Reinventing the Wheel

I've probably mentioned before that I am wary of having too much knowledge about art. Rules can stifle creativity (in my opinion only, I add).

So, in keeping with this idea, I am working of my own technique and trying to be true to my very own vision.

One of the difficulties of being prolific as an artist is that it gets hard to come up with new scenes to paint that have not already been done to death - by me no less!

So. Here's the problem:

How to paint every day (as I do) and produce fresh paintings that meet my own exacting standards of quality, without having to find new and exciting scenes daily or weekly that will inspire me to this level of creativity?

Now, one of the curious things I have noticed is that many of the photos I take and download every day turn out to have little if anything to recommend them to me once I see them on the screen. So why did I bother taking that shot? Something there interested me - something caught my attention.

So this observation leads to my newest pursuit.

I am going to try painting the most ordinary of scenes - such as my backyard or the walk to the park, or the drive to the studio - in interesting ways and colors. I will try to use the years in which I have been learning technique to communicate the beauty and interest in the most everyday landscapes.

All right. And we're off...