Beginning any journey requires thoughtful preparation. Making sure you have the supplies you need, transportation, and money to make the trip is imperative. I thought about this as I was contemplating my artistic style which I am calling my Long Day’s Journey into Style.
When I first began painting, it was more of a leap and then learn kind of thing. I suppose I should be embarrassed to say that, but as a perfectionist, it is way too easy to overthink a thing before you dive in.
Don’t get me wrong, I had been doing artistic things for many years before getting into painting. Primarily it was costuming for local theaters and modern dance groups. So I had been sketching, designing, and sewing for 25 years. I wasn’t raw or wet behind the ears.
But I felt like I was. I was seeing what all the local artists were doing and some of it was pretty amazing. I wasn’t sure I could ever do art that would be “good enough”. But my heart pulled… and I followed.
I have been painting now for almost 7 years and selling my work for 5. I have had some monumental breakthroughs and some dismal failures. Amongst it all, I have managed to do things I was proud of.
Recently, however, I have felt the need to develop more as an artist. Primarily, I want to have a style that people recognize as mine. I don’t have any delusions of having my art known 100 years from now or even 40 years from now, but I do want people to see my work across a room or festival grounds and say “Hey, look, Kate Shaffer is here. Let’s go see what she has!” This Long Day’s Journey into Style has its ups and downs, but it is never boring.
So in pursuit of style, I have hired an art coach. Her name is Gwen Fox and I feel like she is just the person to help me achieve my goals in this journey to style.
She is an accomplished artist in her own right, and her abstract style is exactly the kind of mindset I need to be able to help me with my own style. A little abstract, but also representational.
The inspirational artists I have claimed for my journey are William Turner and Vincent Van Gogh. I love the expressive brush marks that say so much about how the emotion of the subject grabbed them and moved them.
My goal is not to copy either of them. My goal is to use them to help me see my own response to those same emotions and learn to put them onto canvas. I hope to produce work that moves the viewer as well. I hope you will come along with me on this Journey into Style and perhaps pursue one of your own!