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Morning Sunlight was an experiment. I had ordered some pastel paper that was new to me. What better way to test it than with a cow painting for the grazing book that I am illustrating? I can’t say that I like the paper better than the paper that I am used to, but how am I to know if there isn’t something that I like better if I don’t try something new? Trying new concepts, techniques and supports makes every day in the studio a new challenge. If I’m happy with my attempts with what is new to me, fine. If I don’t like the results, then nothing is lost, just knowledge gained. It’s just a way of deciding what I like and what I don’t like.

Abstract art is an area that I am new to and am trying to understand. A reader of my blogs suggested that I read a book by Edward Betts to help me to better understand abstract art. This book really has a lot of excellent ideas. Edward Betts painted both representational and abstract pieces. His book has a lot of sound advice, some of it practical and some of it inspirational.

Learning new things is part of who I am. I have always been someone who likes to acquire knowledge. Some of the readers of my blogs have recommended artists to research, blogs to read and ideas to explore. When I started my FASO website, I didn’t realize how connected I could become. People from all over the world are giving me input, which is something that I value greatly. Not only do I feel less alone in my artistic journey, but I am also able to tap into the knowledge that has already been obtained. Not having to reinvent the wheel saves me a lot of time.

Will I order more of this paper? Probably not, but I ordered several different types of grades of this paper when I bought it, so that keeps open the possibility of that I might like a different grade of this paper more than the one that I used for this piece. I found out years ago when I first starting painting with watercolor that the type of paper greatly affects the outcome of the piece. Getting to know all of the types of watercolor paper took time, but working with them taught me a lot, as well. Depending upon what I wanted for the result in a painting determined what type of paper I would select.

Not being afraid to try something new allows lots of possibilities for me. Someone once told me that to have the “Rembrandt complex” was the worst thing for an artist. Feeling like they had to produce a masterpiece every time they painted got in the way of their creativity.

Are you being too hard on yourself? Do you think that you have to create a masterpiece with your every artistic attempt or are you letting yourself practice and try something new? Make sure you are having fun as well as learning something new on your artistic journey. Let go of the techniques that you understand to let yourself grow with struggling with the unknown.