This week’s “Art Only Spoken Here” email question asks, “How do you continually find interesting art subjects? I seem to be searching all thetime, often with no luck. Do you have any suggestions?”
Half the fun of painting is seeking out interesting art subjects and I guess we should define the word interesting since interesting may mean something quite different to me than it
does to you. Perhaps you might want to make a list of what things you find interesting and then go from there.
I have a tendency to carry a small camera with me in my purse and when I see something that interests me I take a picture of it. Now this does not mean that I am going to paint exactly what I photographed, but it does mean that something in that photo was interesting enough to me to either do more research on it or else incorporate it into something else to create a picture or painting.
I also want to point out right now that I am not a very good photographer which is proven by the point I have more parts of my fingers in more photographs I have taken. Regardless of that fact the camera helps me to capture interesting subjects. Prior to having a handy digital camera I simply kept a small note pad upon which I jotted down ideas that came to me and then later on in my art studio I would expand upon them.
Often there is a “story” connected to what I photographed and when there is I tend to incorporate that story into my marketing blurb for that painting; perhaps telling what inspired me to paint the subject or just telling the story. I have found out over the past times the buyer of a certain painting will email or mail me a note saying the story helped them to make a decision to buy the painting.
Whether you are a traditional painter or an abstract one you would be surprised how a picture of something as simple as a waterfall can be transformed into a subject of art for your genre. Just suppose you take a picture of a beautiful autumn tree lined road. However, the road is blacktop even though the trees are beautiful with their fall colors.
Changing that road in your painting from blacktop to a dirt road and perhaps adding fencing on either side of the tree lined road will create an interesting and perhaps sellable painting for you and that is what I mean about the photo leading to interesting subjects for any kind of painting.
Paintings by dead artists today,that sell in the millions, were usually the ingredients for the artist’s daily meal right after they were used as their art subjects. Just remember that anything that inspires youcan be an interesting subject.
May the Creative Force be With You….
Arlene Wright-Correll
I had to chuckle because misery loves company! I've been in a funk for days now. I call all these types of things "the mosquitos" of life. It's like one more thing and you're going to pull the trigger. What I hate and this seems to apply to m
Oh my gosh! I felt your inner pain ... and I apologize for the fact that when I got to the part about setting your hair on fire, I laughed. I'm so glad you weren't hurt, and hair grows back. Perhaps a new hair-do would not only rectify the situation 
There is no such thing as a legal separation in my state..The only way I can get husband out of the house is to force him out..He refuses to leave..I would have to file for divorce and get temporary orders including a restraining order..
I feel so
add your responses
0 Responses
You must be logged in to post a comment.