New Year…New You

This is the start of a brand-new year. Fresh, no baggage, clean, free of any mistakes and ready for you to decide exactly what you want to achieve this year.

You are an artist…actually, a really good artist but you have kept silent about your dreams for fear they are too big. After all, who are you to think your art is worthy of gallery representation, acceptance in juried shows or people purchasing what you have so soulfully created.

Perhaps you haven’t found that unique painting style that says this is YOU. You fear your art is just like everyone else’s and therefore your “style” is nonexistent.

Maybe you haven’t a clue how to go about finding your artistic voice. After all, you have painted for years, shouldn’t you know it by now? I bet it is that big “how do you do this” that stops you in your tracks.

Here are 3 suggestions to help you find your unique artistic voice:

• What do you love to paint?
  Is it animals, street scenes, portraits of children, portraits of women or men, landscapes, still-life’s or do you love abstraction? Whatever it is, it is important. Make a list.
• When you go to an art show what are you drawn to?
  Is it how the artist painted the light, perhaps it is the use of exaggerated color, wacky design that causes you to smile, how the artist skillfully wove texture into the painting to add excitement… think about it…whatever it is, make a list.
• What feeling are you drawn to in the paintings you love?
  Each painting has a feeling that is key to the success of the painting. You know that feeling when you see it but perhaps you never connected its importance in relation to you and your personal art.

Why is finding your unique artistic voice so important? Let me give you an example. You are on vacation in a town far away from where you live. You and your friend walk into a gallery and across the room you see a painting. You excitingly tell your friend…OMG…that’s a Susie Smiths painting! She lives in my hometown!

How did you know it was Susie Smiths painting? Was it her use of color? Subject matter? What was it about this painting that you immediately knew who the artist was?

Chances are it was Susie’s unique personal artistic voice that you recognized.

Let’s start this year by finding and developing your unique artistic voice.

Go over the questions above and make your list of what you love to paint, what you are drawn to in a painting and the feeling you want the viewer to feel when looking at your work…then share below.

Create brilliantly,
gwen