IDEAS FOR A PAINTING
Getting an idea of what to paint next can be quite a hassle, even with amazing skills at hand. As such, painters source for inspiration from many areas, never really confining themselves to one school of thought. Here are a few concepts you can use as starting points as you work on your next project.
Know what you want
Having too many options is as confusing as having no options. Thus, you should go through a few genres in painting and decide which one you would like to do. Sometimes a lack of ideas stems from having painted in the same style for a considerable amount of time.
Suppose you have been working on landscapes, you can try figures for your next project as this will help you work from a different perspective. Make a list of all the genres you would be willing to explore before narrowing it down to a few options to help you get started.
Gather your thoughts
An excellent way to keep track of your progress as you work towards exploring your options is to write them down. Having a journal comes in handy, and you can sketch some paintings as you critique their weak points.
As a beginner in journaling, you may feel the need to keep a neat book. However, let nothing restrict you from using the book as you please and you can look to it as a diary which you can refer to in later stages. In this way, you will have a pretty clear idea of what you need when you finally get down to the completion stage.
Look around you
Many people get their inspiration from getting out of their comfort zone and exploring other regions. However, you can find the inspiration you need from the items around you. Take an example of your garden. Something as simple as the blooming of a flower can provide you with the required inspiration to paint something which will have people gasping in pleasure.
You can even get your family and friends to pitch in by posing for you or letting you into their worlds. You can save some of these moments by way of photos to enable you to refer to them at later stages when working on your painting. This exposure will help you see the beauty that surrounds you and will open you up to more ideas.
Optimal use of ideas
You may have a painting which you feel could do better with some added work and this is an excellent place to source ideas. Through the use of varying angles, color sets and lighting, a painting from your past could produce a different piece with an entirely different theme. Coming up with a new idea is much harder than it is to generate sketches from previous works. As such, feel free to look into your past work as a source of inspiration.
Looking through the works of other painters is also an excellent place to start as you can always see a gap which you could fill. By researching paintings, you will come up with some ideas which you could put to work. As you do this, be sure to have an open mind as this will help you see more opportunities which you could exploit.
How much do you know about painting history? Going back to the roots of this art will help you see the field differently, and it can be an incredible fountain of inspiration. There are many concepts which are yet to get utilized to their full potential, and you can uncover them through research.
Start off slow as you work through the various inspiration sources. One way to do this is by working on one painting each day to give you the momentum you need to find your next big idea.
If you already have a good aresenal of paintings and you want to start selling them, why not make a website online. and sell your artworks there?