One Image. Two Approaches.

In the video below, I'm working on two ideas at the same time in my studio notebook, aka my sketchbook.  My studio notebook is a place for me to visually think aloud.  For this particular exercise, I decided to create the same image using two different methods.  On the left side I painted and on the right side, I used painted paper collage.

My whole goal for this experiment/exploration was to figure out which methodology I preferred -- both in terms of enjoying the process and appreciating the result.  There are a lot of things that I might go back and change about these pieces if I were to spend some time perfecting them, but that was not the point of this exercise.  By comparing the two techniques right up against each other with the same image (and even the same basic color scheme), I was able to figure out what I am most interested in pursuing at this moment in time.

This simple concept is what I teach in all of my art classes -- the more that you know yourself and the more that you know what you like and what you don't like and why, then the better and better that you can become through focused practice.  Practice without any sense of what you're going towards doesn't really do anything, in my opinion.  But practice towards a goal; practice towards an idea; practice towards something tangible -- well, that's how you improve!

This exercise is a part of a series of a number of different pieces that I've been making about florals and vessels.  I've been trying to figure out whether I want to create more stylized florals or more realistic florals?  And I've got dozens more questions for myself about mediums and compositions and all sorts of good stuff.

Watch the video to see the process in under three minutes:

The thing I hope you take away from this video and this blog post is that you need to explore your ideas -- really flesh them out -- and discover that some of them are bad.  Because if you don't have bad ideas, then you're never going to have any good ideas.  You must go past your comfort zone.

Monthly members have access to the real time version of this video and lots of other great content.  And if you're interested in pushing past your comfort zone, I hope you'll join Design Boot Camp in 2023.  Only two spots left in the daytime cohort!

Thanks for stopping by!