Best Studio Practice: New Year's Vision Boards

Artwork shown on the Vision Board (Clockwise): Ron Hicks, Ed Praybe, George Dawnay, Suzanne Lago Arthur, Mark Dunford, Caitlin Wenner, Mark Dunford.

Last year I started a new tradition for myself. I created a “Vision Board” of all the things I wanted to bring into my work in the New Year on the road to developing my own artistic voice. I credit this one project with bringing me greater clarity and helping me to lean more into my artistic intuition. The idea is simple. Print out images of work that you like and respond to. Label each image with the element it represents that you hope to bring into your work and assemble it on a poster that you hang in your studio to inspire you every day.

In 2022 I chose: 1) to allow more abstraction within my representational work, 2) to explore different forms of visual measurement (as a way of further connecting the viewer to my vision as the creator of the work), 3) to expand my commission work by offering charcoal portraits, 4) to introduce more “quick sketch” starts to my work (direct massing of shapes as opposed to starting with an under-drawing), 5) to work much larger, 6) “remix” older themes and 7) to paint more plein air landscapes.

And I am happy to report that out of the 7 things I tasked myself with, I genuinely adopted 6 out of the 7 into my regular practice and it has indeed helped me discover my own style. Case in point here is a before and after photo of a painting of in my older style and photo of a current work in progress. I think you can really see the difference here.

Should you try Vision Boards as part of your New Year’s forecasting? Most definitely! Don’t miss out on this simple strategy to help you on your path of self-discovery.

Technique Tuesday: Q-Tip Hack

It’s been a while since I published a “Technique Tuesday” post. It occurred to me today that I could share a cheap tool I use all the time in the studio-the humble Q-Tip. I have found over the years that this a simple, yet versatile tool for painters. I use it to erase areas that I would rather not have painted over, and it also helps make the softest “lost edges”.

I bought this cute, little travel pack of Q-Tips at my local Target in the travel toiletries area. I think i spent a dollar on it? Worth every penny to me.

Have you tried adding Q-Tips to your painting technique? Give it a try and let me know here how you like it!