Artistic Slump? 5 Ideas for an Artist to Jump-Start Your Creativity

These five suggestions are geared to help artists who wishes to re-energize their artistic process:

1. Take a class you must pay for.  A financial investment is a powerful way to make a commitment of your time, and will motivate you to show up so that you “get your money’s worth.”  As a result, you will wet those brushes at least paint once a week, during class time.
2. Plan a painting get-together with at least one other artist or, even better, a small group.  Inspiration and creative energy are contagious.  (see #1)  Be mindful that some people may be more likely than others to contribute energy to the room.  Given the choice, paint with people who contribute to the potential to lift spirits and keep the group motivated.  Once you find painting partners, commit to regularly scheduled get-togethers.
3. Take a walk, a swim or a bicycle ride.  It will quickly shift your perspective.  Getting the blood flowing will get oxygen to the brain.  Your creative juices will inevitably flow and you may go from “I don’t know what to paint” to “I don’t know what to paint first because everything I look at is a painting waiting to be painted.
4. Get your materials ready, and then set a timer.  Limit yourself to 15-60 minutes (you decide) to complete a painting, including the sketch.  You will be working fast and furious.  The more you restrict your time the more spontaneous your work will become.  This is a wonderful way to learn how to paint loosely and gesturally, and to keep the energy flowing.
5. Post your work in an online “community” where participants interact.  You may discover new art friends as you see your artwork being viewed by people all over the world.  The advantage of this step is similar to seeing your artwork hanging in a gallery, only with an international scope.  You see how your work compares to other artists out in the real world.  You have a built-in audience and you receive feedback.  The advantage?  Like in a gallery, there is a very real possibility that you will eventually enjoy sales from your online exposure or an opportunity to publish, and incidentally, you have no gallery commission.  Click here to see an example of a Flickr blog: 
   Flickr Blog.  Take notice, when you click on a painting image, you will see examples of how others comment on each painting.  Why not enjoy an opportunity to exhibit your artwork while sitting in the comfort of your own home?

Private Music Lessons

Susan occasionally has openings for beginner or intermediate level piano and violin students, in her private studio in Katy, Texas.  If you are interested, please email Susan and she will contact you.

Watercolor Art Society-Houston Classes

Exploring Impressionism in Watermedia, Hands On
January 18 thru March 8, 2011
Tuesday afternoons, 1 to 4 p.m.
$300, or $150 for 4 sessions (1/2 semester)
Detailed information:
Do you love the paintings produced by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist watercolor painters Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Paul Signac, Childe Hassam, van Gogh and others?  Let us explore the tools and techniques used by these masters and discover ways to add freshness and spontaneity to our own paintings.

The Impressionists developed new techniques to convey a "different way of seeing." It was an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of color.  They often explored plein-air painting in order to recreate the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than attempt to recreate the subject.


In this course we will project paintings of these masters to take a close-up look at a few of the techniques they used.  A weekly demo of specific techniques will follow.  Then, together, we will recreate the feeling of plein-air in the classroom.  Each week, together we will paint a projected, large photograph of reference material provided by the instructor.  This will give students an opportunity to experience, first-hand, the spontaneity and freshness of these master painters by making brushmarks and colors that depict their own impressions.

Demonstrations will alternate: one week in watercolor, then the following week in acrylics.  Students are welcome to try both, or stay with one medium for all classes.  Because the art supply industry has produced many innovative materials since the early days of Impressionism, we will have an opportunity to enjoy the advantages of these fine materials.

A homework assignment will be given weekly and a brief critique of one painting will begin each class, for those who wish to participate.  Tuesday afternoon classes begin January 18 and end March 8, 2011, 1:00-4:00 p.m..


To register:
http://watercolorhouston.org/media/pdf-folder/workshopapplicationrev.pdf

Chromatic Variations

Chromatic Variations
24 x 18" signed, limited edition giclee art print on gallery wrapped canvas.  No framing necessary; ready to hang.
Purchase safely with PayPal.  No account needed and all major credit cards accepted.

