A day ago I was sitting on my front porch, listening to the rain (because if you should know anything about me, you should know I love the rain). While I was sitting there, a thought Occurred to me: what if i painted this?
Now, I will assure you, the scene itself was nothing special.
You could barely see 5 feet in front of you, the rain was making the front yard look extra mushy and the view was nothing fancy.
However, it wasn’t the scene I wanted to capture but the feeling, the thought, the idea of the moment. I wanted to capture the aesthetic of a rainy night on your front porch – what it would feel like to be there if you too were with me, sitting on the front porch.
Something I’ve been experimenting with painting recently is capturing odd angles of everyday things.
For example, my most recent painting is of Waffle House at Night. The particular angle I decided to capture is odd but interesting.
Because of the sharp angle, it gives the viewer a certain feeling, a certain thought.
It is this exact effect that I want to have on my viewers.
I want them to feel something.
Anyone can look at waffle house, but who is gonna lay on their back outside the door and see it from that angle? No one.
This is why painting is so special. You can convey so much through the manor/style you use, the subject you paint and the angle with which you capture something.
Now, You may not feel like you can paint very good right now (you may even feel like you can’t paint at all right now). But that’s okay, it will take gradual, patient steps to get to where you want to be.
My encouragement for you is to find those small things around you – to notice those small things around you – that you may feel inspired to paint. Your goal is to simply find something (a moment, a scene, an idea) that inspires you. Then you can work on finding a way to capture that idea/scene that helps the viewer see it that way too.
Painting is about you and your message, not about what other people may think about it. A lot of the paintings I paint are just for me – because they mean something to me.
Start there, and maybe you’ll find your style; maybe you’ll find your passion; maybe you’ll find what makes you love life.
