Watercolor Creativity Spirited Through Words

 

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 this idea was centered around words. 

Each day I pulled a word from a dish 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 just in case you may be seeking to unlock 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.

The Word Fuchsia

I was on a roll with these exercises and left me anxious each morning to select a word.  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 on 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 became my last word project 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