Get to Know Your Story

Awakening your association muscles means noticing how every choice you make shapes your creative process. Everything within you emerges through your art. Learn to recognize how each element affects the others. Consider how advances in optics influenced art, or how technology led to new musical instruments. Everything is connected.

Your hand has two sides, and so does your creative process. One side holds the brush; think of the other as your creative soul or muse. Each side informs the other. Your point of view shapes your story. Reach into a deeper understanding of why you create. What is your story? The more you make, the more clearly you will understand your Why. That “Why” is the first step toward understanding your creations.

Art pushes the boundaries of perception and may even bring you to your knees. Your soul is what helps you rise again. Art teaches us how to get back up when we fall. How do you activate your association muscle? Learn to see. Take time to look.

The first thing to observe, to look at, is the choice of substrate. What shape is it, a rectangle, square, long narrow or tall skinny or something else? Is it a very small piece or a big size? Why did you choose this shape? How is it contributing to your story? What is your story? Do you know yet? How could your story be enhanced or changed by choosing a different shape?

Why do you paint in the orientation you do or select the shape?

Is a non-traditional format or shape part of telling your story?

Go deeper and explore the whys of the size and format of what you paint.

What is your connection? Mine had to do with the science/art connection. I paint scientific ideas.

What are some of your why’s?

Does it have to do with your shape, materials or format?

What is the mood you wish to evoke? Is it mysterious, energetic or calming?

Take a few minutes and listen to your first impression of mood? This is just the overall mood.

Move across the room. Look at it from various angles. Get really close. Does the mood change?

What is the subject matter?

Even abstract paintings have a subject, and this may relate to the mood. How does the subject matter contribute to the mood?

What does it evoke for you?

How do others respond to the subject matter? Do you see a pattern?

I have found that some people respond to different moods or designs. Some people feel uncomfortable with certain designs and others will be attracted to it. The observer sees the piece through their personal experiences and lenses, not those that you created it with.

Do you wish to evoke a feeling of floating, or being grounded? Do you want to present an energetic or a serene work? Do wish to challenge your viewer?

What is the story you wish to convey? Your mood may change but can you see the thread that weaves all your work together? Can you detect a pattern? Is there a consistent texture or horizon line?

Here are the guidelines to create an interesting and successful painting. For all the design rules I present here, there are as many ways to break the rules. When you understand the rules, then you can break the rules. This will make your voice stronger and clearer when you know the whys.

Your composition choices are some of the following that may be used. They will vary depending on your first choice of substrate shape-square, rectangle or other.

Arrange your composition and then look at some of these things we make a successful painting.

Design elements will guide your viewer around the entire painting.

You don’t want your viewer’s eye to get stuck or shoot off the picture plane.

Scale-you want repetition of form or shape but with a variety of size or scale.

If everything is the same the eye will dismiss it and move on.

You need to have a variety of shape, scale, texture, values and color, but you need buddies also.

When you place something small next to something large, it emphasizes the difference in scale.

When you place a desaturated color next to a vibrant saturated color, you create interest because of the differences.

So, remember buddies but differences.

Hard edge versus soft edge and a variety of textures.

These things can guide your viewer around the picture.

Create a place of rest next to activity.

Movement can be created with shapes, color or collage. Be careful not to shoot the viewer off the page with a strong directional line or shape. It needs to be counterbalanced to hold the eye.

Where does the eye enter the painting? The eye will first go to the area of highest contrast in value. Think black and white. Use this knowledge to guide the viewer around the entire picture.

Where is the action?

Look at these grids. The traditional grid #1 works for most shapes of square or rectangle. The second one, I call the Bulls Eye grid, can be useful for those long skinny, narrow pieces. You want some action to touch on these grid lines or be contained within them.

You may have most of the action happening in the top left, top center and middle center of the first grid outline. But you want a bit of that action to cross over the lines and move into some of the other parts of the grid.

Look at the second grid and imagine some of the action touching areas of all the slices. Perhaps a large portion of the piece has a specific color. You may want to add a hint of that color somewhere else on the grid. This would be like a color buddy, and it would assure that all the parts of the painting are talking to each other.

Create areas of rest. If everything is the same there will be points of rest. Noise becomes music when you have the quietness between the notes. This is all about balance.

If something feels like it is not working, take a closer look at it. Hold your hand out at arm’s length and use a thumb or fingers to block out the portion in question. If it isn’t contributing to the painting, then perhaps edit it out. You can tape up pieces of paper to block out areas.

Rotate the painting and continue to ask these questions. Rotate a quarter turn and take time to examine and ask the questions for each rotation. Continue rotating it until you have made it around the clock.

One of the aspects you are looking for during the rotation is seeing lines that may shoot you off the picture plane. When you rotate the piece, it will become evident in alternate directions.

Squint your eyes to detect a range of values. If everything merges together add some lights and darks. You may try this with collage to add different sizes and values. You can glue the collage on or simply paint it in.

There may be a pop of color in an area.

Use a mirror to look at the painting in reverse or take a photo of it and look at it.

Have a dialogue with your painting. Is there something else you need? Is there something that needs to be removed?

Take the time to learn to listen to your painting. Once you put your creation on the picture plane you have released it and it is like you are now talking to a friend. Ask a question and then really listen.

Ask if it is done. If you don’t get an answer right away, put it away and come back to it later and ask again. You will eventually receive an answer.

Perhaps this painting will give you a jumpstart for your next piece.

Use all these ideas and really learn to look, listen and then respond.

Sandra