“What do you paint?” The question is often asked. By that, people mean what subject matter do I enjoy painting. If asked that question when I first started painting, my answer would have probably been landscapes. A barn would no doubt been included in that landscape. Having grown up in a rural setting, rustic images were the most familiar; therefore, they were the first I tried to capture. I remember pouring through magazines and studying souvenir postcards for ideas…something, anything I could possibly paint. I would copy examples in art instructional booklets. God bless Walter Frost. Finding subject matter seemed far more difficult then.
Now when asked that question, I am not so prompt with an answer. I’m drawn to MORE, a greater variety of subjects. The best advice I have ever heard about choosing a subject was from Kathie Odom and Austin Klein, both successful artists in their own realms. “Paint what stops you in your tracks,” says Kathie Odom in her instructional video Bold Brushwork. In Steal Like an Artist Audio Trilogy, Austin Kleon advises, “Get busy producing the kind of art you want to see, what you love.” I’ve never forgotten those words, and my subject matter choices have increased greatly for I have no trouble responding to that advice. I still paint landscapes. A regular schedule of plein air painting has helped me recognize scenery that makes for good landscape ideas. An added benefit is an affinity for street scenes. When plein air painting I’m no longer feel compelled to paint just landscapes. In disagreeable weather, I’ve learned that there is nothing that keeps me from painting an interior scene in real life. A plein air easel works as well inside as outdoors. As a daily walker, I’ve have learned to constantly observe the world that surrounds me. Sometimes I find a painting possibility staring directly at me, overlooked until a certain moment. The morning light strikes a neighbor’s front door, the blooms along a fence, figures strolling down the pathway. I’m still cliping out magazine images, throwing them into a box in my studio, but I find myself combining these rather than being dependent on one. I take a lot of pictures, taking care to maintain a digital file of sources for future paintings. Figurative painting is an appeal of late. The human face alone provides a lifetime of possibilities. I’ve used family members as my Guinea pigs; maybe they will forgive me one day. Inspiration is unending. The possibilities are limitless. Learn to pay attention. Look around your world. Paul Cezanne said it best-“I could paint one hundred years, a thousand years, and still feel as I know nothing.” With that thought in mind, let’s get busy painting.
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