I took time to make something with my hands and some gouache paint today. It is always a grounding experience to push color around with a tiny paintbrush. This image has been in my head for a while. I tend to wait to start a piece until I have figured out what the most effective medium is to tell the story, and I don’t always know where the story may end up. The way I see it though is that the most important part is just to start.
Tag: Florida
Slow-Life Drawing
This year I’ve been experiencing a more unplugged life than the past couple of years. So far the first things I’ve noticed is that time feels slower paced, more spacious, and solitary. It’s as though each day is a page being turned without hurry in a crowded room.
The other day I went to visit the ocean to recharge with the smell of sea salt and the steady hum of the waves. To my surprise several Horseshoe Crabs were mating by the shore. I recorded the moment in my sketchbook which is starting to become a visual journal.
I usually don’t use reference for my drawings or paintings. Over the years I have tried to work from memory. I’m now going back to basics and committing more time to life drawing to better understand my subjects and how their existence makes my existence possible.
with smiles,
-Yan
A Cure for Creative Blocks
The cure for a creative block for me is:
1. Leaving the house
• This creates opportunities for new experiences that will influence the work in unexpected ways
2. Exploring a new place/more closely observing a familiar place
• Experiencing something new opens up space for new ideas and noticing something new in a familiar place strengthens observation skills that will develop a refined eye for things such as, seeing how light falls on a tree or how grass is made up of infinitely different greens.
3. Physical labor that benefits someone other than myself
• This tires the body and slows down a spinning wheel of thoughts and worries by putting them into perspective and in relation to the bigger picture of life and others’ lives.