Inspiration for Life by the River Series: The Creative Process Explored
I've just returned from a magical trip to Iceland (with a few other destinations tacked on) and I'll post about that trip later, but for now, I want to get back to my Life by the River series. While I was traveling, I gave some more thought to t…
I've just returned from a magical trip to Iceland (with a few other destinations tacked on) and I'll post about that trip later, but for now, I want to get back to my Life by the River series. While I was traveling, I gave some more thought to this series and how I might refine and drill down to what really interests me in terms of subject matter so that as I start each painting, it's very clear to me what I want to say about the river and its environs.
I don't know how you go about choosing your subjects for a painting but for me it can be a matter of a fleeting moment, a pleasing pattern in Nature or an ordinary object that has an intrinsic beauty.
Often it's as simple as the counterplay of light and shadow or a glorious splash of colour.
Although I do make sketches and sometimes paint plein air mostly my references are digital photos so when I see those moments, moods, patterns, objects, light or colours I use my main reference capturing tool, which is my Samsung Galaxy phone, to take a few photos from different angles and various eye level views as well as trying portrait and landscape formats and maybe a zoom shot ot two. If birds are what I'm photographing I use my old, but trusty, Nikon Coolpix P610. It's a great small format camera with a really good zoom for it's size. I'm a big fan of portable cameras as I'm much more likely to have it on me so I don't miss those magic moments when I'm out and about beside the river.
I do paint plein air but mostly I use my Samsung Ultra S22 and my Nikon Coolpix P610 to take a lot of reference photos that I work from later.
I know many artists will say that plein air studies and sketches on site are an absolute must to create artworks with a direct connection to the subject but my own art practice relies much more on taking a series of well composed photos and then viewing them on an Asus Zenbook with on OLED screen which really helps with the colours. It's a touch screen so I can zoom right in on details, I can play with the contrast and the hue and tweak the reference in terms of format and cropping to achieve a number of different options just as I can if I use thumbnails, value studies and colour studies.
That's not to say I never make use of thumbnails . They can really help me to simplify the complexity of a busy photo and drill down to the most important shapes and values.
It's easy to crop and rework digital photos.
Thumbnails can help simplify a complex subject
I have a lot of photos of the Huon River and the boats, birds, towns, farms and landscape around, beside and on the river , I have some sketches and I have a lot of moments that I've simply stored away in the artist compartment of my brain because I was driving when they happened.
The big question is " How do I take all this wondefully rich reference material and sort out what exactly I want to paint?"
I've given it some thought and come up with a plan. My digital photos are already sorted into location folders on my laptop so I've started going through them quickly and when I come to one that grabs my attention copying it into a Painting Reference folder. If it doesn't grab my attention then it's probably not interesting enough to use as a reference.
There are a lot of reasons a photo might grab my attention and I know from experience that seemingly boring subjects can become quite interesting when viewed from an unusual perspective so my choices aren't always going to be dramatic, high chroma or cinematic shots.
I'll be continuing this process after every photographic session because my project is going to run over a full year. Then I'll be doing a small postcard size painting most days ( I want to say everyday but I just know life will get in the way!) and seeing how those photos translate into mini paintings.
As I build up a body of mini paintings I'm hoping to see a theme emerge, to find connections and the series to begin to come together in a cohesive way.
Postcard Mini No 1 : taken from a photo I shot on our morning walk at Hospital Bay . I liked the soft morning light on the water and the hint of mist still hovering over the shrubs on the left. do you think this one is going to make the cut?
Why not tag along on my artistic journey of discovery ? I could do with some feedback as I try and make choices about which mini's will become full size works!
To keep me company follow me on Instagram or on this blog.
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