The year started quietly for me, like the morning after a good snowfall. Muffled. Dormant. I was a hibernating bear.
Needless to say it took a few days to get back into the groove of creating. My goal was simple for the month: form a gouache habit so that I could start—and successfully complete—a 100 days project.
That project starts January 30th.
But the new year, as I’ve said before, isn’t a cure-all. Looking behind me, beyond that dividing line between 2022 and 2023, my art had been lacking in something, and still was. I felt free in scribbling, as usual, but there was just something…hollow about it all. Maybe I’d just fallen into a routine of “sameness” and my work had become less about expression and more about muscle memory.
However, after the process of forming this daily gouache habit began, I came to my first conclusion: my world didn’t have enough color.
In the past I’ve always kept my tones a bit desaturated so that they would appear more natural, organic, and sophisticated. Which is interesting to me because if I were to describe my personality it would be the exact opposite. Loud, vibrant, and playful. A bit much at times.
But just working with vibrant colors wasn’t enough. While my studies gave me a buzzy feeling, my larger works were still lacking in something, despite their newfound vibrancy. After a week or so of discovering new artists, creating vision boards, and self-exploration I came to my second conclusion: the loud colors were coming across, but the playful aspect was not.
So I turned a geometrical “almost perfect” painting into a wild scribble of personal reflection, inspire by the feeling I’d gotten after seeing the crescent moon at the blue hour of a recent morning. I called the initial, geometrical version “dishonest” on Twitter, and when asked why I thought it was dishonest, I responded:
…art is play, scribbly, and a dance. I shouldn’t edit over the dance.
In other words, painting the scribble and transforming it into this geometrical, neat and orderly piece was like telling a great lie. And not only was I lying to my audience, but I was lying to myself.
BeforeAfter
I am not clean, orderly, or neat. I am a big scribbly mess of energy and I tend to run eople away before I can make friends with them because I’m just a bit….much. When my art is also a bit…much…my covering it up is almost like trying to hide my identity.
Intuitive art is not about hiding your identity.
Art, in general, is not about hiding your identity.
So I went back to the very root of why I create art in the first place: it’s fun. I like smearing paint on a canvas while dancing to Aurora and Harry Styles, so that was a good start. Art went back to being more about the process and less about the final result.
But it’s not always rainbows and butterflies and play. While January has apparently been a good month so far, by the looks of my scribbles, my work is not always fueled by joy and playfulness. Sometimes I’m in a shit mood and can only think about mass shootings and the dying planet. In the past I’ve often kept those negatively-fueled pieces to myself. But that, again, is another lie. Life is up and down and turned around and upside down and nonsense. So keep an eye out for the grumpy art too.
Processed with VSCO with presetProcessed with VSCO with preset
My newest scribbles are making their way onto my shop as they’re finished. Click here if you’d like to take a look. If you have any questions you can email me lina@linaforrester.com
Until next time, may your scribbles be scribbly and your identity be un-masked.
If you’re like me, or literally anyone else on the planet, you’ve probably made a New Year’s Resolution at some point in your life. But I’m here to tell you that the generic “I’m gonna lose some weight” resolution is no more than a recipe for a binge-eating cake session in less than a week.
Thing is, the person you were on December 31st is the exact same person who wakes up in your bed on January 1st. We have to stop kidding ourselves into believing that we are brand-new (insert your pronouns here). Because we aren’t. The diet may have started, but the person you are still loves cake, and you’ve already been invited to two birthday parties in January.
So what are you to do? Just give up and eat the cake?
I mean, if it were me, I’d eat the cake.
But if losing weight were a really important goal for me, for health reasons and for the sheer fact that I no longer have any pants that fit me, I would focus less on the generic “lose weight, diet, exercise” mentality and focus more on forming a habit that will lead up to my goal. Like, maybe I could form a habit of doing 20 minutes of yoga each morning, or maybe I could form a habit of logging into my fitness pal every day after lunch. The goal then becomes less about losing weight, and more about establishing the routine that will eventually lead up to the weight loss.
Forming habits is not easy, and you’re going to have a few days in January where you either forget or say “today’s not the day” but once that habit is established you won’t be able to do anything else at 10am besides roll out the yoga mat. In fact, your day will be weird without that action, and you might even find yourself doing it later in the day so you can achieve some normalcy.
