Tips to help get through an artist block

Artist blocks suck! Let me tell you I've been having an artist block for a month and I just lost all inspiration to paint. But I found some things that help spark that creativity again. 

Picking up that brush again even through your not feeling it

No matter how much you don't want to paint just force yourself to pick up that paintbrush. I painted on the back of my sketchbook a week ago and when I did I was like "wow let's force myself to paint more often". I was not feeling inspired at all but I did it anyway. I feel like the more you push yourself, the more you can breakthrough. This pretty much goes for anything, not just painting. 

Sketch

If you can't think of an idea just start drawing whatever comes to mind and by the end of your drawing session you are likely to have an idea. This is usually what I do when I don't have an idea or I look back at my old sketches and that usually inspires me. 

Look at photos/Take photos

Sometimes just looking at photos of random things can inspire us. Photos truly do spark ideas and memories. I do this all the time, and usually once I'm done looking back at the photos I have ideas on what to paint. You know another thing that works is going out and taking reference photos for paintings and it kinda sparks your creativity again. 

Look at other people's artwork

Looking at other people's artwork can help spark your creativity and get you inspired to paint again. The thing about looking at other people's art is that you sometimes compare it to yours and you critique their work. This can help you get a good grasp of what they did and it maybe also might inspire you to use certain elements of their work in your own work.

Know that it is okay to have an artist block, it happens to all artists

Having an artist block does not make you any less of a painter it just means you're losing ideas or the passion. Our minds can't always be exploding with creativity, we all have our ups and downs, that is just being human. As long as you believe your going to paint again then you will. 

Things I have learned from being an artist

1)Painting is fun-To me painting is really fun and that is the whole reason why I paint. I enjoy creating a lot and I'm always thinking about what my next painting is going to be. 

2)When you're a beginner painter you think every painting is good. Then once you have been painting for a while you will not like every single one when it's finished.-I think this is because as we keep painting, the more we learn. Once we learn certain things we will analyze our paintings more to see if it looks good and if everything flows. For example-before creating a painting I think about composition, focal point, aerial perspective, etc. I also think it's because I want to create my best work so I put in more effort. 

3)Artist blocks are common-When you're an artist you will come across artist blocks and you will not know what to paint. Then you just sit there and stare at the wall and no ideas come into the mind. It happens all the time. But a tip that I got for this is to sketch. Sketch out whatever comes into your mind. This really works for me. I'll sketch a chair or a cat or something and then sometimes it turns into a painting.  

4)It's really relaxing to paint-Painting really relaxes me and it heals the stress or other things that may prevent me from relaxing. So it's a great way to to destress and just relax. Who wouldn't want to relax? 

5)Art supplies are so expensive-It's like fifteen dollars for a good tube of acrylic paint. Nobody has money for that like we need food on the table. A super helpful tip would be to conserve the art supplies and get a lot of use out of them. 

6)You're always learning new things-There will never be a time when your not learning new things about art because there is just so much to learn. I think this is a good thing because that way we are always growing. 

7)You don't want to compare yourself to other artists that much-If you compare yourself to other artists frequently, your confidence will lower. I did this when I was just beginning to paint. I was doing a cityscape when I was starting to paint again and I was comparing my work to Ken Auster's. I then thought "why can't my art look as good as his". 

8)Always sign your name and date once you finish a painting-Never skip on doing this because it helps you keep track of your progress over time and it is just something that completes the painting. 

9)Change up your subject and experiment with things-If you paint the same thing over and over again you're not experimenting with things and it's good to explore your options in painting. I used to just paint goblins and my dad told me to switch up my subject. So I did and now I'm exploring other options. I'm glad I did because my art improved. 

10)It's hard to make money from art-People don't buy art like how they used to. It's hard to make a career out of it. So I treat it like a hobby. You can make money from it but it's not like it's reliable. I have seen some people do art full time and still make enough money to pay the bills and such. But that is just not that realistic. 

The setup that I use to paint

I'm a painter if you didn't know already. I have a certain setup for my artwork and I thought I would share it. 

So I have a giant canvas that is really like a mat that I lay out on my floor. It is great because it gets really messy when I paint and it feels great to know I got coverage for the mess. 

This is an example of how my brushes are layed out. Usually there is a couple of brushes in my paint water and then I have other brushes scattered around. 

This is where I mix my paints. I use wax paper to mix my paint. I use this as a palette for all the paint that I'm using. I use both sides and recycle it afterwards. 

I lean my canvas up against the wall when I paint. I hang up sheets of paper to protect the wall from paint. It is really great. I like how I can just move the hanging paper back in my closet after I'm done using it. 

This is how the papers look without the canvas leaning on it. I do adjust the papers based on the canvas size. 

That is pretty much my setup. I like painting on the floor because it helps me focus better and this setup works for me. I'm glad you guys got an inside look to how I create my art. 

