Often I get asked as an artist about my creative processes. It’s hard to capture it all within a short chat and you’ll find me stumbling over a million words trying to get everything out at once.
The truth is that every painting is different and that I add and take away as needed. And by needed- I mean what can be only described as a creative ‘intuition’.
As a general rule however this is how things begin.
I research, and research and research some more. This part is the behind the scenes and often overlooked in the creative process. I look at photos, gardens, flowers, other artist work and lighting.
I examine and ask myself questions such as:
1. how does this piece make me feel.
2. What about this light (or lack of) draws me in?
3. What colour palettes work?
4. What shapes and curves are essential to recreate this flower with minimal strokes?
5. What do I enjoy painting (this is super important to avoid burnout)?
6. What time of day creates the feelings and emotions I’m wanting to draw on?
The list could truly go on- but I think in essence that the way that I specifically answer these questions provides me with my unique identity as an artist. You’ll find that every artist will notice and answer these questions differently and thus create uniquely unto themselves.
Digital illustration
Next I mock up my designs using procreate. I tend to layer, cut and collage using multiple photographs. I’ll add and remove flowers, change colour tones and play around with background colours. This part gives a good foundation for a starting point to begin painting- but as I transition from digital to paint as a medium things really do begin to take on their own shape and form. Often the original piece can vary by large degrees from the digital concept plans.
Prep
Before I can even begin to paint I apply artist grade gesso to the canvas. This creates a beautiful subtle texture of strokes as well as providing a smooth surface to paint on.
Acrylic washes
This is one of my favourite parts. I enjoy the flow and loose aspect of this work. I apply varying colours (usually greens and blues) of fluid acrylic and allow the blending and dripping to do its own work with gravity. The long and obvious drips often end up being implied ‘stems’ in a field of flowers. While only at the beginning stages of the piece- these fluid acrylics create a great foundation of subtle interest and relief moments amongst all the glorious flowers.
Layering and blocking
Next is what I call the ‘ugly’ phase and it gets me every time. It is essentially layering down foliage and base colours of flowers to provide for the future depth and detail. This step allows the overall imaging to take shape. It can be hard to push through because the piece can start to feel ‘clumsy’ and very chaotic. With blobs of paint and lacking detail I (and other artists) can often find ourselves in crisis point where we potentially ask ourselves ‘Is this an absolute disaster?’
Filling in
Now we’ve come to the long and hard yards. I use primarily artist grade acrylic and fast drying oil paint for this. The background, each leaf, flower, fruit and portrait has layers upon layers of strokes creating shadows, highlights and details of the painting. Slowly but surely the painting begins to come to life and you can see the overall image taking shape. We’re still not there yet but the clumsy feelings start to lift and you can see the end in sight.
As a note- when working with both acrylic and oil, I make sure to do all my acrylic work first and then move on to oils over the top. If acrylic is placed over oil then you can have cracks appear. This also can take further foresight and planning of the areas and details you want to keep only in oils.
The details
Finally, my absolute favourite part. This is what I like to call the icing on the cake. From here I thinly paint any details and strokes and create curves and movement. I also use acrylic paint pens to create swirls and gorgeous abstract floral moments. This is also when I move in with texture paste to create tactile and dimensional moments in the flowers and foliage. If there’s a breeze in the air - then little leaves or pettles are perhaps floating in the wind. The last large leaves are also what create the foreground as if you are right there and the garden starts to begin before you.
Everything now has depth, detail, bold colours and texture- it feels glorious and it feels complete.
If all is well- I sign off.
If something is off, I sit and ponder, I walk away from it, I take a photo and stare at the photo, I sleep on it. I give it a few days. Always, always - it will come to me with a bit of patience. I then go in and correct whatever isn’t quite right. And then- I sign off.
Finishing touches
Last but not least- the paintings are framed up and varnished in a gloss spray. Although I use artist grade paints, I feel like this adds another layer of protection as well as creating a lovely glossiness which enhances the depth of the colours.
Now you know! There’s no secrets here- just pure delight, creativity, (a touch of crisis) and beauty. X