So, stop giving yourself these generic New Year’s Resolutions. Instead decide what it is you are trying to improve upon, and then think of the habits you can form in order to achieve this goal.
But Lina, you say, isn’t deciding to form a habit kind of like a resolution? Sort of! But it’s less “I will” or “I will not” and more “these are the habits I’d like to establish in the coming months.”
Instead of “I will do better in school,” form a habit of studying for an hour each day at 5pm.
Instead of “I will be more optimistic,” create a habit of writing in a gratitude journal every night before bed.”
Instead of “I will stop smoking,” form a habit of repeating a mantra each time the craving kicks in, or form a habit of going to a therapist each week to learn some great methods to fight the urge.
Having some trouble forming that habit? Try a habit tracker. You can find them in planners, journals, and there are dozens of phone apps with habit trackers as well. Make it fun. Treat yourself when you get to 10 days, 50 days, 100 days, etc.
One final bit of advice…avoid trying to change something that relies on external forces. For instance, “getting more followers” or “making more sales.” Goals like these are a slippery slope that will most likely leave you feeling resentful. You can definitely form few habits that may lead to more followers/sales/etc., but these habits are not a sure thing and on the off chance that you just so happen to make these goals at the beginning of a year like 2020, well that just uproots the whole plan.
Your goals should be something that you yourself can change, without relying on outside sources or the public or your audience. Goals like these, achieved by establishing a daily habit, are going to be the most successful, and leaving you feeling the most fulfilled.
Until next time, may your New Year be exciting and full of endless possibilities.
I’ve asked my Twitter followers this a few times, and I’ve asked myself this dozens of times. Because photography does and will always be etched into my soul. For a time it was all I did. Painting was just a hobby that came and went, but photography, for me, was forever.
That is, until a serious case of burnout forced me to put my cameras away for an entire year. I’ve since pulled them out here and there, but they haven’t become a third limb since. Which is why I always like to stress to those who are nearing burnout to take that break. Otherwise you might find your passion all dried up and the very sight of what used to bring you joy, brings you nothing at all.
It’s been several years since burnout nearly ruined my photography passion forever, and I have found a new love of the craft in teaching my daughter and running the free kids’ photography club in my community. We meet up once every two weeks at a specific location, usually outdoors and nature-y. I guide them gently throughout our walk, but I mostly just let them take the photos they feel is most important to them. And, just like with art, when kids are taking photos, they aren’t thinking about that “perfect shot.” They are just enjoying the process.
And seeing the work these kiddos create with their camera phones has been nothing short of incredible. Their work is raw, un-tainted by what “makes a good photograph.” They capture the world as they see it, often forgetting that pesky rule of thirds, and yet they are often amazed by their own work. As am I.
I’ve wanted to accept the idea of intuitive photography for so long because I really want my brain to be able to see the logic in allowing myself to use photography in my career. The whole point of intuitive art is to not limit oneself, to simply enjoy the process, and to trust it. It’s also a lot less planning and a lot more “go with the flow.” Should that not mean that grabbing a camera when the feeling presents itself is part of that process?
But see we adults have been conditioned to see the world a certain way. A lot of us artists/photographers know what makes a good photograph. We have rules in our brains about framing and the golden ratio and aperture and shutter speed.
We also have this problem with muddying up our Instagram grid or our portfolios. If I suddenly start adding photography to the mix, won’t it look like I’m an artist who has no idea what she wants? We’re told it’s unprofessional to have work that isn’t cohesive. The word “style” is shoved down our throats. And even those of us who believe style is a reflection of who we are, and not an aesthetic, we still fear our work doesn’t look the “same enough.”
Which is why the question often presents itself to me without an answer. Can photography truly be intuitive when the very act of it requires a bit of preparation? Much more than grabbing a brush pen or filling a cup of water?
And, not surprisingly, when I asked the #believeinfilm community on Twitter, they gave the question a resounding yes.
So, I guess that’s our answer.
It appears that Photography, like all mediums, has both an intuitive approach and a methodical approach (and probably a dozen other approaches that I haven’t even heard of yet). For instance, an artist who plans out her work beforehand, sketching several thumbnails based on a still life, following these thumbnails with color composition studies, and then painting the final image in a large format would be considered more methodical than intuitive. The same is true for a photographer who shoots weddings, who has a specific set of poses she needs to take and has to focus very critically on lighting and composition in order to please her customers.
