Do YOU Want to Paint?
Here's an excerpt from the Introduction to a book I'm creating to accompany my painting workshops.
My home-based Studio & Gallery in the small city of Frankfort, Michigan is open to the public. In a typical year, a few hundred visitors stop in to look at my art. This is my preferred way of showing and selling my paintings as I can communicate directly with the people are interested in my work. This method also allows me the opportunity to meet with and inspire other artists.
Frequently I encounter those who would like to be artists but, for one reason or another, have avoided doing so. How do I know this? Often with wistful longing, someone will comment, “You are so talented!” Then, disheartened, “I wish I could paint.” “Have you ever tried?” I ask, only to hear this: “Oh no! I can’t even draw a stick figure.”
Stick figure drawing is not a prerequisite for painting. Yet almost every wannabe artist I talk to in my Studio & Gallery mentions this as a reason they haven’t pursued their desire to paint. I hear this—and “I couldn’t draw a straight line if you asked me!”—so frequently, it’s like they are reading from a script. Many people dismiss their desire to make art because they assume a person must demonstrate the particular talent of a Real Artist before they can pick up a paintbrush. If they think they don’t possess the magical gift, they won’t even try. “Why bother?” their body language tells me. It doesn’t occur to them that when an artist needs to draw a straight line, they can simply use a ruler.
I know that feeling. Before I began to paint in my early 50s, I was convinced that I had no talent and it would be waste of time and money to even try. Then, following a definite inner nudge, I came to realize I could and should do art.
In the beginning, I didn’t know how or what to paint, but I bought a little book about oil painting and some basic art supplies. It took me about 6 months before I actually began to teach myself. Over time, I progressed from making many 5” x 7” paintings of pears, through a period of outdoor painting, to the creation of more and much larger abstract pieces (60” x 72”). The unexpected arrival of birds in my paintings in 2016, led to a major art installation in which to share them, as well as exhibits in the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia, and several Michigan hospitals. I clearly had not realized what was inside me just waiting to get out. Without venturing to try, I might never have found out.
Now, almost 20 years later, I am still not always confident about my artmaking, yet this doesn’t keep me from painting. I don’t have to feel confident in order to paint because I’ve realized I have what I call an Inner Artist. No matter how insecure or resistant I might feel, each time I stand in front of an easel, paint inevitably finds its way onto the canvas, and that’s how I know my Inner Artist is on the job. While she works, I feel as if I’m being used as a vehicle for expression for something that is me, but also more than me. These words of Walt Whitman come to mind: “I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.” I’m often amazed by what I produce!
I believe each person has their own talented Inner Artist. It may take some effort, however, before they realize this; talent remains latent, not actualized, until an individual chooses to activate it. The effort required to activate the Inner Artist may be nothing more than opening a book like this and following some simple guidance.
I'd like to show you an way to invite your Inner Artist to freely express through you. The principles this book is based upon work for any creative endeavor, however since you picked up this book there’s a very good likelihood that your Inner Artist is inclined toward painting and probably not the sort you could learn in a traditional painting instruction class. Chances are your Inner Artist is eager to paint expressively!
Using only a few basic supplies, I’ll show you some simple but effective ways to start the process—even if you’ve never held a brush in your hand before. The exercises in this book will prompt you to discover for yourself the marks, colors, shapes, and textures that uniquely express you. For those who haven’t been to art school, don’t know how to talk art-speak, and haven’t ever painted something that “looks like something,” the intuitive approach to painting I describe in this book will give you permission to begin painting, show you a kind of painting that bypasses your preconceived notions about art, and empower you to make are that is uniquely original to you.
Intuitive painting is not reserved for novices only, however. If you’re an academically trained artist, your training may have inadvertently prevented you from activating your Inner Artist. Because you’re well versed in art theories, you might believe you already know what your art is about and who you are as an artist. However, it may actually be the case that your unique voice or style have been cramped by intellectual concepts, traditional practices, or “art world” forces. If you feel stuck in your practice or your work seems stale, loosening up with the exercises in this guide may transform more than your painting style. Your Inner Artist, it seems, is not only interested in how you make art, but also the rest of your life; and, as you expand beyond creative blocks, you may be inspired to create a larger vision for your art and your life.
In the same way I organize my workshops, Painting Expressively: An Intuitive Approach is organized in three parts. The first briefly outlines why an intuitive approach to art-making is key in making original, meaningful, good art. The second part suggest ways to activating the Inner Artist, as well as assignments or exercises for intuitive painting. It also deals with troubleshooting psychological defenses that may prevent the fullest expression of artistic potential. The final chapters offer resources for supporting an intuitive approach to painting or other art forms.
Whether you’re reading this book as a novice or practiced artist, I hope you will receive in these pages the permission you seek to give expression to your unique artistic potential. Imagine the exercises as clues to satisfying the longing of your Inner Artist to express something beautiful through you. I hope you’ll enjoy the pleasure that comes of serving the best and highest good of all who will come in contact with your art—even if turns out to be a stick figure.
I would love to work with you in person! Please consider joining me in Frankfort, MI for one of my 4-day Summer Workshops "Making Intuitive Art: Permission to Paint Expressively" June 28-July 1 and August 23-26, or January, 2022 in San Miguel de Allende, MX for my Art Retreat for Women.
In service to your Inner Artist,
Ellie
Read More
