When you paint on an empty canvas...?

Artists (and that includes writers and musicians as well) get their inspiration in a number of ways. Some see a beautiful landscape, or interesting person and want to interpret it. Others want it to look as realistic as possible. Others just want to convey a certain emotion, and the actual subject is not that important (I once painted a bluish swamp once, when I was really anxious/depressed! I thought it stunk, but a friend loved it and bought it!).

Some people just sit down and start drawing or painting, watching whatever it is unfold. I'm more the type who has something in mind. Neither way is better or "right"...it's just up to you...if it pleases you, then it's good.

When I started painting "camp" , it was an empty canvas. No premeditated picture. I picked up a brush, chose some colors randomly and started splashing them on the canvas. The first color was yellow oxide. It looked like sand on a beach. It became sand on a beach. The next color I picked up was cad red deep. I had a fan brush and the object became a path of flowers. the painting started looking like a desert island. I used the cad deep red to make roofs for the huts. the next color I chose was pthalo green. I used that to make what I thought were trees. It looked horrid. I painted over them and they became a mountain. the randomness ended. I had an idea. I began adding items that belong in a fishing camp. Some worked, some did not. I just kept going and eventually, with a lot of painting, scraping off, painting, scraping off, painting over, etc. it became a painting that I liked. Tah Dah This was the one and only random beginning painting I have ever done. I usually plan it out from sketch to varnish.

I start out with a grisaille, I have a general idea started but then push the paint around and play with it to get the composition set. so its some part planning some part thinking while working.

as far as what I paint. Its generally figurative work, I get inspiration from things I see in the world, from other artists, from my family etc. Right now im working on a figurative painting of my mother, and a series and paintings from old photographs from my grandfather.

So just look at your life. what has meaning to you and why it would interest other people.

you see the image in your mind first. but it depends what you want to paint, if it's landscapes then you'll have the picture infront of you, the same with a photo or making a painting of someone sitting infront of you. it's there so you don't need to wonder what you're going to paint.. But for me it just pop up. or like a dream. I don't sit and think mmm what am i going to draw and paint now.

Start to Finish?

I am still traveling, seeking, trying to find the perfect painting. Trying to find a painting that I am completely happy with. I haven't found her yet.

I began my journey with a painting titled, "Birth"....unfortunatly I am still painting that same picture.

I am not sure what the finished painting is like. I geuss, Ill find out when my brush travels there.

i usually have an idea before i put it on canvas. it's rare that i do sketches first. i dont even know the color scheme at first...the canvas is the trial and error for me.

but in the end, it usually comes out the way i envisioned it.

i have an idea in my head of what i want an just tweak an work at it til it looks like what i want, an it usually is never exactly whats in my head to begin with but you gotta know when to put the brush down hehe

All I see before I start is an arctic fox in a snow storm.