So how would one photograph intuitively?
Well, for starters, you need to know the general logistics of photography. The whole point of intuitive art is to enjoy the process, and you can enjoy it more when you’re not worrying about whether or not your shot will be too dark or blurry or warm. Get to know your camera. What makes it work? Understand manual mode. Not only will it bring you closer to the incredible invention that is a camera, it is also a great way to learn the logistics.
Intuitive painting is often automatic, scribbly, a dance of brush strokes, speckles, and drips. It’s often abstract, with very little, if any, figurative elements (I say “often” because I have seen intuitive art that was also figurative). This might seem like the artist picked up a brush for the first time and just splashed around, but the artists who do intuitive art for a living know the logistics. They know color theory and what substrate they like best. They know that lean over fat will cause cracks, and that working on the next watercolor layer before the first has dried will cause it to bleed.
This is what I mean by logistics. Know your tool before you use it. Know what ISO is and what it should be set at before you head out on that hike. That way when you’re finally in the “field” so to speak, the technical stuff becomes second-nature. You won’t have to think about the ISO or the shutter speed or the lighting. It will either already have been programmed by you, or it’s so ingrained in you that it will be something you can change immediately to fit any unforeseen circumstances.
Say you are taking candid shots of your kiddo running down a path in the woods, like the one shown here. But your aperture is set very wide and you know that if you leave it wide a lot of the image will be out of focus, which will blur out those trees that add to the whole experience. Understanding this gives you the opportunity to work fast. To quickly switch that aperture so you can get the candid shot without much thought involved.
But Lina, you ask, what about those kids in your photography club using only camera phones? They don’t know the logistics. They just point and shoot.
My answer to that is, while they don’t know what shutter speed their phone might be using, they do know how to hold a phone, how to tilt it to make it a landscape photo instead of a portrait. They know where the camera app is, and have even added a few other camera apps, which they learned how to use so that they could “play” with the new tools while out on a walk. A few of the kiddos even have editing apps, and will take a picture with a final image in mind, that they will then quickly tweak in their editing app before our hour is over so that they can show it to the others.
Know. Your. Tool.
Can photography be intuitive, even if it isn’t abstract?
This takes me back to the last bit, when I mentioned how most intuitive paintings are abstract. Most, but not all. A figurative piece that was created intuitively will have been 50-80% intuitive, and 50-20% methodical.
Take these two paintings for instance. I simply took two tiny pieces of Khadi paper and started to paint with oils, merely enjoying the process of smearing colors onto the textured paper. When I was about 60% of the way finished, I decided they were landscapes. After that, it became more about finishing the scene, adding necessary details, giving it contrast, etc., than about working from the subconscious.
Despite putting a bit of methodical work into the last bit, I still consider these two paintings intuitive, because they started out as blobs of color, of simply enjoying the process, in trusting that it would all make sense in the end. And it did.
While shooting photographs has a different process, the idea is essentially the same. Put yourself in the position of having that freedom to shoot, and just start with enjoying the feeling of the shutter click, the sound of film winding (if you’re using film) the dappled light you found on a single leaf. Eventually you will start to feel it on an emotional level, and you will realize what you came to shoot. These shots weren’t planned, and you couldn’t have foreseen a few of these intriguing circumstances—like that deer you saw with her fawn—but now you understand why you were meant to be on this hike, what you’re learning, how you’re changing.
This is where the intuitive photos arise.
Just as with all intuitive art, do your best to stay in the present moment. Don’t start thinking about how this is going to be good stuff to add to your portfolio, or stress about whether these shots will be accepted to a stock site. The only thing that matters right now is that dappled light, that deer and her fawn. The click of the shutter. The harrum harrum of a nearby bullfrog. The singing birds. The breeze.
If your mind starts to wander, don’t scold yourself. Everyone’s mind wanders. The important part here is to notice when your mind wanders, so you can bring yourself back to the present. It’s not just like meditation. It is meditation.
Can your photography career include intuitive work?
Absolutely. I think even if you’re a photographer who works for clients such as with weddings or portraiture, you can still get intuitive. The goal here is to find the sweet spot. To quote Adriene Mishler: “find what feels good.”