Daily painting book

I just finished reading daily painting by Carol Marine and I gotta say it was pretty inspiring. Carol Marine is a daily painter who paints a lot of still life. She went from painting big paintings and then eventually went to small paintings. She saw that she was avoiding the studio to paint big pieces of art. When she switched to painting smaller and more regularly and she saw that she actually wanted to go in the studio and she got excited to paint. She has a blog where she sells all her artwork. This is her blog if you wanted to visit it. http://carolmarine.blogspot.com/
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The benefits of painting smaller art more frequently are...
-It fits into your busy schedule
-You're more inspired to experiment
-You're less emotionally attached
-It facilitates quick growth
-You feel less fear
-You enjoy the process more
-You gain confidence
-It's less tedious
-It helps your larger work
-There is more structure

That sure is a lot of benefits. Honestly I like painting small too because you just feel more accomplished in the end and it helps me grow quickly. I also notice that I'm not really in the mood to do bigger paintings because I just think "I gotta fill this all in with paint and it's probably going to look weird in the end because I put too much water to the paint". I just produce better work when it's small.

Carol Marine talked about selling art online, framing, composition, awkward still lifes, plein air painting, Values, artist blocks, and just basic things that are helpful to see information on. I would really suggest her book to someone that is looking to get inspired by art. I sure hope some of you who read this will like the book too.

How I rediscovered art

I've been into art since I was just a little two year old. I would fingerpaint and as I got a bit older(around six-seven years old) I started painting actual paintings. I remember using oil pastels a lot and I would do acylics sometimes. My paintings were on large sheets of paper. I remember Cal(my brother), my dad, and me would sit down at the dinner table and paint or do oil pastels some evenings. I really enjoyed it. Cal used to do oil pastel drawings of sharks and fish and I liked doing vases. Then as we got older we both stopped doing art. Cal still does not do artwork but I rediscovered art. 

I found some pcitures in my photo album of me painting and I thought I would share them. I like the one with  the paint all over me it's so cute.

I was looking thorugh dad's artist room a couple of months ago and I came upon my old artwork. I will have to say it was pretty good for being seven years old. Then I thought to myself, genetics are on my side here, dad is an artist, and I'm very creative and this seems like it could be fun again. So then I started doing artwork again. I started off just doing artwork with acrylics on large paper like what I did before. Then I started experiementing with oil pastels and I started drawing with pencils. I also started painting on solid large boards(I don't know what they are actually called). I've been getting to know more about line, form, space, information, and the basic concepts of art. I'm slowly improving and I'm figuring out my style of art. I like impressionist artists, like Degas, Ken Auster, Bruno Paoli, Van gogh, M.C Escher, and Claude Monet.

I have taken art class during elementary school because it's required and I took one semister of art class in 6th grade. But I didn't learn much in those art classes. But I might be taking art class for one semister during my sophomore year. I signed up for it and I will prabably get it since sophomores have more priority over freshmans for getting classes. My friend Zarin took art class and said it was good. I'm also going to get involved in art club next year too. So I'm pretty excited to learn more about art.

I have not developed a certain style for my paintings I just kinda paint whatever I feel like painting. I have only recently started painting again so I'm just experimenting with things.

Here is some of my work, you can also see my work on my artwork page. To get to my artwork page you just click on the my artwork button on the navigation bar.

The wonder of nature

Done in acrylic paint

Ballerina chillin with a fan

Done in pencil

The apple and the jar

Done acylic paint and oil pastels

Ballerina tying her shoe(copied Degas by doing my own similar version of ballerina tying her shoe)

Done in Pencil and oil pastel

Tick tock

Done in acylic paint, oil pastel, and pen

I do create a lot of art but some of my art I don't feel comfortable with sharing online. The one's that I do post I feel proud of . There is tons more artwork on my artwork page so check that out. Farewell until next week. Have a great memorial day weekend. 

A trip to the North Carolina museum of art

 Today we went to the North Carolina museum of art because I've been wanting to go and look around a bit. We quickly looked around the older building and spent lots of time in the newer building that is more modern. I gotta say, I loved the design of the new building. I have not been there in a few years so this was my first time going in the newer building. They had a gift store(didn't buy anything), a cafe, and the permanent collection. I enjoyed the modern pieces of art and a few other paintings from artists that I know of. I took a few pictures of the paintings I liked a lot. I don't know the names of them because I didn't look at the names, but they are really cool. I like the swan and the dog painting because it reminds me of snookerdoddle, my puppy. I liked the Claude Monet sea painting with the moon. I also liked a few others but I didn't photograph them. They also had sculptures and the work on the sculptures was really detailed. 

I know there is two posts in one day, that's only because I wanted to tell you guys about this. The posting schedule will go back to normal next week.