Creativity & Painting Concepts Archives

How Does Your Art Make You Feel?

September 8, 2019 By Carol McIntyre

Don’t we all want to improve as creatives? One of the many reasons I love about being an artist is that there is always something to learn and to improve upon. As a life-long-learner it revs my engine. Is this true for you as well?

This post was inspired by listening to a recent Nicholas Wilton video https://www.art2life.com/2019/08/18/where-are-you-looking/ It sparked me to start thinking about my practice as an artist. He begins by asking if we are wanting to improve upon or up-level our art. If so, where do we look to determine how to make these improvements?

There is a logical tendency to look at the end product for answers. After all, critiques are a common occurrence in our profession and they usually happen when a painting is completed. However, Wilton suggests that we look at the beginning of our creative process. I had never thought of this, have you? It’s a great question. [Read more…]

What Are the 5 Phases of Publishing a Book? | Part Two

May 17, 2019 By Carol McIntyre

In my recent blog post: What Are the 5 Phases of Publishing a Book? | Part One I introduced you to these five phases of publishing a book and discussed phases one through three:

Incubating and Conceiving the Idea
Writing
Producing
Marketing
Distributing and Shipping

In this post, I will discuss the last two phases – 4. Marketing and 5. Distributing and Shipping. Although the five listed steps imply a linear progression, the journey is never quite straight and/or sequential, as in any creative process. For example, in the book publishing process, marketing activities underly all of the stages, because it actually starts when the first viable draft of the manuscript has been written. This surprises most new authors.

Marketing is the most important and the most complex phase. It is a long and arduous process that is not unlike having a child. I say this because the book needs constant and consistent attention over a long period of time, particularly if your content is evergreen.

[Disclaimer: This article describes my author experience of independently publishing a non-fiction art instruction book to be sold internationally. Off-set printing was used because color is on every page and it is a hard back so that it is durable, lays flat for better usability, and is marketable to a variety of venues, including libraries. Every book carries its unique goals.]

Phase 4: Marketing

What is marketing? It is the business process of creating relationships with and satisfying customers. With its focus on the customer, marketing is one of the premier components of business management.

Given the above definition, to write and sell a book, the author must understand that he/she is starting a book publishing business. Most authors do not fully comprehend this phenomenon, which can cause angst and frustration. I arrived in my book publishing journey having taken classes in marketing and I worked in a marketing department within a medium-sized corporation many years ago. Hence, the principles were and are not difficult for me to grasp. If you do not have similar knowledge, I recommend that you take a basic Marketing 101 course BEFORE taking advantage of the many books and online resources available on the subject of marketing books.

It is important to know who will be reading your book and whether they represent a viable market. Along this line of thinking, knowing the problem(s) your book will solve and providing solutions to this problem is also critical. If these are not completely thought out then your book will not sell. [Read more…]

What Are the 5 Phases of Publishing a Book? | Part One

April 24, 2019 By Carol McIntyre

“Carol, you have written and published a book! Congratulations! How did you do it?”

Writing I Just Want to Paint: Mixing the Colors You Want! has, as many of you know, consumed much of my time and energy the past two years. As I depart the launch phase, I have been reflecting upon the process and I thought I’d share it with you. Some of you might like to hear one author’s insight to becoming an independent book publisher. The latter is sometimes referred to as “Indie.”

Readers of my blog and my book, know that clarity is foremost in my mind when explaining a concept or skill. I believe clarity is key to understanding or learning something new. I also think it is a skill I have worked at developing. Here is my attempt at explaining a complex and time-consuming process.

What are the 5 Phases of Publishing a Book?

Caveat: I write this article solely from my perspective. I am not a book publishing coach or consultant. I have never seen the process described in phases as I have identified. My book publishing story is about writing a non-fiction book — a how-to art instruction book. I outline the phases I have experienced though many nuances and details of book publishing are skimmed, so consider this an overview.

The Phases are:

Incubating and Conceiving the Idea
Writing
Producing
Marketing
Distributing and Shipping

Even though I have portrayed them as a sequence, publishing a book, like any creative endeavor, is not linear and be a bit mushy with lots of overlap. However, I think these five phases represent a model and provide a good framework to take an aerial view of the process.

Phase 1: Incubating and Conceiving the Idea

[Read more…]

What Role Does Color Play in Your Paintings?

February 25, 2019 By Carol McIntyre

Have you ever wondered what role does color play in your paintings? Or…

What is your relationship with color?

How important is color to your artistic process and what you are trying to visually communicate?

Do you consciously step back and consider the impact your color choices have on you? On your viewers?