For this particular shoot, I was to take candid shots of my daughter’s ballet class as they practiced. I wasn’t getting paid, was doing it for the families, which can sometimes be enough. For about ten minutes. Then you realize you’re starting to take the same shots over and over and you get bored. This is when you have to find something new, something that gives you goose bumps.
That thing for me is sunlight. I love sunlight, the way it looks on leaves, casts shadows with trees, and in this case, creates textures on the wall and on the dancers. Ermergerd I was drooling for this light y’all. And that’s when the photos became works of art.
There are certain photography careers that I personally believe are required to be intuitive, like wildlife photographers, lifestyle photographers, and even sports photographers. Their goal is to think on the fly. To the point where they can almost predict when the good shot will happen. Wildlife/Sports photographers have little time to think about whether this will be the cover shot on a magazine. They simply click click click. Lifestyle photographers thrive on candid shots, since the goal of this type of photography is unposed and raw. They have to pay special attention to the present, so that they can get that perfect shot. The funny thing is, they may not even know which shot is the perfect one until they’re back at home editing. Finding these hidden gems is just delicious. Showing them to the family is even more exciting.
And although there are some photog careers that have little room for creative freedom, such as commercial photography, that doesn’t mean these photographers can’t do intuitive art on their own time. Not only is it a calming, meditative process, but working intuitively teaches us more about ourselves and our place in the world, which, in turn, improves our creative careers.
As for me, I hope to be seeing more photography in my scribbly future.
Until next time, may your cameras be well-fed and your subject matter be unpredictable.
From handmade cards and ornaments, to framed fine art, here is a list of gifts you can buy from my Etsy shop.
Don’t forget, my Etsy sale will be running until this Thursday. Get 20% off almost everything, plus free shipping if you spend over 35$.
Handmade Cards
All of my cards are made with Khadi paper, which has a nice textured “organic” feel. Each one is painted with a unique, intuitive design, which means no two cards are alike. It’s like having a small original painting.
Just like my cards, each of these bookmarks is a tiny original painting. They were painted with high-quality watercolors on a variety of papers, from textured cotton paper to smooth hot press. All of them have also been laminated to ensure they stay safe from tea spills.
I sewed each of these books with a Khadi cover and watercolor paper for the inside. These little books are perfect for travel and hiking, and although the paper is meant for watercolor, it’s resilient enough to endure almost any medium.
Yes, they are made with real clay, the kind you have to put into a kiln. I’m fortunate that the gallery in my area has a ceramics room, which makes it a lot easier for me to make little things like these handmade ornaments. I have a variety of cameras, bunnies, and intuitive shapes to choose from.
Last but not least, I have a large selection of fine art on my Etsy shop. They are reasonably priced, and there is even a listing of ten paintings, each of them only 50$ each! All of my artwork comes with a mat (except for the 50$ an below artwork). Simply choose the frame size and I will have one professionally cut for you.
With things costing much more nowadays, supporting small businesses is even more important, and it would mean the world to me if you would take a peek at my Etsy to find some great gifts.
The Lina of the past wrote in the beginning of her 2022 Passion Planner that she wanted to “establish herself as an intuitive artist” by May. She also wrote that she wanted to finally start showing in Columbia, show in St. Louis, have a large-scale series, and to move to a new house with a studio space (with lots of natural lighting). While not all of those things happened this year, I can say, as Present Lina, that I had a pretty decent 2022.
But it wasn’t without its mishaps, trials and failures, and good old fashioned life. There was no way we could have predicted the massive inflation here in the U.S., the drunk moron who would total our second car in June, or the death of our beloved Canary, Apple. We, as a family, also caught Covid a week before our vacation, something we had tried so hard to prevent with vaccines, masks, and hand-sanitizer. Is it time to quote John Lennon here? I think it is:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
That might actually be my biggest takeaway from the year 2022, that no matter how well-planned you are, Murphy is still right around the corner, waiting to throw you a curve ball that will send you down a completely different path. 2022 added new therapists, med regimes, and a second car payment. If I could change anything, it would be only to bring Apple back, so I can hear him sing during the sunrise, and while watching musicals on TV.
I think it’s important for all of us to take a moment to reflect on this past year. What popped up that was out of your control? What did you accomplish and what did you mess up? Did you learn any important lessons? How are you different today than you were on January 1st? Doing this kind of reflection is a great way to prep you for the impending 2023.
