Category Creativity Inspiration

Pantone Announces Color of the YearEvery year Pantone tells the world what color to bet on … and the world definitely takes heed. As we step up to a stark white canvas of a new year, painterly speaking, best be ready to dip your brush into the deep, dark and oh-so-lovely depths of high-octane purple.

Defining Your Artistic ProcessIt’s always inspiring to hear artists describe their process in their own words. Steve Henderson is an artist many of us at Network have admired for his uplifting paintings, business acumen and artistic generosity.Below is a conversation we had a while back that I wanted to share so his words of wisdom can inspire you anew like they did me.

Artists, It’s Cold Outside!For some of us plein air artists, winter weather is just a bit too unpredictable and chilly to spend much time painting outdoors. With that being said, you also don’t want to go for several months without making art.This is the time of the year when outdoor artists can look for art-making activities to do indoors to keep their plein air painting skills hot while the weather outside is cold.

Ceramics Studio Tour 101Are you eager to stroll down a different artistic avenue? Want to explore a new medium that is incredibly tactile? Why not try your hand(s) at the ceramics wheel?Dating back as far as 24,000 BC, the art of ceramics has a long and winding history. But the way in which we build our clay pieces has evolved over the centuries, with modern tools helping shape our finished products.

Studio Must-HavesGetting organized doesn’t mean that you have to rid your studio of everything impractical. As minimalism guru Marie Kondo, author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, explains: “Discarding is not the point; what matters is keeping those things that bring you joy.”The following are studio staples in the eyes of several artists.

Merging design and art together, artist Molly Hatch creates one-of-a-kind ceramic art. Her whimsical work is contemporary, but also historical.Hatch’s ceramic art is inspiring, leaving us hungry for more. (Yes, that’s a food pun. Deal.) So Artists Magazine sat down with the artist to learn more about how she brilliantly merges fine art with fine dining.

Bust Through Artist BlockWe’ve covered it numerous times: artist block. Art prompts, exercises, warm-ups and icebreakers — whatever it may be — can help you get into the creative mindset to start your next art project.Other times, all it might take to break jumpstart your process is playing a cognitive game — or as I like to call them, “brain boosters,” such as a word search, crossword puzzle or even a quick game of Tetris.

Dishing Up Pie PaintingsMarch 14 is internationally celebrated as Pi Day because the date, 3.14, coincides with the mathematical constant and Greek letter π. But the more mouthwatering riff on today’s festivities is the celebration of Pie Day.If math and food can come together, why not add art to the mix, too?

Take a Bite Out of These 9 Creative ProjectsFood: No matter how we spend our days and nights, we always come back to food. We daydream about it, respond to the scent of it, plan our schedules around it, socialize with it and, naturally, eat it.What better creative stimulus could there be — especially to celebrate the upcoming National Day of Unplugging — than something so elemental to life and happiness?

We’ve all faced the creative block at one point or another. It can be a challenge to push yourself and try new things. In Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson, you can learn tons of great strategies and exercises for creative thinking.The 10th-anniversary edition of the book is packed with 192 pages of content.

Spring into Springtime ArtAlmost any artist will tell you that there’s a certain appeal to working outdoors that can’t be found anywhere else. With spring in full swing, many of us will leave our studios for our porches, backyards and beyond and spring into springtime art, such as landscapesTo celebrate the season and all the seasonal landscape art being made, here are 10 ways you can make the most of your next outdoor painting session.

Ever heard of rock painting? In a blast from the past, this fun and easy art phenomenon from the 90s is making a comeback across the country. It also has a new identity tied to Random Acts of Kindness Day, which is celebrated on February 17 and getting bigger and more popular every year.In celebration and support of the “Kindness Rocks” movement, discover how it got started and how to participate, enjoy the latest in rock painting, and get ideas for even more non-rock random acts of kindness to ring in the day.

Music Time! Name the Tune That Puts You in the Creative MoodOne of the questions I love to ask artists is what type of music puts them in the creative mood, or if they have a particular song that is their art anthem. From there the conversation usually diverts to talking about audiobooks, podcasts, music genres to listen to in the studio (or not), and all things sound.

What Artwork Makes a Lasting Impression on You?American art critic and historian Donald Kuspit delves into one particular body of work from photographer Lynn Stern that has left a lasting impression on him and the many whys behind the connection.Beauty and ImportRelentlessly focusing on the skull, as an abstract thing in itself as well as a memento mori, Lynn Stern’s impressive photographs of skulls remind us of its absurd beauty and ominous import.

An Invisible Framework to Guide YouStorytelling often comes naturally to artists. Sometimes the story starts on a single canvas or sheet of paper and doesn’t end until there is a gallery full of paintings, a suite of drawings, a set of illustrations, a series of comic strips or an entire graphic novel.

Invent, Sketch and Page Turn Your Way to InspirationHow inventive can you be? The following art projects highlight inventive solutions developed or adopted by artists throughout the ages. They’ll test your ingenuity and may involve a little research — but don’t let that stop a creative problem-solver like you.

Neon art puts the power to bend light into an artist’s hand. Discover an artist on the cusp of breakthroughs in neon and how the phenomenon began. Enjoy!Neon Art: Bending Light to DesignNoticing light at play on an object is an early challenge many artists encounter. Their first furtive trees float in space until shadow grounds them and sunlight offers dimension.

Worldwide Loveliness That Reminds Us to Get Out There and Art It UpI think we all get a bit of seasonal wanderlust when May, June and July roll around. It also means taking in inspiration for summer art.That’s why I’ve collected a set of inspirational landscapes to provoke the same reaction for you — allowing you to “breathe deep” and open up to what your summer art-making wants to encompass.

See Places Creatively and Put Images to the Landscapes of Your MindAre you “ well-grounded”? Do you “know your turf ”? What does it mean to “feel at home”? All these phrases stress the desire to know where one is in the universe — physically, spiritually and creatively. Without a doubt, a sense of place goes way beyond what GPS can provide.

A Season of Summer Art Starts with Beaches, Picnics and Plein AirIt only comes around once a year so you’ve got to get your creativity’s worth of summer while you can. Here are five summer art favorites to inspire painters to explore and create starting with…heading to the beach.It’s Beach Time!Artists deserve a bit of time in the sun (SPF applied first though).