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| Spring Thunder by Mark Haworth, 2008, oil, 24 x 36. |
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Sometimes it is difficult to put aside real-world stresses and tasks when it comes time to pursue our art. To-do lists, family matters, and social obligations crowd in, making it almost impossible to concentrate. One of the ways I clear my head is to really sink into my subject matter, spending time on close studies in which detail is key. Even if I don’t exactingly recreate everything that I see in front of me, I still tend to focus really hard, and that helps quiet all the clamoring in my head.
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Mary Ann Scott's painting of the
rice fields of northern Italy. |
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Such concentration and close attention to detail can lead to the kind of connection artists need to make their work come alive. Artist
Mark Haworth describes the seasons’ changes over the Texas landscape—which inspired his painting
Spring Thunder—in such a way that his close awareness of the place is apparent. “In the springtime here in the Texas Hill Country we get magnificent wildflowers—called bluebonnets—that cover the countryside and, from a distance, look like a blanket of blue,” Haworth says. “The sight of these flowers is always the first sure sign of spring, an indication that the thunderstorms earlier in the season washed away the winter grays into life-filled color. In this painting, I captured the first of the bluebonnets’ arrival using a more intense palette than I usually do, in an effort to convey the sense of growth and renewal inherent in spring.”
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Tropea Onions
by Mary Ann Scott. |
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Botanical artist Mary Ann Scott’s paintings are also an exercise in detail, from views of flower-filled hills of Italian mountainsides to a bushel of Tropea onions whose skins are beautifully rendered in tones of amber, rose, and warm brown. Scott paints her subjects, such as the waxy leaves of a magnolia tree or the dimpled skin of a quince, “for their own sake,” a freeing way to pursue one’s art. Her work is featured in
Botanical Sketchbook, available now to Artist Daily readers, and proves how the most humble vegetable or the most inspiring vista comes alive easily when artists gives themselves permission to notice the details and give the subject matter the attention it is due.
P.S. How do you make time for your art? Comment below and let us know your tips and strategies!