Here’s mine:
Successes of 2022
Art in the Park: This was an event I had been getting accepted to since 2020 but due to the pandemic was unable to participate as it was canceled each year since. Except this year! I finally got to see what it was like to be a part of a huge, multiple-day art festival. Not only that, but it was a big eye-opener as to what the public is drawn to and how to give my booth a more “professional” look for next year’s event. I even gained some networking points and am now part of the 1st Fridays in Columbia.
Columbia Art League: This is one of the art galleries in Columbia, and the one I had been wanting to submit to for so long but could never work myself up to it. This year I decided that since I was going to be a part of Art in the Park, that a membership to this gallery was a must, and I have since been a part of several of their exhibitions and have even made a few sales and won an honorable mention ribbon.
The Eccentric Chai Podcast: Perhaps my biggest success of the year is my podcast, Eccentric Chai. I had been tossing around the idea of starting a podcast since 2020, but it wasn’t until this year that I finally decided to go for it, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought! Just like everything else, it’s a learn-as-you-go process. With the podcast I had to learn how to use Audacity, how to get my podcast on multiple platforms, and how to prevent myself from spending the entire week working on one episode. I have big plans for the podcast in the year 2023 and I’m excited to get started.
This painting was a fail for me, but that’s common with intuitive art.
Mishaps
I don’t want to call these “failures” because technically you never “fail” at something unless you give up entirely. These things are more mishaps, and so that’s what I’m calling them.
Doubting Myself and My Art: This isn’t necessarily a preventable mishap, as this is practically in the job description of an artist. At some point we will doubt ourselves, our art, our “brand”, our “style”, and everything in between. We will worry that we aren’t contributing enough to our family when we don’t sell enough. We will worry that we are spending too many events “working” and not enough events just spending time with our families. We will get overwhelmed with FOMO and Impostor Syndrome and existential crises and all those other fun issues we deal with as creatives. But it’s important to not let these issues bog us down, rather remind us why we chose this career path in the first place. Why do you do what you do? I’ve only just recently figured this out and it’s the end of the year. So don’t beat yourself up if you’re still confused.
Patreon: I don’t know why I keep trying with Patreon (I suppose I should read above), but I gave it another go this year and it has still barely gained any momentum. My hope is to better my marketing skills in 2023 so that I can get more patrons. A steady paycheck is very important to this career, and Patreon is one of the only places—other than teaching—that I have found to give me that option.
Marketing: Which brings me to marketing. This is yet another learn-as-you-go process. You find what works and what doesn’t. As Andy J. Pizza would say, you have to “write while onstage.” But my issue is that I didn’t add any further research to my marketing tool bag. I need to focus on my professional development in 2023, read a few books on business and maybe even take a class. The better I am at marketing, the better I will be able to prevent the previous two mishaps.
Lessons Learned
There’s too many to write about, so here’s a list:
How to better set up my booth at events
How to make flyers and brochures for marketing
How to host a podcast
Consistency is KEY
When you finish a painting, FOLLOW THROUGH. Scan it, post it on your shop, frame it, don’t just toss it in your portfolio and move on.
Take a break (the world won’t end, and neither will your career)
Your best moments in this career will not be monetary. Instead they will be the time your student called your intuitive art class, “finger painting for grow-ups,” the time a mother cried because her son was so passionate about art camp, and that evening you taught intuitive art to cancer survivors.
To-do lists will change your life
Goals for 2023
I’ve already mentioned a few, but let’s get specific.
Podcast Interviews: I have always loved listening to artist interviews on other podcasts, and have wanted to do the same on my own podcast. 2023 will be the year I finally start interviewing other artists.
50 Patrons: It’s not a huge number, but it’s a specific one, and specific goals are always much more obtainable than general ones. Once I add those marketing skills to my tool bag, my goal is to get this number before the end of 2023.
Watercolor Classes: I have given them in the past, but now I want to give them weekly. Because of the lesson I learned that “consistency is key,” I know that weekly classes, held on the same day at the same time, are far more successful than the occasional, sporadic classes. I also want to start doing my intuitive art classes weekly as well.
Work Larger: This was a goal for 2022, and while I did work larger, I didn’t finish anything large. But I have some new ideas and I can’t wait to get started on some big surfaces. It will be one step closer to my career goal of painting a mural in the city.