Or do you essentially copy the colors before you, such as a landscape, portrait, still life, without giving color much consideration? Or do you choose different colors on purpose from what you see before you? Or any combination thereof?

When starting a painting, do you choose particular colors because of a mood or message you want to communicate? Perhaps you choose the colors as you get further into the painting process and the painting starts to ‘talk’ to you. You then make more strategic color choices.

In my painting “Untethered,” the color red makes a strong statement. Imagine it in a different color and the impact it might have. Interestingly, the interpretations of this painting varies across the board, which is another topic of discussion when it comes to color — we all have personal reactions to different colors.

There are more questions surrounding this yummy and complex topic of color. And there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. However, I believe they are important for painters to ponder periodically. May I suggest that these might be good questions to ask in a small art group or during a critique. [Read more…]

How a Wine Painting Evolved From an Abstract Painting

May 9, 2018 By Carol McIntyre

Have you ever put lots of time and layers into a painting and it just didn’t work out? And, to add to the frustration, you convinced yourself along the way that it was a good painting and that you like it? I call these paintings “problem children.” I do so with affection.

Recently, I experienced one of these challenging paintings and thought I would show you the evolution of an abstract painting into a wine painting.

The original abstract painting started out on a textured panel 24″ x 28″ x 1.5″ board. First I applied several colors, different textures and collaged a napkin (do you see the tulips?). There are probably 4-5 layers at this point.

wine painting, abstract painting, painting lesoon

Step 1.

During the beginning stages of my abstract paintings, I always turn the board around, trying to find where and when I might begin to connect with it. Below you can see it in a vertical orientation. I am liking the drama of it and the mysterious layers that give it depth. The bubble-looking shapes were created with rubbing alcohol.

wine painting, painting lession, color theory

Step 2.

As you can see in Step 3., a few more papers have been collaged, as well as the dripping of paint and circle shapes. I painted in the clouds to create a sense of drifting and more drama. My husband titled it “Carnival Dreams,” which I liked.

At this stage of the painting, I am trying to convince myself that I like it. Actually, I only like a few sections of the painting because it is way too busy. I began wishing I could cut it into a couple of paintings, but that isn’t possible with this panel board. A tad perplexed, I put it aside and moved onto the next painting. It needed to go into hiding for a while.

Step 3.

After a couple of months, I decided it was time to let “Carnival Dreams” go and to see if I could do something different with it other than sand it down to bare wood. I wondered if I could turn it into a wine painting. To do this, I applied strips of green Frog tape to my panel, and then applied light layers of white paint to imply Venetian-like blinds. I confess, emotionally it wasn’t easy to cover up all of my previous layers. .

wine painting, oil painting lesson, color theory

Step 4. Click the images to see a larger view.

When the tape was removed and this was the result.

Step 5.

I am liking this but wanted to continue to see how I could transform this abstract painting into one of my wine themed paintings. The edges were softened and more thin layers of paint were applied as seen in Step 6.

Step 6.

I still wasn’t sure about my goal, but decided to go for it and so I took on the wine painting challenge. In this next image you can see the charcoal drawing of the wine glass, bottle and a hand. I have also applied a little paint.

Step 7.

In Step 8., the forms of the subject have been painted in. I am wondering whether to keep the bottle vague because I want the wine glass to be the focus. Color wise, it was a challenge to not let this wine painting get muddy, so I had to be careful how I applied the purples over the oranges. As you know, purple and orange mix into a brown, which is fine but I didn’t want it too brown/burnt sienna. Learn more about mixing orange and purple in my post What is the Correct Definition of Tertiary Colors?

I do enjoy the problem solving of painting glass, because it’s not easy. It is all about using values – the lights and darks – in the correct places. The layers also need to dry in between before I applied the last white highlights. It is not quite finished in Step 8., because I want the glass to pop more.

Step 8.

Are you thirsty looking at this wine painting? Ready to have a glass?

Step 9. “Let It Pour!” finished 24″x 18″ mixed media on panel painting.

You now have a unique view of the evolution of a wine painting or rather, a painting that was not totally satisfactory, and how I tried to resurrect it. This digital photo is not able to reveal the layers below, but you know they are there! Where might you have stopped during this process? Or would you have continued as I did?

I hope you enjoyed seeing the development of this wine painting and my problem solving along the way.

When have you experienced something similar? Have you documented it? Or perhaps you have a painting you might want to resurrect? Tell us what happened in the comments below.

Please share this post with others if you found it helpful or interesting.

Grateful and colorfully yours,

Carol