Back in January I shared an idea on finding artistic inspiration. This was something my
husband helped with by coming up with a plan. His idea was simple and offered me encouragement to spend more time painting before going outdoors. It worked
beautifully and his plan was centered around words.
Each day I pulled a word from my cup before sitting to paint. Following that chosen word came a moment of pondering that led me to the most
enjoyable painting experience.
One day my word was yellow; another it was bush and then
sunflower. There were many others and many more yet to be pulled. Most recently fuchsia was a daily word; my first thought focused on the color until I quickly gravitated towards the flower.
I mentioned that I would revisit this idea and share how this exercise was helping. I have to say it has worked beautifully, I shared some of these exercises on my Instagram and included a couple below as some of these words spirited multiple paintings.
I would like to encourage you to read that first article regarding just in case you
may be seeking to unlock your creativity.
The Word Sunflower
I pulled the word sunflower back in February. I started with a field that was completely out of proportion and yes that was intentional. I wanted to see if I could bring forward bunches of these amazing flowers without details in addition to standing alone.Later that day I came back to the word and focused on a large sunflower bloom. I was working with several ideas with this one and still haven't quite achieved what I was after. I think using larger watercolor paper will improve my next attempt.
As we get closer to summer and my own sunflowers are in bloom, I will be
revisiting this word and who knows how many times after that. It is good to revisit these words or bring two or three of them together on those days when I could paint for hours.
The Word Fuchsia
I was on a roll with these exercises and left me anxious to pull a word from the cup. Then one rainy day before a storm ripped through our property and knocked out the power, I pulled the word fuchsia.I had just planted stargazer lily bulbs a day prior, so bright colors were already present in my mind. But with this word I wasn’t really gravitating towards the color with clarity until I thought of the plant.
You might be familiar with fuchsias? They are available in nurseries around Mother’s Day coming in a variety of colors. My favorite was always the pink and purple combos even though they are not my favorite plant.
I did a quick impression of what I could remember and then hours later did a couple more. It was probably the one exercise where I the colors blended with the most interesting movement.
That also happen to be my last word for several weeks because I caught a cold, and recovery has taken longer than expected. After going through these paintings, I am excited to return to this exercise.
Watercolor painting through a word has been very spirited and opened not only my eyes but my heart to many things that I could be bringing to paper and paint.
Be the good,
Carole West