In his book “Creativity“, John Cleese posits the importance of play as a creative element. I’ve heard other creatives express some version of the sentiment, usually coupled with a variation on inspiration has to find you working.
For whatever reason, play is proving elusive. I want to paint, but it feels like all my emotional space is filled up with other things. This long holiday weekend, I did quite a bit of painting. Almost none if it is worth looking at.
A challenge from the Northwest Watercolor Society‘s (NWWS) monthly critique tickled my fancy enough that I pumped out two paintings for critique from the reference photos that were to be used. The idea was to work on values, doing a small version, then a larger version.
Dale Laitinen will be critiquing the images of his selection on January 8, 2024.
In related news, I received a notification from NWWS that I was accepted for signature status. This is VERY exciting for me and, I feel, a goal attained with much hard work.
After these paintings, the most useful thing I did was clean out a variety of watercolor palettes, putting the gooey color residue into these jars.
Nothing I painted seemed to “sit right”, though some work is needed for any of these to be finished.
I may go back to the “apply paint” stage if this keeps up. At least that was fun.
Congratulations on your signature membership, Tara! Wonderful! And, I enjoyed looking at your work.