21 cm

At the same time, to widen my creative 'pool,' I am also working on canvas between 4 different paintings. I think I see the small works as an enquiry in to possible forms that could then enter troublesome, unresolved areas of the canvases. Recently I have trodden a line between several lines of enquiry in new canvases, some more landscape referenced, some more towards paint and abstraction. 

To be continued.

'Mountain Trails,' acrylic on 300 gsm paper, 29 x 21 cm

How I start a Blank Canvas: My Approach to a Theme (Part One)

First Stage - canvas, 89 x 79 cm

I stretched my canvas on Thursday, applied two coats of Gesso and let it dry overnight. If I was working with oil paint I would leave the Gesso for a week or more to be sure it was dry but I have never had any problems working with a water based paint such as acrylic the day after priming a canvas.

The photo above shows the first stage of my painting when I brushed in large areas of colours freely. The theme is one of loss; something everyone can relate to anywhere in the world, whether it is a small loss or something life changing. I took as a starting point some plants on my patio and the title of the painting is 'Vestiges of Things that have Gone.' As I cover the canvas I allow forms to emerge through the textures and layers of fluid paint. I wanted this theme to include the process of forms being erased or worked over. I have used calligraphy brushes, house painting brushes and acrylic brushes.

Stage 2

This second stage is where things became really complex very fast as I let my hand move to its own rhythm inserting shapes that felt relevant. I work fairly fast and the problem is that the image can become too complicated but I don't allow myself to worry about this ; it is better to have too much so you can tweak and erase parts than to have too little. Most times my work is a case of trial and error and finally getting into a real mess - and then things start to come together. This can take a few days or sometimes months! I find it very productive to work on two or three paintings of the same theme to allow ideas to bounce between them and this is what I may do.

Since taking this photo I made a few changes to the painting and will post more photos soon. Generally my work can pass through many stages and sometimes I realise afterwards that an earlier stage was better but this is all part of the learning process. My feeling at this point is that I will definitely make another two paintings on this theme which may help me to bring some simplification into this canvas (or not), and to extend the theme and paint ideas. 

To be continued.