THREE WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE IN QUARANTINE | ART + DESIGN

So it's been almost six months of quarantine here in the US, and it does not seem like it's letting up anytime soon. While I'm at home doing my law school work online now, I try to take breaks to make art or learn new skills. Although I miss going outside for creative adventures (what I would give to be museum hopping in New York City right now...), there are some ways we can bring those adventures home to us! The greatest skill one can have right now is the ability to adapt. Now is a great time to think of odds ways to get resourceful! 👽 Here are three ways you can stay creative during quarantine:

1. Sign up for online art classes. This is one of my favorite ways to stay creative! Even if I'm not completing the art project immediately, just watching some of my favorite artists work through their creative process makes me happy! There are so many online learning sites available right now that offer art courses at reasonable prices, from Skillshare and Patreon, to my personal favorites Gumroad and Domestika. I'm currently enjoying this one HERE by James Gurney on Gumroad, and this one HERE by Alex Hillkurtz on Domesticka. For additional gouache and watercolor, I'm also following Justin Donaldson art on Gumroad HERE. Heather Ihn Martin, one of my favorite gouache painters also shares her art tutorials on Gumroad HERE and live painting on her Instagram HERE. 

2. Buy some new art supplies to refresh your creative juices. Okay, so this one might be a little more expensive! Especially if you are like me and love to buy high quality art supplies. For a long time I thought I was too much of a beginner to buy nice supplies. But sometimes when you are in a rut, the best way to refresh your creative juices is to try a different medium. Try going from pencil to watercolor. Or going from collage to oil paint. I even bought a box of Crayons recently! The point is don't be afraid to switch mediums!

3. Start your morning by writing or drawing in a journal. A practice I've been doing literally for years. This is long time practice of Julia Cameron in The Artists Way book, which she calls morning pages. Clearing out your mind in the morning can really help with your creativity, especially if you write by hand. I really like the rhythm of putting pen to paper, especially if I've had a hard week. When in doubt, write it out!

What are you doing this quarantine to stay creative?

Follow on Instagram for more updates! @lizzvisions

NOVEMBER RECAP: EXPERIMENTS WITH GOUACHE | ART + DESIGN

I had a pretty good time experimenting with new materials last month! 

1. I bought my first high quality paper watercolor block. I tested out the new Canson L'Aquarelle Heritage Watercolor Paper and found it to be great quality! It takes multiple layers of watercolor and gouache well and feels almost like cloth!

2. I made a new color chart by mixing my watercolor paints with white gouache to see the opaque versions of the colors. I tried to mix them 50/50 as accurately as possible and the colors came out rich and smooth.

3. I also purchased some new watercolor paints from Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton to try to fill up my new clear Transom 24-well watercolor palette that I also purchased a few weeks ago. Colors: Cerulean Blue (WS), Sap Green (DS), Undersea Green (DS), Yellow Ochre (DS), Carbazole Violet (DS) and Payne's Grey (WS).

4. I painted two small gouache still life studies from an online demo I found on Youtube to try and get more practice with gouache. Took me a couple of weeks (!) but I finished recently with a real sense of accomplishment. I still have so much more to learn but it's great to finish a piece and realize 'hey, it's not that bad'... :]

Be sure to follow along on my Instagram @lizzvisions ! 

Have you experimented with any new art materials recently? 

MY INKTOBER EXPERIENCE | ART + DESIGN

          

WHAT I LIKED 😊
- Buying new art supplies.
- The support I got from the art community on my Instagram.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE 🙁
- I didn't really like what I was producing. My drawings felt forced. Nothing felt right and it felt like I was pulling teeth. After four days I didn't even want to use ink anymore.
- The pressure (self inflicted) to stick to ink all of October. (The one sketch I did enjoy doing this month was actually done in watercolor.

CONCLUSION 📝
- I felt like I was being really hard on myself. Inktober made me realize I feel a bit "artist block" so I started reading a book I liked from years ago called 'The Artists Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity" to see if I could get past it. I'm still reading it right now and I'm really enjoying it.
- I might try again next year but if I do it next year I might tone it down and do one ink drawing a week instead of one everyday.

Did you do Inktober? How was your experience?