Comments on: 7 Steps to Finding Your Style

By: Marcia Baldwin

Marcia Baldwin — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:08:43 +0000

EXCELLENT ARTICLE Painting every day is the key. Love to Paint, it is the window to my heart. Marcia

By: Susie Monday

Susie Monday — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:37:43 +0000

I missed this post over the holidays and it speaks right to what I am interested in as a teacher and as a (soon-to-be) coach. I know that there are what I call “hard-wired” perceptual and procedural strong suits that we humans arrive with — I think that one’s style starts with these perceptual distinctions — do you walk into a room and notice the color, the quality of light, or is it the energetic movement of the people within it? One potent clue to finding one’s style is to revisit your childhood preferences. Another is to take a measured and intense immersion into materials that have sensory and sensual deep appeal.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:52:50 +0000

When students of mine in my painting classes want to find thier ’style’ I impress upon them the need to open thier minds, to get into the act of painting and not worry about the outcome. If you stay in the moment the outcome will take care of itself. To show no fear and just dive in. Then, when all is done, look at the work, look at many works at the same time, look for those things that happened in the painting(s) that you ‘think’ are happy accidents but are really subconcious actions, those actions are your ’style.’ Having said that, some times excepting one’s style can be as hard as finding it. You are who you are, you paint as you paint (not talking here about level of ability) so continue to work, to be open, to enjoying the act and let the style come, be excepting and if there is something about your style that really bothers you, work with it, make it better but do not abandon it. That ’something’ you don’t like now may be what makes your painting stand out among all the others.

By: Ellene Breedlove Davis

Ellene Breedlove Davis — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:14:26 +0000

Finding time for the studio is one of the most difficult parts of painting. Thank you, Alyson for helping me stay on track! When I haven’t had time to paint, or wonder of wonders, there has been too much time in the studio, I take a break and read inspirational books such as “Awaken the Giant Within”, by Anthony Robbins, or The Sound of Paper, Starting From Scratch” by Julia Cameron or I may choose another artist’s book, for example “Dramatic Light” by Patrick Howe, if I’m having a problem getting the light just right in a painting. Just a few moments of inspiration seems to get my artistic thoughts back in order. Sometimes at shows, I see my paintings together and I think, “you know, I do have a style that is my own”.

By: Olivera

Olivera — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:22:15 +0000

Art Style is within ourselves. No one can make it up. You can try but, eventually, your nature signature will arrise on your work. The only way to find your true signature is to work. After learning process about techniques, variety of themes and motifs every artist should figure out what is a true art for them; one should ask oneself and oneself alone – What is a good painting for me? When I finish my work I let it rest for a while, so that I can’t see it, in order to make a distance. After a few days, I give it a brief look – if it is good, it gets a signature – if it isn’t, the work continues. When you finish few pieces, put them together on a wall (you don’t have to hang them) and let them speak for you of your STYLE.

By: Terri West

Terri West — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:48:33 +0000

Great ADVICE!

By: Mary Richmond

Mary Richmond — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 13:08:05 +0000

It is hard to balance our work with our marketing needs sometimes. I have a shop to watch as well as a custom business and it is sometimes difficult to remember I do all this so I can paint. Jack Canfield has an exercise that is so powerful I highly recommend it–ask people around you a simple question–”How do I limit myself?” Then listen carefully, write down the answers and don’t try to defend yourself. I keep a little list on my drawing table where I can see it often, while I’m working, while I’m taking a phone call, etc. It has helped me immensely. No one told me anything I didn’t know but seeing it written down so simply has helped me recognize the limiting stuff right away. It has helped me focus in on my work and has improved not only my business but the quality of my work. I think with all the artist statements, all the marketing efforts, all the going to galleries and figuring out where our work belongs we sometimes forget we do the art because we have to, we want to…it is us and we are it. Do the work, the rest will follow….(to paraphrase the great “Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow”) Mary Richmond

By: john t unger

john t unger — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 06:41:27 +0000

I find that working in many different styles and many different mediums *is* actually a good way to find a personal style. It seems counterintuitive, but there are a few reasons that it works well for me: 1. Techniques and ideas that you learn in one style or medium will apply to others… The things that work most broadly for you are the things that come most naturally from within. 2. The more you know about what is available to you in terms of materials and technique, the more you will discover the ones that best express your vision. 3. When you work in a wide variety of styles or mediums, at first the work may not appear very cohesive. But as you develop a personal style, you’ll be able to see where you consistently show strengths. In a way, it’s easier to see what you should focus on because it will be the one or two things that are most common in otherwise disparate work.

By: Suzette Fram

Suzette Fram — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:46:35 +0000

Developing our own style is indeed a difficult thing and can take a long time to achieve. A couple of years back, I had been taking a lot of workshops and I started to feel totally confused. There were so many things that I liked and so many techniques that I wanted to try, I didn’t know which way to turn. I decided to stop taking workshops completely for a while and to just work and do my own thing, until I could FIND my own thing. I think I am slowly getting there. I’ve had a few occasions when people have told me they ‘recognized’ my work immediately when they saw it. That’s a good thing.

By: Betty Newman

Betty Newman — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:21:41 +0000

Two of the best books I’ve read on this are: First, “Art & Fear” by David Bayles and Ted Orland. One quote from the book is: “Artists don’t get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of NOT working.” A second book is:”If You Want to Write” by Brenda Ueland. Although the book is “topically” about writing, I’ve found that any “discipline” requires discipline… The subtitle for the book is “A Book about Art, Independence, and Spirit.” When I seem to be getting bogged down in “everyone else’s life and work but my own”, I often go back to these two books. Betty Newman