2022 had its flaws, as does any year, but damn it was a good one (and busy). The amount of events I did in 2021? Two or three. The amount of events I did in 2022? Over FIFTEEN (and I still have two more scheduled this month)! I exhibited in new places, taught kids’ camps, won 1st place in the Chalk Art competition, and became a part of the Art Heals project here in Jefferson City. My family and I went to St. Louis to see the Van Gogh exhibit (Goo said it was one of the best days of her life), traveled to Cedar Point (on a plane!) and rode a busy subway to downtown Chicago.
Don’t get me wrong, we had our shit days. We struggled with the inflation and gas prices. We had to watch what was happening in the world on the news and feel completely powerless. We buried Apple beneath a tree on a cold January day.
But my hope is that I can take these moments and put them in the “I lived through it” file. I don’t want to dwell on them, but I don’t want to forget them. And I want to give the fun stuff more focus. A lot of times we only remember the bad stuff, but it’s the bad stuff that makes the good stuff good. Right? That might be the biggest takeaway from the year.
My 2023 New Year’s Resolution is to pay more attention to the good stuff, the good memories, the good feelings, the fun days with the family. To not let them be overpowered by the bad stuff, but rather enhanced by it.
Until next year, may your Holiday food be hot and filling, and you and your families be happy and healthy. See you in 2023!
Scientific American describes synesthesia as: “an anomalous blending of the senses in which the stimulation of one modality simultaneously produces sensation in a different modality.”
It’s too bad that none of that was in English.
To put it in words we can all understand: synesthesia is when one sense is triggered (ex hearing) and that triggers another sense to kick in as well (ex sight). So someone with synesthesia will see music. Another will taste the word marshmallow. Another will somehow associate a color for every person they know.
Keep in mind this is an involuntary response. We’re not talking about color coding your notes to do better on a test (although synesthetes are known to do better on tests because of their unique brain). Those with synesthesia just do it without thinking, and will one day be listening to a podcast and will learn that no, not everyone associates a color with every letter of the alphabet.
That’s what happened to me. I was listening to this episode of the Savvy Painter Podcast and learned that I myself was lucky enough to experience this phenomenon. You mean to tell me that not everyone associates the color blue with an A chord? That not everyone can smell the word house? Not everyone associates a color with people’s names?
Interesting side note: my first name Allina is red. My nickname Lina is a light, sunshiny yellow. The name Edgar is gray. The name Dean Winchester is a pretty chestnut brown.
Now I have what you might consider a mild case of synesthesia. When I hear a song I might see colors in my mind. Someone with a more intense version of synesthesia will actually see the colors emanating from a piano. Isn’t that wild? Superpowers exist y’all.
While I know that not everyone has this, I know that the external world plays a tremendous role in our lives. What we do on a daily basis has been, in some way, influenced by the external world. Which means that it can, and does, influence our art.
I gave an intuitive art class this last spring, during which I blindfolded everyone in the room and played different songs and told them to draw what they heard. It was a fun exercise and resulted in a lot of laughter and a lot of scribbles. And what we noticed was that everyone’s art differed depending on what type of music we were listening to. We went from classical, to jazz, to Barracuda by Heart. It was a visual representation of how easily influenced we are by something we can’t even see. It’s why they tell you to go for a walk when you’re feeling stuck. Just seeing something new in your day can knock the stone loose and get your gears turning again.
So, for Wordless Wednesday tomorrow, I want you to experiment with music and its relationship to what you draw/write/photograph/etc. Test yourself with a variety of different genres. Bonus points if you find songs you’ve never heard before. Let that song overwhelm you, become a part of you, and let it control your shadow self. Your arm is now just as automated as your breathing, your heartbeat, the very temperature regulation of your insides. Create from one song, then turn on a different song and start a new piece.
If you find yourself getting too critical of your work, to the point where you can’t focus on the music, then it’s time to put on that blindfold.
How do your pieces differ? What mediums did you want to change, if any? Is there a certain color you kept grabbing while listening to Stan Getz, as opposed to Ludovico Einaudi?
Not sure what to listen to? Here is a good variety of songs:
I myself will be hanging out on Twitter tomorrow asking for song requests. Every song that is given to me, I will draw. So head on over there if you’d like to join in on the fun.
Until next time, may your words be gold and your music smell like sunshine,
I’ve been neglecting the last portion of Andy J. Pizza’s version of the “hero’s journey” which is the return. Sure I can make art, wrap it up, take it to art fairs, but the scanning and posting it to my Etsy shop? Fuggedaboutit.
