Experimentation is the key to my artistic creativity

Taking off masking fluid

I find it really interesting that many successful creative people have the same personality trait in common: they are open to new experiences. Having an open mind, a willingness to try new things or at least entertain the prospect of new ideas is the key to encouraging creativity within yourself.

It’s a brave step to go out of your comfort zone. What I do know is that my mini experimentations don’t need to go anywhere. It’s important to just DO them. And don’t consider them as failures as well, they’re experiments taking me further down the path where I ultimately want to go. Take for example these small trials on canvas board… I’m playing around with a couple of packs of new Pebeo paints I bought at Christmas. I was interested in their iridescent and honeycomb effects and now my mind is ticking over how I might be able to integrate them into future larger works.

Prepped canvas boards

I love to read. I’ve been told I acquire information like it’s going out of fashion! It’s usually a little tidbit of information or a new art show that catches my eye which will spark the creativity within me. It’s like a seed growing. Once its there I can’t get rid of it unless I try it out. You know that feeling when you can’t sleep in the early hours of the morning as you have a billion ideas running around your head!

Follow your intuition. I firmly believe in this and when I do it rarely goes wrong. Sticking with your new, crazy ideas is the time to be brave and go with it. Remember it’s always fun, and a bit scary, to bring your passion to life.

Let me know how it goes!!

Experimenting with my new Pebeo paints

Part of my wall moodboard with past experimentations at the top

Creating print effects using rollers