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Morning Art Journaling
When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. Marcus Aurelius Before we will start discovering what Morning Art Journaling is and why it’s important, let’s find out what is just normal morning journaling and why is it trend nowadays? Morning Pages are one of these things that sound so simple that you don’t think they could ever work for you. One of the things that I have realized in life is that many of the best things are really simple but our complicated minds want to tell us they won’t work for us. What is Morning Journaling? Morning Journaling is a process of creating three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, ideally done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Journaling– they are not high art. They aren’t even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Journaling ...
Start New Career in Art | Alexandra Novik-Khamis
I am very often hear that people don’t feel like to start something new at pretty old age; especially if all their life they have been doing totally different activities. Same with art, people don’t want to start painting after 40-50 as they are convinced that if they did not do it before they don’t really have talent then why even try. I believe that everyone can start something new at any age. A lot of painters and musicians are started their careers at very late 40s. And there is nothing wrong with it. As long as you feel inspiration and need for it then go on. Years ago, people graduated from school, got a job and worked at the same company until they retired. Today, it's unusual for a young worker to stay at the same job for more than a few years in the first decade of their career. It's also becoming more common for workers to make a midlife career change, and completely switch gears after spending half of their adult life in the same industry. People want to b...
Creativity as a Spiritual Process | Alexandra Novik - Khamis
It wasn’t that long ago that having a son or daughter who expressed interest in becoming an artist was considered a parent’s worst nightmare. But today, many parents are encouraging of their children’s interest in art. And I am as an art mentor should guide them into art world and bring inspiration for young future artists. There are many options available to help nurture budding talent, but sending a young artist to expensive private lessons isn’t necessarily at the top of the list. Yet, when I see the new undergraduates show up at my art studio, there are some who have gotten an undeniable head start above their peers. For me art education is not only teaching process but rather creative process which inspires students. One of the main goal for me as an art mentor is to bring knowledge together with joy of creative process. First of all students understand the basics of art techniques in chosen field. And then when they know the rules they can smartly break it. Art process fo...
It’s not always easy to say why one artist is able to convey his or her passion and another is not. It’s one of those cases in which you may not be able to define why something happens, but you know it when you see it. However, I think there are ways artists can increase the probability that their drawings and paintings will express their passion. Here are a few suggestions that occurred to me. I’d appreciate it if you would add some of your own.
Paint what you know. This is common advice offered by many artists. The suggestion is that if you start by drawing or painting a subject about which you have a strong attachment—a treasured object, a member of your family, the view from your window—you are more likely to record what you feel about that subject.
Remember your goals. Many of the instructors featured in Workshop magazine ask students to write down why they’ve decided to paint a particular subject and refer back to that note throughout the drawing or painting process. If, for example, an artist makes a notation about the shimmering light reflected in a crystal bowl, the artist can step back from his or her painting and ask whether or not that shimmering light is still the most prominent element in the picture. If it isn’t, then the artist knows it’s time to make adjustments in the colors, shapes, or values.
Put reference material aside. Drawing magazine often features artists who explore their imagination as they create charcoal, ink, or Conté drawings of animals, people, or imaginary places. They put aside reference photographs, preparatory sketches, and compositional studies and allow their minds and hands to move freely from one mark on the paper to another. In the end, the image becomes a passionate blend of what they know and what they dream.
Keep painting through the challenges. Artists profiled in Watercolor magazine often identify a point in the creative process at which they think everything is going wrong. That’s often because the separate layers of transparent color don’t seem to be working well together until the very last stage of the painting process. The advice these artists often give is to work through the challenges and uncertainties instead of giving up. “Enjoy every part of the process, and don’t worry about realizing a preconceived image in the finished painting,” said one experienced artist. “Even if you wind up destroying the painting, you will have learned something valuable to apply to the next effort.”
Leave some areas mysterious. One of the things I admire about paintings by Richard Schmid, Daniel Gerhartz, Dawn Whitelaw, and Susan Lyon is the areas that are left loosely defined. That is, the space surrounding a tightly rendered face or platter is filled with broad, gestured, bold strokes of paint and exposed areas of the canvas that suggest what might be there. I feel the energy and excitement of the brushwork while I imagine what might be going on in that section of the still life or portrait. That sense of mystery stimulates an emotional response that connects to the passion with which the picture was developed.
Paint the same subject again. One of the best exercises presented in a Workshop magazine article was painting the same subject a second time. The instructor said that once the participants had resolved the procedural aspects of painting a figure or landscape—the drawing, compositional arrangement, color mixtures, etc.—they didn’t have to think as much about those issues and could immerse themselves in the act of painting. It was fascinating to compare the two efforts, and all the artists in the workshop knew their second painting better expressed their feelings for the subject.
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