Experimental Painting

Have you ever been excited to come up with a new concept, collection or technique for your work? Getting a great idea can be a wonderful breakthrough. The idea is only the beginning though. It actually has to work in the end. That means coming up with a real, doable plan that will look the way you want it to. Sometimes this can be a real struggle for me and at times, a period of procrastination will set in. 

I have learned to battle this syndrome by asking myself a series of questions. For example, what materials do I want to use?  What look am I going for? What effect might make this piece special? At some point afterwords things start to click.  I am able to move onto the next step which I have grown to call my experimental project stage.  In other words, I just start trying things. 

By getting as close as possible to the vision floating in my head, I can start eliminating what does not work.  It's a revelation and a relief. Just starting this process means I no longer have to feel tortured. The idea is now in motion.  Hence the above video. 

I am ashamed to say how long this particular idea has been swimming around in my brain.  Images of the universe have always affected me in a very special way. I created two digital nebulae painting courses and a universe painting series as a result. I knew I wanted to create something more with this concept, and the above photo in National Geographic Magazine really resonated with me.  

As I am discovering my own creative evolution, I will continue to document the progress of this particular project in future blog posts. I hope to make it something really special and unique. 

What moves you to create?  Do you have a method to jumpstart stubborn projects? What do you do to move to the next step? I would love to hear from you.