In art, we are creating our own perceptions of something. Whether it’s paint, music, poetry, sculpture, whatever art form; we are putting our mark to that thing. It makes it personal and we are describing that moment in time.
I’m in a weekly class on oil painting, and this idea of how something should look or the stereotype of how something should look is interesting. It can influence a person in how they should do that thing. In this class, I’m reacquainting myself with the oil medium. It’s honestly been decades since I’ve used oils (way back when I was in college). It’s been interesting.
I started out painting with a brush in this class. The piece that I did was okay. By using a brush, I felt that that was what was expected. (I was influenced by the stereotype of oil paintings.) The piece looked like a typical oil painting to me and I was not happy with it. It didn’t have passion, movement and quite frankly, I thought it was flat looking. I let it mull over the week and dry - took it back to class and decided to give it that passion, movement, depth and intrigue. I also decided that, “Why not use the painting technique that I’ve been doing the past couple of years with oils?” So, I got my handy credit card (it’s a coffee card) and knives and put the passion, depth and emotion into the painting. Making a much better painting.
Go out, do something or reacquaint yourself, and don’t feel afraid to mix it up. Do something different that is uniquely you.