|
|
|
The beauty of creating
Growing up in a creative home, I was surrounded by an abundance of nature; inspiration was everywhere. With encouragement to not only create but also study art, I began to look and think more critically at what I was seeing. Overtime, I developed a genuine appreciation for all of the artists and creators who borrow from nature, attempting to find a way to capture details and thus become frozen in time through art. Today, I have even more appreciation for the Renaissance artists who meticulously studied nature and the human form, discovering common, reoccurring themes that ultimately helped all artists better understand the world around them.
For many years, I only wanted to work with traditional materials, and my medium of choice became fine tip pens for illustration and design work. As I gained more experience licensing and selling my illustration and design work all over the world, I slowly began to discover that painting was where my heart needed to speak. Embracing the option to paint digitally in Procreate opened my ability to efficiently and creatively start. In doing so, however, I knew I needed to discover and experiment with this tool to find what worked for me. For nearly four years, I tested, studied and played with Procreate brushes, all while sketching, painting and discovering what might work.
I frequently told myself that if I didn’t create something completely imaginative, it wasn’t worth creating. Rather than continue to fight against this idea, I finally decided to look at my everyday, real world. Everything around me started to become more beautiful and amplified the closer I started to look at the details. It was time to create my own content and stop scouring the internet for inspiration, and more importantly — stop trying to mimic others. Suddenly, it felt as though a creative weight was lifted; my internal struggle to say what I really wanted with my art vanished and was replaced with a release to simply make.
The process of creating today brings me so much pleasure because I get to experience the entire timeline of my artwork from start to finish. Photography has become a wonderful and key element of my process, as I am carefully working out the details and crafting the image I want to paint. Whether it be a personal portrait or capturing the beauty of freshly picked heirloom tomatoes or romantic roses from my garden, I feel connected in time and place.
My art celebrates the simplicity and complexity all at once in everyday life, often focusing on the understated and overlooked joy of creating still life art. By bringing art into our own personal spaces, we usher more beauty into our everyday life.
For many years, I only wanted to work with traditional materials, and my medium of choice became fine tip pens for illustration and design work. As I gained more experience licensing and selling my illustration and design work all over the world, I slowly began to discover that painting was where my heart needed to speak. Embracing the option to paint digitally in Procreate opened my ability to efficiently and creatively start. In doing so, however, I knew I needed to discover and experiment with this tool to find what worked for me. For nearly four years, I tested, studied and played with Procreate brushes, all while sketching, painting and discovering what might work.
I frequently told myself that if I didn’t create something completely imaginative, it wasn’t worth creating. Rather than continue to fight against this idea, I finally decided to look at my everyday, real world. Everything around me started to become more beautiful and amplified the closer I started to look at the details. It was time to create my own content and stop scouring the internet for inspiration, and more importantly — stop trying to mimic others. Suddenly, it felt as though a creative weight was lifted; my internal struggle to say what I really wanted with my art vanished and was replaced with a release to simply make.
The process of creating today brings me so much pleasure because I get to experience the entire timeline of my artwork from start to finish. Photography has become a wonderful and key element of my process, as I am carefully working out the details and crafting the image I want to paint. Whether it be a personal portrait or capturing the beauty of freshly picked heirloom tomatoes or romantic roses from my garden, I feel connected in time and place.
My art celebrates the simplicity and complexity all at once in everyday life, often focusing on the understated and overlooked joy of creating still life art. By bringing art into our own personal spaces, we usher more beauty into our everyday life.