Six ways to beat painter’s block

Have you ever had times when you were itching to paint, but you couldn’t think of anything you wanted to have a go at? Those times when you want to do something, but you don’t know what? Then try these sketchbook ideas and overcome your artist’s block.

1. Make a start

The most important thing you can do is just to make a start. Open your sketchbook, grab a pencil and draw whatever is in front of you. You are not aiming at painting a great picture to hang on your wall and the subject matter is not important. Just draw what you see right now, from where you are sitting.

This exercise will break the painter’s block. It doesn’t need to be pretty or perfect; it is just a great way to begin painting again. Once you start, you will find the creativity begins to flow, and you will begin to see other subjects and ideas for paintings all around you. The main thing is to put that pencil to paper. Draw anything; it doesn’t matter what it is. Whatever you see in front of you – draw it.

2. Work in close-up

The world around us is a wonderful source of inspiration, but sometimes we can become overwhelmed by it.

A landscape can be so vast that it seems impossible to capture in paint; an interior can be a jumble of furniture and decorations, and just look too complicated to contemplate.

In our sketchbooks, however, we do not need to capture it all. We can zoom in on one or two objects or a small part of the landscape and sketch those. When we do this, we find that there is a world of wonder within them.

I took a close-up photo of the gravel on the drive outside our house and painted that. It was amazing; there were so many colours, shapes and textures and it was fun to try to paint it all in gouache. I learned so much. It was an opportunity to see what I could do with gouache – working with it thinned down like watercolour, and thick like treacle, sometimes layered on in glazes, at other times dripped in from a loaded brush; scratched, spotted with opaque colour, lifted off with a wet tissue, rewetted to soften edges, and drawn over with a soft pencil. This was a playground of experimentation and it fired me up to paint more.

There are wonderful things to paint all around us so don’t wait for inspiration from something grand. Remember, your sketchbook is a place for you to relax and enjoy the painting process. Don’t always think that you must paint something to sell or show to others.

3. Paint everything

Nothing is too mundane or boring to be painted. A friend of ours often brings us fresh eggs from her hens, and they are all different sizes and colours. What a challenge it was to paint this open box. Again, I learned so much from doing this. Our sketchbooks should be places of learning.

What is in your kitchen cupboard, on the bathroom shelf or in the garage? It is so easy to find a bottle, tube or tool and draw that. The fun thing with sketching like this is that you can paint anything. You are not looking for the perfect composition so you are free to sketch anything and to learn every time you do so. Inspiration is all around when you are free to paint what you like.

4. Look for patterns

Don’t only look for objects to paint, but also study patterns, contrasts of light and shadow, warm and cool colours, or interesting shapes. Look for repeated patterns. Painting is about all these things, but we get caught up in the search for the ideal subject to paint. Learn how to see shapes, patterns, colours and contrasts, and paint those instead of a person, field or vase of flowers. Look at my painting of gravel again. It is about these elements – texture, colour and pattern.

My sketch Birch Trees is more about the pattern than the subject.

5. Use technology

There are many ways of using our computers or mobile phones for inspiration. Here are a few that may help you, but always be aware of copyright laws, if you plan to sell or exhibit your work.

Pinterest and Instagram These are great sources of inspiration when you are stuck. There are vast numbers of paintings out there and new ones appear every day. Sign up on these apps and have fun seeing what other artists are producing. You may well find new styles of painting that you want to try, or new subjects of which you had not thought.

If you don’t like technology, you can use the old-fashioned method of looking back through old issues of an Art Magazine. I have to confess that a few years ago when I was teaching art, I went through my back catalogue of magazines and cut out the paintings and made them into ‘inspiration collections’ for my students.

Google Earth This isn’t always the easiest to use, but you can fly around the world and visit pretty much anywhere you like and get down to street view. In these days, when we cannot travel, this is a way of seeing the world and finding inspiration. I ‘visited’ Granada and found myself in a little street with a doorway that caught my attention.

Television You can pause programmes and freeze the frame then have instant access to a wonderful world of nature, people or places.

6. Try a new medium

This can remove painter’s block in an instant, and you can use your sketchbook to learn how to work with the new medium without wasting time or materials. I recently discovered the joy of working in gouache and am experimenting and playing with it in my sketchbooks to see how it works and discover its potential. After years of working in watercolour, acrylics and oils, I have found a new sense of excitement working in a new medium.

#sketching #learningtopaint #Paintersblock #paintingtips #Sketchbookideas

Introducing… John Palmer RWA, a master of watercolour line and wash

I want to begin a series of blog posts, maybe one a month, where I introduce you to painters who have influenced me. Some of these are living and I have come across them on Instagram or magazine articles or in books. Others have passed on but have left a legacy that is inspirational. My hope is that I might introduce you to someone you’ve not come across before, or re-introduce you to an artist that you already know and love. Each of these has inspired and taught me something new. Many I want to emulate, or at least learn something from – perhaps a new technique, a new style, or a way of developing my art in a completely new direction. I hope they have the same effect on you!

John Palmer (1939 – 2021) John Palmer wrote these two books, one co-authored with Ron Ranson, still available as second hand copies on Amazon or eBay if you search for them.