$225 includes shipping and insurance.

Chromatic Strata

Chromatic Strata
24 x 18" signed, limited edition giclee art print on gallery wrapped canvas.  No framing necessary; ready to hang.
Purchase safely with PayPal.  No account needed and all major credit cards accepted.

$225 includes shipping and insurance.

Exploring Impressionism in Watermedia, Hands On. Spring 2011, Watercolor Art Society-Houston

The Red Canoe, Winslow Homer

Do you love the paintings produced by Impressionist and Post-Impressionist watercolor painters Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Paul Signac, Childe Hassam, van Gogh and others?  Let us explore the tools and techniques used by these masters and discover ways to add freshness and spontaneity to our own paintings.

The Impressionists developed new techniques to convey a "different way of seeing." It was an art of immediacy and movement, of candid poses and compositions, of the play of light expressed in a bright and varied use of color.  They often explored plein-air painting in order to recreate the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than attempt to recreate the subject.


In this course we will project paintings of these masters to take a close-up look at a few of the techniques they used.  A weekly demo of specific techniques will follow.  Then, together, we will recreate the feeling of plein-air in the classroom.  Each week, together we will paint a projected, large photograph of reference material provided by the instructor.  This will give students an opportunity to experience, first-hand, the spontaneity and freshness of these master painters by making brushmarks and colors that depict their own impressions.

Demonstrations will alternate: one week in watercolor, then the following week in acrylics.  Students are welcome to try both, or stay with one medium for all classes.  Because the art supply industry has produced many innovative materials since the early days of Impressionism, we will have an opportunity to enjoy the advantages of these fine materials.

A homework assignment will be given weekly and a brief critique of one painting will begin each class, for those who wish to participate.  Tuesday afternoon classes begin January 18 and end March 8, 2011, 1:00-4:00 p.m..

The Notes are All There

Symphony in White No. 3, James Abbott McNeill Whistler

"Nature contains all the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music.  But the artist is born to pick and choose and group with science, the elements, that the result may be beautiful." -JAM Whistler, "The Ten O'Clock Lecture 1885"

Martha Washingtons

Martha Washingtons, Susan Giannantonio
11 x 14" signed and numbered watercolor giclee print on acid-free watercolor paper.  Matted and ready to frame in a standard 16 x 20" frame, available at any local retailer.  Purchase safely with PayPal.  No account needed and all major credit cards accepted.

$90 includes tax and insured shipping

Blown Away

Blown Away, Winslow Homer*

"I have learned two or three things in my years of experience...One is, never paint a blue sky." When asked why, Homer replied, "Why, because it looks like the devil, that's all.  Another thing; a horizon is horrible-that straight line!" --"Watercolors by Winslow Homer, the Color of Light," Tedeschi
*courtesy the Brooklyn Museum, used with permission

What Is My Voice?

Chromatic Variations, Susan Giannantonio

"What's my voice?" has to be asked by each individual artist. Committee-free, the artist needs to develop her voice as if on an island. To be a voice is to be a different voice, set apart, unique. How to find it? Go to your island, put in long hours, fall in love with process--your voice will come out of your work.--Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Newsletter for 7/23/2010

To Live Out Loud

Subito, Susan Giannantonio

Announcing "Subito", my 6th painting featured by music publisher Simply Violin. (www.simplyviolin.com).  "Subito" will soon be released on a collection of music arranged for youth orchestras.  "I am an artist....I am here to live out loud." --Emile Zola

Play with Purpose

Color is No Object, Susan Giannantonio

"Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."  Pablo Picasso

The Music of Painting

The Striped Blouse, Edouard Vuillard

"Who speaks of art speaks of poetry. There is no art without a poetic aim. There is a species of emotion particular to painting. There is an effect that results from a certain arrangement of colors, of lights, of shadows, etc. It is this that one calls the music of painting."--Vuillard, Jan. 1894