The Way a Willow Feels

This week has been full of gathering inspiration for new art. We have some fresh snow up here in Two Harbors (hopefully more coming this weekend — fingers crossed). Snowshoe treks and fresh mornings have been full of new treats for my eyeballs.

I find that when I need to restock my creative well, it’s time to do a lot of wandering. I call my walks this when I meander around intuitively, stop, and study my surroundings. I bring my CampSnap camera on a lot of walks to find colors and compositions that inspire me but I also just like to pay close attention to detail — like the way birch trees look against the sky in sunlight vs. when it’s cloudy, these are details I need in order to paint from memory.

I like to start by playing with techniques and colors to see if I can capture the feel of the subject matter. This week it’s been willow trees, courtesy of damp paper and a heavily pigmented oval mop brush to capture the almost airbrushed look of branches.

They don’t all turn out. Sometimes the colors get muddy or the paper dries too fast. The point is to explore the movement of the piece. If I like it, I may try to paint it again to better shape it the way I want.

I think this is such an important part to exploring our creativity. Playing and experimenting with techniques is how I’ve found my style — though “found” may be a strong word because it is ever-evolving and always changing shape.

I’m excited to see what the next few weeks have in store for me as far as creating goes. Winter is an important time for me to try new things and just keep making, making, making art.

In mid-March, I will be putting up the majority of my original works at the New Scenic Café in Duluth. I am so honored to be able to exhibit my work there again AND that means it’s crunch time as far as painting goes.

Cheers to a lovely, snowy, hopefully peaceful weekend to you all. Thank you again for the support of my art and for following me along on this journey.