What I love in his paintings is the freedom that he expresses both in his line work and in the application of his paint. At first glance his paintings look almost abstract, but they are beautiful and surprisingly accurate depictions of the world around us. He worked in two ways, either drawing in pencil or pen and then adding watercolour washes over the top, or painting the washes first and then adding pencil or ink where necessary. In his hands, both approaches result in a free flowing dynamic and exciting painting, capturing the atmosphere and feel of a place. He drew with a propelling pencil which hardly left the paper, but wandered in a controlled but free manner, occasionally broken by a few dots and then carrying on. He kept his eyes on the subject in front of him and only glanced down now and again at the paper. His resulting drawings are almost like scribbles, but full of life and energy. I love this way of drawing, not hiding the pencil marks in a watercolour, but rejoicing in them and making them so much a part of the finished picture! His paint washes were applied loosely but carefully, and only where necessary. Often one stroke was enough, and he certainly wasn’t just colouring in between the lines!

Take a look at some of his paintings in the slideshow below. (Click on the arrows to go from one painting to the next.) I hope they inspire you as they do me.

Please like this post below (if you do!) and let me know who inspires you in your painting.

#expressivewatercolor #watercolourpainting #loosewatercolorpainting #JohnPalmerRWA #watercolourloose

7 reasons why YOU should get the sketchbook habit!

I have to admit that I never used a sketchbook when I was first learning to paint. I would find a photo of something I wanted to paint, and faithfully copy from it onto a piece of watercolour paper. But more often than not I was disappointed with the result, and there was good reason for this. I was hoping to turn out a masterpiece every time, but I was not putting in any practice beforehand! It is the same situation as someone learning to play the piano and expecting to play Chopin or Beethoven perfectly every time they sat at the keyboard without practising first or learning scales. We understand that this would be impossible in music, but without thinking we apply the same idea to our art. We expect a wonderful painting every time without spending time practising and playing.

Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas on Pexels.com

The ‘Aha’ moment

A few years ago I bought myself a cheap sketchbook and began to draw in it. A whole new world opened up to me, and ever since then I have always used sketchbooks to hone my skill. I now use them in a variety of ways and have several on the go at once. I have one that is for playing in and trying out ideas, another for making quick line drawings and thumbnail sketches, and a couple of others of different sizes for watercolour paintings. I often take these with me on holiday and they have decent watercolour paper in them so they handle the paint well.

7 reasons why you should get the sketchbook habit!

1. No pressure. There is no need to worry about creating a masterpiece every time! This first point was revolutionary for me. It opened my eyes and changed the way I thought about my painting. Suddenly I did not have the pressure of trying to paint a picture that I would frame and hang on the wall, or that friends and family would comment on. My paintings could be private. Somehow, the act of painting in a sketchbook rather than on a piece of paper freed me from having to aim for perfection. It no longer mattered if a painting didn’t work. It was only in my sketchbook after all! I had the freedom to fail. And because of this, my ability to paint really took off.

2. Get creative. Find the freedom to play around with ideas. This follows on from the last point. As soon as you make the mental switch from not trying to create a complete and perfect painting every time to allowing yourself to play and create, then you can really let your creative juices flow! Use your sketchbook any way you like. You can try out different styles or different media. You can play around to your hearts content and see what emerges. Perhaps you will discover a whole new way of painting, or a whole new subject matter. Your sketchbook can help you do this.

3. Planning and preparation. Work out your composition and tonal values. Sketchbooks are great for planning a painting. If you are painting en plein air (outdoors) or from a still life or even from a photo, then get into the habit of doing a few thumbnail sketches first. These help you to get the feel of the subject in front of you, and you will quickly find out what you want to put in and what you want to leave out of your composition. Tonal value studies will help you to make a strong foundation for your painting.

4. Loosen up. Learn to paint faster and looser. If you go outside to paint the landscape, (and I really hope you do from time to time), then take a sketchbook with you. One of the restrictions of sketching outdoors is the short time available. The light is always changing, so shadows come and go or move around; the weather can also change very quickly from warm and sunny to rainy and cold; you may have to stand to sketch and this can be tiring; you may be in a city or town where people are moving around and you only have a few moments to capture them. My point here is simple – you need to learn to paint fast and loose.

A sketchbook can help you do this as you are not aiming for a finished painting. Use your book to capture the fleeting moments, the patch of sunlight on a field, the cows in the field, the stormy clouds overhead. Paint them quickly and with an economy of brushstrokes and see how much you can achieve with very little. Less is often more! Then use what you have learned when you next paint a picture at home.

5. Holiday memories. Remember much more than when you take a photo. Sketchbooks are great for taking on trips or holidays. You really don’t need to take much stuff with you. It might be a small book that fits in your pocket or bag, and a pen or pencil. Or take a small watercolour sketchbook, with a few paints and a couple of brushes. With these few items you can create memories that will last a lifetime. There is something about looking and drawing that fixes the view in front of you – the time of day, the smells and sounds, and even how you are feeling – and in years to come when you look back at your sketches you will remember all these things. I bet you can’t do that from a photo!

6. Save time. Keep everything together and in chronological order. How many times have you searched high and low for a scrap of paper which had a painting idea on it? You remember drawing it, but you can’t remember where you put it! Help yourself by using a sketchbook. Not only is it easier to find past ideas, but you will have a chronological overview of your work and how it is progressing. I usually write in the date alongside my work, and it is interesting to see how my art has changed and how I have improved over the years.

7. Get inspiration. What to do when you have painter’s block. Do you ever have times when you are stuck for what to paint? Then look back through your sketchbooks. Your sketches once inspired you for a reason – that’s why you drew them! You may just have a few lines or a smudge of colour, but even these can evoke memories and inspire a painting.

So there we are – seven great reasons to use a sketchbook. Believe me, when you start sketching you won’t stop, your art will improve, and you will have great fun along the way!

#enpleinair #sketching #learningtopaint #watercolortips #paintingtips #drawing