Sometimes I will come up with a fantastic idea and need to work on it immediately to get started. Otherwise, I’ll lose motivation to capture some essence of my idea.
Generally this is best in the morning after I sleep. I have something to look forward to in the day when I get up. It’s when my energy is highest, when hope is high, and there is a full day ahead.
What to do when you can’t make art immediately
At other times, when I can’t get around to making art, I’ll write the idea in my notes app in my phone. It’s like waking up from a dream and trying to write down the gibberish that strikes you.
When I look at it later, when I’m stuck on what to make next, it tends to be an easy flow to getting down to making something, because the idea is already there.
Do something outside what you usually make
With my medium, watercolour can sometimes be not so spontaneous. It’s fun sometimes to break “out of character” and make something abstract. A few of my series are like this, and there’s the odd “oddball painting” where it’s raw emotion on a page.
I have something to look forward to in the day when I get up. It’s when my energy is highest, when hope is high, and there is a full day ahead.
Have an inspiration folder
I have a folder of reference photos I’ve taken during my travels and various activities. They are limited to what photos make me feel inspired to make something I would like. They tend to be references for my later pieces. Some of them don’t really work out well, and others delight me. When I’m done with my painting, I tend to move it into another folder.
I don’t usually reuse references
It’s almost like recording music though – once I have done a painting with one attempt, I tend to not want to re-use the reference. Something about it makes me feel like it’s been done, it turned out how it looked, and I don’t want to retouch that again. When I’ve recorded music, after I’ve played the song so many times, I tend to never play it again after I have completed it. It’s like it has already been completed and captured in its imperfection, and playing it more would not really be necessary.
Try remaking a painting already completed
Not to say I should never try remaking a painting – each painting is always going to be different anyways. Maybe I’ll get to doing that one day, but there’s so many more I can make that I don’t need to.
I have sometimes redone a concept that I have wanted to create, but I tend to feel that the dissatisfaction of one carries over to the next one. Sometimes it is greatly improved though. This was like my Lovebirds painting where I kept trying to make it, to really make it work. It was somewhat symbolic of a relationship in the end.