This is a watercolor painting of a Fall tree with leaves falling off

The Wonderful Words for This Wednesday are

“Art for Art’s Sake”

What I want to say to you this week is this:

It is SUPER DUPER important to take time each day (or most days anyway) to get creative and play art for art’s sake – just that, that’s it!

I know what you’re thinking, “But what do I do?”.  Well, today I’m going to share with you two simple ideas you can use over and over again to get going in your creative play.

Idea #1: Try out a new supply

I mean, it doesn’t even have to be new even.  It could be something in your art supplies that you’d like to use more often and you haven’t explored its limits.

The other day, I received a few new fine liner paint brushes in the mail and wanted to see how they worked.  So for my art practice that day I got out a few of my small 3″x3″ squares of watercolor paper and just started making wavy lines to see how much paint they could hold and long of a line I could make before needing to get more water and paint on my brush.

Then, I thought I’d see what size leaves these little brushes could make, so I got a new little square of paper and doodled some leaves.  I also bought some new sepia toned fineliners so I added some leaves in pen over the top of my watercolored leaves and I love how they turned out!  I can use this idea in a bigger pieces now that I’ve tried it out.

This photo shows the 4 little squares of art I made just to try out new paint brushes

The idea of leaves led me to draw a fall tree loosing its leaves.  I love this little painting.  Is it a masterpiece?  Not even close, but here’s the thing:  I got into my creative zone which increased my dopamine levels, and reduced my cortisol levels.  Getting into my creative zone and into the ‘flow’ state is better than medicine friends!

Here’s a quote from a Mental Health Research website:

Mindfulness – Engaging in creative activities can promote mindfulness, which can help reduce stress levels. Focusing on the present moment and the creative process can help reduce anxiety and promote relaxation, promote positive emotions and decrease cortisol levels, a hormone related to stress.    – Juliette Burton (see article)

Idea #2: Do a small study of an interesting subject

Have you noticed all of the beautiful leaves on the ground as of late?  I’m constantly collecting interesting leaves and pressing them in books, and/or taking reference photos of them.  This gives me plenty of fodder for playing art!

I found this leaf the other day and decided to draw it and paint it.  You really don’t see anything in its true form with all of it’s minute details until you go to draw or paint the thing.

This shows a leaf and then a watercolor painting of the leaf

So sometimes my play is simply studying a certain thing and trying to replicate it in my art.  This brings your full attention to the subject at hand, and did you know that you can’t actually stress out about your issues when you are doing this?  It’s true!

Is this one a masterpiece?  No!  But I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I quite like the result!  I also discovered a new technique with the dots that I really like and will replicate in my art in the future.  As a bonus, I reduced my stress, increased the good chemicals in my brain, and gained a new idea!

Here are a few things NOT to do while doing art for art’s sake:

DO NOT:

  • Feel guilty about taking the time to play art for art’s sake as if  you are wasting time.  This is for your sanity my friends!
  • Put a single expectation on yourself to create something amazing.  Expectations kill the free flow of creativity.
  • Watch ANY tutorials or scroll social media during this time.  See where your inner creative takes you!
  • Judge yourself and the outcome.

Here’s the skinny, if you play art simply for art’s sake frequently, the ideas WILL come (you know, like the famous quote: “If you build it, they will come.”).  BUT, ideas will be MUCH harder to come by if you don’t get some supplies out and START making marks of some kind, WITHOUT expectations.

There’s no way around this, you must play art for art’s sake and do it frequently in order to grow and to discover who YOU are as a creative person.  And it’s so simple.  Just do it!  Yourself will thank you.

Kimberly Snider, Virtuoso, Signing off

Links to all the things HERE

 

 

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