But that’s changed! Art is now being added to my Etsy shop daily and I hope to spend the next few days scanning, posting, and sharing.
All of my original pieces will come with their own custom off-white mat. Most of the listings have three sizes you can choose from so that you can get the right fit for the frame. Other listings have a mat already cut and placed around the painting, and the frame size will be listed.
My original paintings also arrive with a Certificate of Authenticity and, for works on paper, a small guide on how to take care of un-framed art until you have it behind glass.
Hand-Bound Sketchbooks and Zines
I really love making these. The hand-bound books are small and bound with high-quality watercolor paper. Some have been tea-toned and others have not. They also have covers made of Khadi hand-made cotton paper.
The zines are tea-toned and cut/folded and are a more affordable option, especially if you are looking to buy in bulk.
Keep checking in for new arrivals such as tiny art, bookmarks, and prints!
A Gift For My Eccentric Chai Readers:
And, as a special thank you to YOU for reading my blog, I’m offering you 20% off your purchase. Just click here to use the code.
When I first started the Eccentric Chai podcast I didn’t have much going on in my career. It was during a slow time of year for me and I was adamant that I would be able to get one episode finished per week. And for a while that worked out okay.
But things have picked up so much since the summertime that I just do not have the time to get a podcast episode out each week. Frankly, it would be a disservice to the podcast and my listeners to just slap something together each week for the sake of keeping up the weekly trend.
So I’ve decided to make the Eccentric Chai podcast a bi-weekly thing. Every other Friday a new episode will launch on Anchor, my website, and will be shared on my social media feeds. So keep your eyes peeled!
What else is new in the land of Lina?
I’ve been painting with acrylics a lot, but I just can’t get it right. You know that feeling when you feel like you’re just on the cusp of something? Some sort of breakthrough? That’s me right now.
I’ve also been doing my best to keep up with my version of Inktober, which I named Psychoprompts. I’m at day 18 (woot) and still making it somehow.
As for the blog, I will do my very best to keep it up weekly, but with the holidays just around the corner I can’t make any promises. So, if you don’t hear from me, know that it means good things. It means that my business is so much busy-ness that I can’t find the time to sit down and write to you.
Until next time, may your own creative endeavors be busy and fruitful.
Intuitober is a small prompt list I put together for the month of October in the hopes of getting more people scribbling from the subconscious. The list is only six prompts long, and the idea is that each prompt will spark something in you that is more intuitive than literal. For instance, you can’t exactly draw a “crackle.”
Participate in the Giveaway!
In order to be entered into the drawing you will need to complete all six of the prompts. You don’t have to do them in order. You don’t have to do them all at once. Pick and choose based on your mood. Go with your flow. That’s the first step of intuitive art.
Once you’ve drawn/scribbled something inspired by the prompt you will then need to post it on Instagram or Twitter and use the hashtag #intuitober. Feel free to also tag me @linaforrester so I will definitely see it! It will also help others find me and the prompt list in case they would like to join in.
Again you can do them in any order and on any day(s), just make sure you do all six prompts before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween night (October 31st).
What will you Win?
Those who participate will be entered into a drawing and the winner will receive a “Wordless Diary” kit. In it will be one of my little hand-bound sketchbooks (made with thick paper good for any medium), a few of my go-to tools (pens, watercolor samples, etc.) and tips on how to get started with your own intuitive practice.
Intuitive Art Tips
For those of you who are brand-new to intuitive art, or aren’t even sure what it is, you can check out the following blog posts:
I also suggest you check out my podcast. Several of the episodes discuss intuitive art and how you can get started.
A few more tips:
You’re not here to draw a masterpiece. You’re merely here to enjoy the process. Pay attention to the way the pencil leaves a texture on the paper, how the ink bleeds, how the paint smears.
Use any medium. Go with what feels best.
Just as you would in meditation, keep mindful by paying attention to only your senses. How does the pencil sound on the paper? Have you lit a candle? How does it smell? Watch the watercolor spread into another color. Feel the pen between your fingers and the touch of it on the paper. Did you just get a drink of coffee? Savor it. How does it taste?
