Loosen Up. Unbend. You’ll Feel Better.
Years ago, when I started my second journey as an artist, this time as an adult, many of the experienced artists around me asked the same question of instructors: How do I loosen up?
And as I became more technically proficient but stayed loose in my painting attitude, artists began asking me the same question.
To partially answer that, in 2014 I developed and offered Wild Painting! programs. No set parameters, just encouragement to paint with emotion or whimsy or imagination or anything else fluttering around inside.
Honestly, it is far easier to learn technique than it is to learn looseness after-the-fact, which is why I feel painters ought to start out with looseness. Yet, many programs are obsessed with technique and only technique.
“Stay in control of your paint brush.” The more realistic the painting looks, the “better” artist you are deemed. Yet, I have had some of those ultra realistic painters tell me they wish they could loosen up. It can be hard when the accolades continue to roll in for exhibiting extreme control.
One of my favorite paintings was painted over another painting and I left the former tree marks underneath to show through. To me it really makes the painting. They are there adding a deeper layer of interest and reminding me that experimentation in all types of artistry is good. That is how one grows as an artist, by letting go enough to try something new.
I begin with no idea if I will continue the painting or set it aside. If I decide to set it aside, I return weeks, months even years later and paint on top of it, letting those marks just hang out there. And sometimes the marks may not make “technical” sense but they make emotional sense.
Was in a classroom once and the kids were to do “creative writing.” One of the young teens wrote a shortish fantasy story and gave it to the assistant teacher to read. She said, “No. This isn’t realistic!” He said, “I though this was creative writing?” (I did, too. Seriously, this happens everywhere creativity and pushing the existing envelope ought to be blooming.)
Here are three suggestions to use not only for art but also for other areas of your life that ask for creativity.
- Experiment without a destination! Paint a bunch of lines and marks. Set it aside and come back at least two weeks later.
- Use a different tool. Paint with something other than a brush. A twig. A plastic fork. Your non-dominant hand. Those things are far harder to control.
- Take a painting or another work of art you’ve done that you feel is too tight and recreate a portion of it in more of a suggestive style.
Another one of my favorite paintings was the result of a “pen” accident. I wanted to add some white lines on a darker area and the well was clogged up. I kept hitting it and hitting it and then a whole bunch came out and the pattern it created was incredible. So, I did it all over the area and now use “Malfunctioning Marker” as a loosening technique.
Accidentally brilliant!
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Want to take a whimsical painting class sure to loosen up your artistic style? Please follow this link!
https://giuliettanardone.com/painting/sunday-art-brunch-at-the-pavilion/
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Feel More Alive,
Giulietta