ToCreate.Art.blog

We all hit a rut at some point in our painting life (or writing, or work, or dieting!) when we feel like our well has run dry. We can’t do it anymore; we seem to have misplaced our muse. I cannot paint another tree or I’ll start sprouting leaves!

Here are some ideas to get your muse back on track in no time.

Paint a background of random strokes with a mix of different colors and let your imagination fill in the blanks.

When it comes to painting, very rarely does the canvas itself provide inspiration. I do have two specific paintings where, after I gesso’d the canvas using a hint of color, certain lines within the background suggested a form that allowed me to paint what the canvas said. I am quite fascinated with what I ended up with, and they are probably in the top 20 of my paintings that are favorites. But, that doesn’t happen very often.

Run a search in your favorite search engine and rummage through the images.

I use Google to search for specific scenes or items and then take a few ideas from there and mix them together. A palm tree here, a beach there, a line of trees over there, a bicycle leaning up against a tree,… I can get some good ideas that I want to try “right now” to help satisfy my urge to make a mess with colors.

Try abstract painting. Rules? What rules?

Sometimes I end up scrolling and scrolling and scrolling through all the images without having any impressionable ideas. This usually tells me that I’m either not ready to paint, or I’m picking the wrong subject/scene to paint. It’s then that I end up with multiple canvases of abstract art at the end of the day. I do have quite a bit of fun when I’m alternately drizzling and finger-painting, and I end up with graffiti. Just feeling the smooth paint gliding between my finger and the canvas is soothing, though.

A “usual” scene can come to life at night when a streetlight or the moon provides a different contrast and color set.

We have a little porch off the apartment with a sliding glass door. Our porch faces a throughway road that leads into a busy U.S. highway, a semi-busy county road, and a well-respected golf course. The view of all of this is well-obscured by a miniature forest of longstanding trees and bushes amongst a fence that runs along the property. We see birds and squirrels and possum enjoying the little habitat. I’ve seen (for the first time ever) squirrels mating, birds gathering nesting material and then eventually teaching their young. Just today I saw a parent squirrel teaching a youngster how to hide food under the blanket of leaves and pine needles on the ground! Lizards mating, which I’ve seen before, frogs and crickets and cicadas filling the dusk with their noises. I very much enjoy sitting out here, seeing and feeling and hearing nature (but too often over the rumble of cars passing by).

Oh! I almost forgot about the topic. Sitting out here has inspired me to paint and repaint a particular scene – during the day, at night when colors don’t make sense, and even when it’s pouring-down-raining. Rain gives a whole new tone to a scene. Colors pop here and dull there; the backdrop needs a light grey to indicate the sheets of rain. Then I get practice painting trees or a building or the intertwining trunks of my favorite banyan tree right outside my door. Go for a walk and look at what’s around you. See things at different times of day. Plus the fresh air and exercise will help invigorate you and put you in a better mood.

Visit a museum or watch an art history episode online for some inspiration.

I watch art tutorial/appreciation/history courses through YouTube, the Great Courses, Netflix or Amazon Prime. There are lots of avenues for video-watching. These inspire me to try to replicate famous masterpieces, but in my own style and level of painting. So what if I am not a great painter. I have a pretty decent beginner Matisse, and I would like to try my hand at a Monet next. Maybe a pond painting with all the beautiful water lilies. Maybe the bridge one.

Sit down with a mirror or a photo of yourself and paint you.

I’ve painted a self-portrait before I started to learn how to paint faces and all the parts of the face. I plan on upgrading it one day with a better version. Besides, you get a model willing to sit still for as long as you want to paint, and what painter doesn’t have a self-portrait in their portfolio? Certainly not Rembrandt!

Paint a portrait of a willing model.

If you have a willing subject, you could try painting a person, maybe just a portrait or you could try a nude, as long as the model is up for the task. Ask gently, and no means NO. That’s why I like Matisse so much, his paintings of people, the way he paints them, it’s so dependent upon what he sees and what he wants to convey. They are not perfectly-proportioned or even perfect. They are beautiful and fun to look at and a perfect challenge for an early painter. To learn his style and try to figure out his brush strokes and wonder why he put that color there, in that particular way. To imagine him, or any painter, in that moment of painting. What was he thinking, feeling? Was he painting slow or fast? Were his painting movements small or wide? Was he passionate with the paint and the canvas? Was he talking with his subject? Did he talk to his paints and commend them for giving him just the color he was looking for? Or surprise him with something totally unexpected, but beautiful? His brush becoming an extension of his hand, his arm, his thoughts because that happens sometimes. When it’s coming together better than you hoped and you can’t believe you just painted that and quit fiddling with it or you’ll lose it. Stop, stop, stop. Ok now, that’s it. It’s done. Look it over, did you forget something, just pick up a little bit of this color and juuuust a little right here. And one more there. Ok done. Put the brush down. Oh, don’t forget to write your name. Which color? Let me see, it should go right there, aaaaaannd there we go. Whew. Put the brush down, swish it first, then put it down. Done. Now look at the picture. Wow, that’s not too bad. I think I like that.

Take a break.

Sometimes, after all else has failed fishing in the inspiration pond, you just need to take a break for a bit. Removing yourself from the canvas, the studio, the melange of colors swimming through your head, just to stop thinking thinking thinking in paints can bring back a muse from hiding. Take a couple of hours, a day, a week… Everyone needs a vacation every now and then. Go fishing, rent a kayak and go paddling, hike, skydive, climb a mountain, go see a movie. Do something else, something fun, something dirty (like gardening, silly), something quiet or loud or just plain old different. Let your mind untangle itself, and get a breath of fresh air.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. A glimpse while commuting, another painter, or just resting your mind can bring about new ideas or directions in your painting. Just when you think your well of inspiration has run dry, turn your head in another direction. You just might catch a glimpse of your fickle muse.

I hope this list of painting inspiration ideas has been beneficial to you. If you’ve enjoyed this post, or have your own inspiration ideas, please feel free to add them in the comments section.

Thank you for reading!