This post marks the beginning of my 100 Days of Art challenge I am setting for myself. For me, it is about recording what I do. Also, the influences and techniques I use. I also want it to be a reference for other people. All artists learn from many people, and I want to acknowledge my inspirations and teachers along the way.

Day 1: ‘Grey Skies and Green’

I’m beginning 100 Days of Art with the painting ‘Grey Skies and Green’ for a few reasons:

• It’s in my mind because it recently sold
• The video below records the layering process
• The tools I used are also captured

My art process is intuitive and expressive. Often it is abstract as well. The doors to intuitive painting were opened for me in a workshop ran by the Victorian-based artist Rebecca Knaggs. In her workshop I learned about Flora Bowley, an intuitive painter based in the USA.

For me, the huge revelation was that I didn’t have to begin a painting with a perfectly formed image in my mind and transfer it to a surface. I could just start with a colour and a tool and see what happened. Of course, intuitive painting is not necessarily random either. At each point of the layering process, the artist stands back and asks the question “What does the painting need next?”

In my work, vibrant colour, texture I can feel with my fingertips, and balance of lines and shapes comes into play. At some point, an image forms in my mind, and I know how to finish the painting to create an abstract landscape or a design for textiles. For you it may be very different. This is where our personal style comes into play.

I count Rebecca’s workshop as the turning point for me in visual art. Before then, I was a writer and photographer. After that point, painting became my main creative medium.

What I Notice

When I look back at the video and the photographs I took during the creation of ‘Grey Skies and Green’ I notice the bright colours in the first few layers which don’t show on the finished work. Using a few colours which are not related to nature gives me a free place to begin. The colour means I’ve started. There is no longer a blank canvas. Brush strokes and finger marks leave traces of texture which are visible in later layers.

I went through a few layers of decision making. Will this be a light toned work or will it be a dark toned work. I thought dark was the answer, but it ended up too dark to see details. So, I chose to bring the light back into the work. At some point my attention was focused on getting the balance right between the deeper grey tones with the lighter yellow green. Hence the title.

No layer is wasted. Each brings forth either colour, texture marks or form into the final painting.

I love the spontaneity of intuitive painting, and I never know how each work will end up until I get the feeling that it is done. More on that in a later post.

If you would like to see more of my completed paintings, still for sale, you can view them on my Bluethumb profile.