Have you hit a brick wall with your creativity?
Has your muse fled for greener pastures? If you’re stymied on a new subject for your next painting, we’ve collected loads of tips to help you get out of your creative rut and get going with a great new project!
So let’s get started…
1. Use A Sketchbook Or Journal For Painting Ideas
We’ve all seen gorgeous painting journals and sketchbooks on artist’s websites, but a real, working sketchbook is anything but pretty. A sketchbook is just another artist’s tool, and just as you don’t put your nasty, paint covered shirts and shop-worn brushes on display, you certainly don’t make your sketchbook available to the general public either.
Use a sketchbook to jot down notes, quick sketches, color combinations and anything else that interests you. These spontaneous thoughts and ideas will most certainly become lost in that multi-faceted brain of yours, so get them down on paper for future reference.
You may have a small sketchbook to carry with you and a larger one for use in your studio or home. There’s no right or wrong way to use a journal, so make it your own and record everything and anything that’s important or interesting.
2. Make A List
Are you a list maker? Even if you’re not, making a list of things you like and don’t like can help you narrow down a subject for future paintings.
What subjects interest you? Do you want to do still life, figurative, landscape or animal paintings?
What style of painting do you want to use? Do you want to try out abstract, impressionism, realism or alla prima painting styles?
Do you want to use a full range of colors or do you want to explore the possibilities of a limited palette or a monochromatic palette?
3. Collect Ideas From Your Own World
Whether you make sketches or take photos, the world around you is full of inspiration. The simple objects in your home, your garden or yard, the animals in your life and your friends and family are all fodder for your inspiration.
You don’t need to travel to an exotic destination for a flash of artistic revelation. Look at what’s around you with a fresh attitude for compositions and subjects for your next project.
4. Ask For Ideas
This is a no-brainer. If you’re stuck for an idea, ask friends or family members for ideas. Who knows what ideas they may come up with?
5. Revisit An Idea
Did you find a law against painting the same subject more than once? I don’t think there is one, and if there is, artists like Monet and Van Gogh are due for several tickets for their infractions.
If you are drawn to a subject and are interested in it, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t paint it multiple times. Variations on a theme is popular in both paintings and music, so join an illustrious band of artists and create a series of a favorite subject. Use different viewpoints, color themes and styles to fully explore a topic that interests you.
6. Get To Know A Little Bit About Art History
This doesn’t need to be a dry subject about dates and locations. Pick an artist whose work you admire and find out about his or her life and paintings.
Look at as many pieces of the artist’s works as you can through books and websites. Use these for your own inspiration. If you’re following the composition of another artist, you need to credit the work of the original artist.
This is a common practice that’s been used for hundreds of years, and it’s a valid way to learn technique, style and composition from the masters.
7. Choose A New Medium
Your rut may be relieved by trying out a new medium. If you’ve been painting with oil or acrylic, give watercolor a try. If you’ve been dabbling in watercolor, change up your focus with pastels or oil painting. Mix it up and combine several mediums for a mixed media experiment.
A new medium may use many of the techniques you’re already familiar with, but the way the pigment works on the support and the effects you’re able to create can lead you to a fresh outlook on creating.
8. Use Online Idea Pages For A Wealth Of Inspiration
There’s loads of ideas on the internet. Artist who write for websites and art groups compile lists of inspiration for artists. Many of these are groups you can join or sites to which you can submit your work for inclusion on the website.
These sites include Painting A Day, Monthly Painting Projects, 30 Days Of Paintings and Paintings From Poems. Just search the internet for painting idea sites or lists and you’ll be sure to come up with a wealth of painting inspiration.
A recent series I did consisted of small ink and wash paintings of landmarks along a trunk road between Liverpool and York. Having a definite route made it easy to find subjects along the way, painting from photographs or even Google Street View images.
A friend did the same painting along the 1916 Midland Way across Kansas.