WHAT TO PAINT?
We know that the Creative Act is something elusive and every time we are about to finish a work and begin a new one, the question comes to us… The doubt shocks us in front of the white support and it worries us the fact of not having a clear idea, a certain answer to what to paint?
It is for the artist an almost existential question because in a work we put up to the very last of ourselves and this process repeats every time that we finish and begin a new composition, a new artwork, a new project, a new work.
The fact is that in it we leave our feelings, our thoughts, our ideal of beauty, our focus of life, of reality. Also the deep longing, or perhaps call it utopia, for the next work to be the happiest of all, the best achieved, the masterpiece…
Trigger questions
I have been able to relieve a little that moment of intellectual, creative and reflective anxiety in some key questions.
The first one and the fundamental one for an artist is: -what do I want to say, express with my work? - what kind of image I´m going to use for that purpose? - what pictorial resources will allow me to express it better? (materials, format, size).
When I talk about what kind of image it can be reduced to two main groups: Figurative-Abstract. Which will trigger to new “questions”.
Figurative Work
If it is Figurative, I will ask:
- Landscape? Urban? Rutl, Marine, Mountain, etc.
- Human figure? Animal? Simple composition or with several figures?
- Still life? With which elements should I compose it? Indoor?
- What color palette should I use? (warm-cold-broken) (Color harmony or complementary?)
Abstract Work
If it is Abstract, I will ask:
- Partial or total abstraction from the figurative?
- Geometric abstraction?
- Spot?
- Color palette?
All these questions will make this decision easier and will allow me to have a better idea of what I pretend
The rest will only be sketch, confirm or discard, ideas, images, and get ready to concrete with the best skills available that the choice was the right one