Last week I attended a workshop hosted by Spirit of the Hills “Channeling Diebenkorn” with Canadian Artist Steve Rose.

It was interesting timing, as I have been coming to the end of my oil paintings series, I was wanting to shift my style a bit, but was having a very hard time nailing it down – often going back and forth between brushes and palette knives, not quite mastering what I was wanting…

(The painting above, before the workshop, I was trying to block out “patches” or green to imply the vast land of fields and trees. It ended up too texturized and flat, but I have left it as is since it’s part of the imperfection of the artistic process.)

This workshop helped me get very clear on a few things:

• Risk over comfort (take a chance and follow your gut in your art) – when in doubt? Try it out! This is how we learn what does work and what doesn’t!
• Diagonal lines add tension (I always love diagonal lines, now I know why).
• Large blocks of colour are okay, but how that space is marked, shadowed, or surrounded, are what make it “interesting.”
• Sometimes you have to ignore the details.
• Art is just mark-making.
• Showing some struggle in a work of art is okay (why our obsession with perfection?).
• Start using more stripes (just because I love them).
• Go with the weird colour.

The piece above is oil pastel on paper. I took three nature/beach images and blended them into one work or art. The left side “panel” are pebbles at the beach, the top right is the broken concrete at the lake’s pier, and the bottom right is a mountain landscape with red canoes floating in the lake. When I started with the pier the first thing I noticed was how quickly I got caught up in every line, crack, texture, and shadows of the concrete… I had planned on having a simple, maybe 3-coloured, square… so when I moved onto the mountain landscape I was careful to stick to basic geometric shapes, and bold colours. When I finished with the pebbles, I was starting to get wrapped up in details again, but I liked the direction it was going with colour, so I turned off my critical brain and just let it flow! Overall I was satisfied with this fun piece, because it was part of a learning process.

In the end, I am happy to say, I was able to finish two more paintings for my “Near and Far” collection, and I applied many of the lessons I learned last week.

I know not everyone will love these strange roughly styled paintings – but I am SO happy with them. I confidently laid down thick slabs of titanium white (which I have never done)… I used the palette knives to create texture, and went with the weird colours I may not have been brave enough to do before. Are they perfect? No! But they were fun and freeing, and I am very satisfied with the outcome. This new style is something I plan on working with more in future art.

Only one more to go before the 12-piece collection is complete!