Love painting and drawing? Check this out

Yo people! I was longing to share my view on this topic. ‘Art’ has no definition, no starting and ending point. It’s all about transforming thoughts into colour and strokes. I am sure there are many artists just like me who feel the same way (I forgot to mention that I am not a professional).

To me painting is:

• A way of life
• Inspiration for others
• Chance to conceptualize

• Opportunity to make yourself/ourselves happy
• Mode of learning to which there is no ending!
• A fresh story
• An excuse for another cup of tea

Since I clock in a full-time job, weekends are just perfect to unwind, where I sit with my sheets, colour set, pencils, etc., ready to enter another universe. At times, I prefer drawing the outlines soon after I get up in the morning, as this saves a lot of my time that otherwise could be utilised for the colouring process. Hence, prioritising and planning work wonders. Oh by the way, below is the order of my medium preference :

• Watercolours
• Oil pastels
• Soft pastels
• Acrylics
• Oils
• Mixed (watercolours or oil pastels+ colour pencils + fade-proof ink)

I maintain a balance between commission work and non-commission art projects that helps me in prioritising other areas in daily life.

At times, there are challenges or road blocks, popularly known as artist block or creativity block that I experience on regular basis and to overcome this, I adhere to the following :

• Just pause for a day or two.
• Change the subject or work on two subjects at the same time, which creates that feeling of a challenge.
• I intentionally stop watching videos on Instagram and YouTube. The reason being that every artist is different and I don’t strive to be perfect. Now one thing is that those tutorials on YouTube are extremely encouraging but I don’t want them to take a toll on me.
• Adding a new music playlist (this works a lot in my case).

My tips for those artists who are like me :

1. Stop the comparison. It’s your style and be proud about it.
2. Love what you draw and paint.
3. Give yourself time.
4. Keep experimenting with various styles till you arrive at a conclusion.
5. Minimise the use of photo filters.
6. You are the best critique for your art.
7. Create an equilibrium between art and social media. Don’t run behind ‘Likes’. Focus on what you like!

Keep painting & stay motivated :)