When Time is Short and Inspiration is High

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When Time is Short and Inspiration is High

Posted on 1/8/2018 8:49:19 AM by Vianna Szabo - 7 Comments

White House 1 6x8 Pastel

Holidays are busy and studio time gives way to visiting and catching up with those I love. On Christmas day my husband surprised me with Richard Schmid’s beautiful landscape book.

Looking through the pages I got the itch to paint and decided I could sketch while talking.

A photo of a white farm house in Sleeping Bear National Seashore caught my eye. It is a place that I have painted often and love the simple lines of the home. The light spilling across the side of the building made for a strong design that would translate well into painting. One morning I announced that I needed to be excused for an hour to paint a pastel of my sketch. I was happy with the painting but as the festivities continued I could not get the house out of my head.

I decided to do another pastel of the house but change the palette to represent a moonlit night.

Next I played with watercolor and acrylic gouache and enhanced the palette pushing the light to more yellow and the shadows violet-ish.

The fun part of this series is that the design is worked out ahead of time. The drawing and value relationships are the same - the only thing that changes is the color.

Each one of these took only an hour or two to create. It was a good exercise to scratch my artistic itch in short bursts of time. I am going to continue this series in different palettes and mediums to see what I can learn. I will share them with you and have a sale at the end of the adventure.

Comments

7 Responses to When Time is Short and Inspiration is High

High Five Vianna! Back in the day in my professional career as a graphic designer and illustrator I had the stigma of being a chameleon. The high point of that assumption came in a workshop I attended for illustrators. Part of being an attendee was to bring a set of slides for a crit by the faculty members. The judgment of my work that was leveled still sting today when I recall those remarks. I understand that an artist needs to stand out with their own style but to assume that, "This artist doesn't know who they are, it's all over the ballpark" still reverberates today. But I still like changing my approach to an image be it style-wise or technique. Your playing with different media hits home in the fact that you still maintain the design elements but are free to say it in a fresh response anytime you feel the muse. Bravo!

Posted by Dug Waggoner · via viannaszabo.fineartstudioonline.com · 104 months ago

Write another comment . . .

Posted by joyce guariglia · via viannaszabo.com · 104 months ago

Thanks Dug,
I believe that working in different mediums is similar to taking different routes to the same destination. You are still working with the same visual elements of shape, value, color, edge and application to achieve the same design results.

It always breaks my heart to hear how a harsh critique can have such a lasting sting. Obviously you have found your voice in your work. Bravo to you for not letting it drag you down.

Posted by Vianna Szabo · via viannaszabo.com · 104 months ago

Great article, Vianna! This art itch never ever leaves, holidays or not. Wonderful paintings and I love how you push yourself in all mediums and moods!

Posted by Mary Aslin · via viannaszabo.com · 104 months ago

Thank you very much for your kind comment, Mary. Yes, I think for us artist it becomes mandatory to create. I tend to get crabby if I am away from the easel too long.

Posted by Vianna Szabo · via viannaszabo.com · 104 months ago