TBT - a weekly look back with purpose.
If I look back to just a year ago, I was mostly focused on painting people, especially faces. For example, as part of my vintage series, I wrote and researched a story for my portrait of Miss MacPherson.
She is on the book cover in the header but you can read about the life I created for Miss MacPherson here.
Painting portraits and imagining a story for the character is a lot of fun.
However, my art has taken me in new directions. If you know me, then you surely know I love variety in my art.
And so, I have added more pets and fewer faces to my portfolio recently. Art evolves that way. Many of the lessons I have learned for faces are applicable to pets.
Notice the similarity in colours between Saving Grace and Storm. Before I started painting Storm, I knew that I wanted to use a similar palette to the one in 2017 when I painted Saving Grace.
Each time a technique is practised or reviewed, I learn a little more.
Many artists have one palette that they use over and over again and it becomes their signature colours.
Others may use the same medium such as pastels, or collage and they learn from repeated projects using that one same medium.
Past lessons are useful now in painting pet portraits whether it be the background or the eyes, or the fur.
TBT is not just another hashtag!
Once a week, I force myself to stop and note what has been learned and what needs improvement.
Thursdays are the chosen day to look back at past posts.
I am progressing even though it seems to be at a snail's pace. (There is more than one way of keeping track of your creative journey. I have sketchbooks and notebooks too, but that will be for another blog post!)
If you are like me and work in isolation, you know that you, and you alone, are responsible for keeping track of the lessons learned along the way. There is no teacher, no mentor, to tell us where we went wrong and how we might improve.
So Throwback Thursday is not just another silly hashtag for me.
How do you keep track of your progress? Share your tips below.
I loved your story about Miss MacPherson! I find it is looking back through my art journals that helps me to see how my art has progressed. Like you, over time my art has taken me in new directions as I have experimented with different subjects and mediums, leading me on a journey to discover what I am truly passionate about. I also keep lots of notebooks. I love stationery!
Thanks Christine for leaving a comment. I have a cupboard full of notebooks and binders. I used to even keep a photocopy of each portrait in a binder with the date I painted it as well as other pertinent information. I stopped doing that because it was time consuming and besides, it’s all documented on my blog.
I think art, no matter what type, is very relaxing and rewarding. As you have said, we learn more about ourselves the more we show up to create.
Happy painting!