If you have any further questions or would like to join a community of scribblers, you can head on over to my Discord channel, Lina’s Scribble Club. There you can ask questions, share, learn, chat with other artists. See you there!
Until next time, may your coffee be hot and your autumn smell like chimney smoke.
I couldn’t tell you why it only just now occurred to me this morning that you can make spooky intuitive scribbles but I suppose this is yet another example of how our thought processes have a tendency to put everything into a box, blinding us to what’s really possible. For the past several years I’ve spent my Octobers drawing fun figures with skulls for heads and painting gouache ghosts, and while that’s still true—because I can never resist making my own prompts for Inktober and creeping people out with eerie, skeletal paintings—I have been feeling sort of locked in place, as if those were my only two options to go spooky in the fall.
But today is yet another Wordless Wednesday! And I like to scribble on these days. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of black and white scribbles, occasionally adding a delicate pink if I really feel it in my gut. This is probably due to me watching a lot of Helen Wells reels on Instagram. She’s awesome at what she does and her sketchbooks make me super jealous. So this morning when I got on Instagram to start filming my own reel for Wordless Wednesday, I decided I would only work in black and use the white of the paper as my contrast.
Spooky piano music emanating from my iPad I also decided to turn on a filter that made the whole video black and white with a bit of shakiness/filmy appearance to add a creepy, old-fashioned vibe. I decided that I would try to draw creepy marks and shapes instead of my usual nature shapes (leaves, tree branches, roots, etc.)
It did pose the question: what makes a mark creepy? This is one of those times when I realize those random illustration classes I’ve taken in the past might help with this. In them I learned that sharp edges have a tendency to make us feel tense, as do jagged lines, and so I figured that was a good place to start.
I also took past reactions to the landscapes I’ve made with eyes peeping out from between the hills. No matter how “happy” or “beautiful” I made the landscape/colors/shapes the eyes would always freak out my audience. Which I loved. So I knew I would have to add a few of those.
Then there is the shape I like to call “goopy.” It almost appears as though something is oozing down the page. With a piece filled with eyes and jagged edges, I’m sure anyone’s mind will begin to wander at the sight of all that goop.
Still, once I finished this morning’s scribble I began to wonder what other marks could one make if he/she/they wanted to give his/her/their work an eerie vibe? So I put together a small visual list for you in case you’d like to add a few details that will give your audience goosebumps.
Long, thin lines.
Tim Burton is king at this, right? His characters are often unnaturally tall, and they have lines on their clothing to accentuate that effect. Why does he do this? Because long, vertical lines have a tendency to make us feel uneasy. And unnaturally tall characters, even if they’re nice, can give us a subconscious shudder.
Hair-like lines
Not long and tall like Burton’s, and not simply vertical but pointing in multiple directions. I chose these types of lines because when we use things that are not uniform, it makes viewers feel uneasy. They also make me think of spider legs, which is creepy enough on its own.
Angular Shapes
This goes along with what I’ve learned in previous illustration classes, that sharp edges have a tendency to make us feel tense. Because when we see sharp, our minds think “danger.”
A solid black shape
What’s more ominous than a black shape? What is it? Why is it there? Is there something lurking in it? I’m getting creeped out just thinking about it. Bonus points if the black shape is your subject.
Use the Psychology of Color
Say your piece is mostly monochromatic, but you really want to add an element of danger, or evil, or just an eerie chill. This is when you can use the psychology of color against your audience. For instance, red, is a danger color. We use it for Do Not Enter signs and Stop signs and Warning signs because of the feeling it provokes in our brains. It also might make us think of fire, as does orange. Using either of these colors might make a piece feel more dangerous, or “evil” as we might associate fire with demons or hell. Another color you could use, especially if you want your audience to feel kind of icky, is green. This color can be pleasant if we have it in a pretty landscape or the painting of a rose, but add it to an almost black image of a creature lurking in a dark cave, and then we’re downright grossed out. Another color, like a desaturated bluish gray, can make your piece feel cold and can set a lonely/frigid atmosphere.
Make it off-balanced
Use diagonal lines, or shapes that appear almost sporadic. Give your painting a tilt so that your viewer almost feels as though the subject is going to fall.
Whatever you decide to paint/sculpt/scribble/photograph/etc., I hope these tips will help you add the extra creepy vibe.
What sorts of things do you like to add to your work to make it super spooky? Talk about it in the comments below!
Scribble Chai 