preparing to create

I am determined to do a painting.

For those who know me well, this is nothing out of the ordinary. But that's exactly what I want to do: something out of the ordinary. And thus the challenge begins.

I have a handful of canvases in my closet. Stark white and untouched. I have never painted on canvas before so the thought is quite intimidating. I have one small canvas (12x16 inches) and three that are twice that size. I'll start with the small one to warm up and go from there. There's something that seems so permanent about a canvas, so I feel like I have to do something impressive. Watercolor doesn't take to canvas at all, so I have to use acrylic paint, which is something I'm only vaguely familiar with. Time to conquer some fears and break out of the box.

So with the medium decided I contemplate a subject. What am I going to paint? After years of focusing on realism and details, I'm hoping to portray more emotion. Let the brush strokes speak for themselves. My favorite thing to draw is portraits, but except for their realistic nature, they aren't particularly appealing to those who don't know the person portrayed. I want that to change. I want my art to tell stories, to pull emotion from the viewer. Or at the very least be something new and different for me and let me have an experience while creating it.

Once again, what am I going to paint? I'm not big on the abstract, so I need to at least have some sort of subject. And after switching up the transparency of watercolors to the bright bolds of acrylics I'm wanting to do something with color. Lots of it.

Now the hunt begins, searching for the perfect inspiration.