50 fun, simple, creative and interesting art ideas.

As a modern and abstract artist I love and enjoy a challenge especially when painting... But like all artist ( I'm certain) I find that the greatest single challenge is the blank canvas... it literally terrifies me, it is almost paralyzing.  I Set out with all the enthusiasm and energy necessary but as my brush rises to the canvas the fear grows, seizing me, tying me up in knots, my hand shake as a cold sweat brakes out....

Its madness, all the preliminary studies, research and sketches seam to mean nothing. All I can hear is the little voice inside my head screaming at me... What if its the wrong colour? what if you put it in the wrong place? what if you mess it up? what if you are wrong? what if you are right? Its Total madness. Total agony.

I read books on developing a positive mental attitude and dealing with fear and doubts to no avail... I know that there is no such thing as the wrong colour or wrong place, I even understand that there is "No right or wrong,  just dose it work!" and work is what it is all about.! any good artwork or painting that I or any one can produce is about energy. Raw energy that the artist binds within their work. The energy that is bound in every brushstroke, that literally leaps off the canvas and make a painting vibrate with a life all its own.

Fear like all deep human emotions creates energy and vibrancy without it paintings can feel flat and lifeless and no amount of artistic skill or talent can conceal or hide this missing inner energy that all exciting paintings need.  I for one keep this painting to keep me focused... (No matter what I personally feel about this piece) it still posses an inner energy that I constantly seek to capture and reproduce in all my work and paintings.

However if we consider that fear like all emotions add emotional content, and is a vital part in any modern or abstract paintings, despite any understanding we as individuals might have of our deep emotional stance, we, as artist must to some extent live with and encourage extremes of emotion if we are to paint worthwhile artwork that touches the human psychology that all of us have been conditioned with through out our lives.

Finding solutions that work
Faced with this paradox I found myself struggling both to balance the need for fear and to overcome its personal effects.  The solution is essentially simple  "take action" "Just do it" the more you face a fear the more that fear diminishes and recedes, this I can vouch for... as once I have made that first mark all my fear vanishes leaving me buzzing with excitement. The fact is that most fears are not real they are just phantoms that are easily banished.

The more that I have considered this the more I have come to realise that it is not the painting that is holding me back or even the feelings, but rather the value that I as an individual artist I have for the modern and abstract art that I lovingly paint and devote myself too as a slave. I simply value my art to high and as a consequence I'm frightened that I will "cock it up" and make a mess of it.

Art Is Fun ! especially modern or abstract art, even the making of art should be fun and it seams that I have forgotten this…. The solution to this is to get back to basics and start to have some serious fun with what I do and paint. Seams simple don’t it, but How. I sat down and started to write, throwing ideas about and seeing what happened then it hit me.

Make a list of 50 fun and interesting art ideas. Keep it simple, make it fun and don’t take it to serious. By using different media and techniques that are outside the box, radical and even unorthodox, I can play with Ideas, colours, shapes and concepts in a fun and novel way. I know that most of pictures and images produced will probably just get thrown away but that’s OK. I will have fun and explore art as it should be and when I’m ready I will be able to just paint.

The list itself started with a stream of creative ideas, but by the time I got to 42 things started to get a bit more challenging. I have covered all sorts of mediums from pastels to inks, water colour to acrylic, photo and film mixed-media and found objects, even. Dare I say it “Installations”. I have had so much fun with the list alone that I’m buzzing with excitement and energy and cant wait to get started….

I have been making art or modeling in one form or another for all of my life however it struck me that to simply dismiss the product of this project would be remiss of me... Lets be honest the success and failures of any artwork are of value not just to me but to any that have an interest in art and painting. What I should do is make a record of this body of work recording the Good, Bad and dam right Ugly, how it was made, the media used and what was learnt or gained in the making of it...

Now all I have to do is decide how best to do this ? Do I put the work on this Blog ? Create a new Blog dedicated to to this ongoing art project ? or something else ? what to do ? If you my readers have a suggestion I would welcome your input immensely.

Art is a universal world wide language

I believe that Art is a universal world wide language.. I is not that pictures speak a thousand words its just that we understand the words spoken. last night while drifting around on the web I came across a shot video file for CHANGE an artist action group in Montréal called the ATSA that help the underprivileged there.

As an individual I am not a big supporter of charities although I do make regular payment to CARE International and I do buy poppies in November, in fact when ever I see the stand I empty my pockets of all the change I have (sadly my pocket are not deep) however I was so struck by the video I left a comment and decided to have a closer look at the ATSA and there CHANGE initiative.


I have to say I am impresed and have included links so you can get involved or just have a look as I have done ether way the world is a better place if art can and is used to help and not just as a soap box for radicals..

change website
ATSA website
CARE International 

Discovering myself again

Its been some time since I had the chance to write anything for this blog which I have found very difficult from a personal point of view. It forced me to review a number of aspects of my day to day life and all the feelings that are associated with that. The simple fact is that I injured my eye and also had to weather the recent financial storm that threatened to overwhelm me.

The injury to my left eye has left a permanent scar on my retainer along with a 2mm cataract which has affected my depth perception and light tolerance making it hard for me to focus for prolonged periods resulting in a deep sense of frustration and self doubts that I have struggled with.

As an artist I fully except that financial security will always be a challenge however I found that the recent extreme financial climate forced me to go out and find a job just to keep the wolves (banks) form the door for a short while but even part time employment drained me of enthusiasm and inner energy that any creative activity and self motivation demands.

As I became accustomed to the fuzzy and blur of my eyesight and have driven the monsters from my door I was approached by a friend seeking to exploit my skill and knowledge of internet and design to create and develop a website for their new business venture. She was putting together a cleaning business and after showing me the numbers and business plan I quickly got involved in this enterprise as the marketing Director.

The resulting web-site www.dkm-cleaning.co.uk has for me proved an enormous success in creativity, design and confidence offering as it does the chance for its clients to improve the quality of life and huge time saving benefits that such a simple act of cleaning someone's home really has to offer. I personally am delighted to say that even with my limited knowledge of the internet I have managed to create a web-site that is ranked on Google and achieves good placement (page 4) on Google and (page 1) on Yahoo which is already winning customers for this growing domestic cleaning company.

Now I feel that all my trials and tribulations in creating a unique artist website to promote my work, paintings and artistic beliefs is an accomplishment that I can truly be proud of as a creative process in its own right.