Get Past the Block

Blind Artist Vision: blog by Stella De Genova

The weight of the world and trying to stay aware of everything going on around us; caring for everyone I love and also caring about all of the people I don’t have the ability to care for; facing the reality of aging and trying to hang onto the energy of youth – physically and mentally.  What to do?  I’m exhausted!

And right around the corner, the looming holidays and all that goes with them.  Is it any wonder I’m feeling blocked artistically?  Just like any other artist, I’ve gone through this a hundred times.  I feel like I’ll never do a good painting again and I’ve run out of ideas.  I do know it will pass and I just have to give myself a little personal time, which is not always easy to find.

I did just finish my fall pastel painting session, which was enjoyable, as always.  One new exercise we tried was to pick a reference and do a mini painting in 4 different color palettes.  Since I love my southwestern mountains and had fresh memories from our summer trip to New Mexico, I chose a mountain scene from Abiquiu.  Once we completed that, we chose which image we liked best and then worked on a larger painting.  I combined 2 of my small paintings, one that started with a darker underpainting along with another that had pinks and browns in it.

My larger, final painting layered many colors but I tried to keep in mind where I started.  This was also a challenge because I have tried to capture the mountains and tumbleweed many times and I think I’m finally getting a better  understanding of what to do.  Although I am pretty happy with the result, I never feel that any painting can capture the vastness of the view of this beautiful landscape.

The last painting of the session was also fun to do.  We were asked to find an animal in a landscape and a family member had just shared photos from a trip to South Dakota.  They caught a photo of a bear right across the river from where they stood.  I had to try it  This painting is mostly in cool colors with some pinks and yellows for pop.

There was a period in my life when I was raising my family and I might complete 1 or 2 drawings a year.  Even with all of the obligations and distractions in life now, I usually can get 4 to 6 good paintings done a year so, as always, at the end of the day, I realize that I have much to be grateful for, and that includes my art world and my personal life.  Maybe I’ll even get inspired to finish something else before the holidays are upon us.

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