Personal Symbols

Gather together a page of symbols that have personal meaning to you. They can be based on your heritage, where you live, symbols that just keep reappearing in your art or symbols you are strongly drawn to. Try googling "symbols" to see what attracts your attention.

I made 20 boxes on a piece of paper and lined them up in a grid, measuring them out like I did in Exercise #1. I like symbols and have been collecting them for years, so I knew there would be a lot.

I photographed the squares and printed out several copies of the blank template.

I then started drawing symbols into their individual squares or I printed them out from online or magazines and cut and paste them into the squares. Every time I see a symbol that resonates with me I add it to a square. If I feel stuck on a painting, I will pull out my pages of symbols and see if anything calls to me.

What symbols call to you?

A Bridge

 

Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge, Claude Monet 1899

Our second exercise is to create an image of a bridge. You can draw it, paint it, collage it, whatever you want. It can be drawn to look like it is made out of steel, wood, or even a swinging rope bridge. You decide.

Monet's bridge over the water lilies is probably the most well known bridge in the world. A bridge is a wonderful subject. It also can be painted as a metaphor. For example, where are you leaving from? What are you leaving behind? Where and what are you going towards?

Are there any obstacles on the bridge that might make crossing it more difficult. Are you on the bridge or look at it from afar? Are other people on the bridge? What's underneath it? Do you have a history with this bridge?

Here are some more artist paintings of bridges to inspire you...

Path of Gold, Jonas Lie, 1914

Booklyn Bridge, NYC Angela Wakefield

Langlois Bridge at Arles, Vincent van Gogh, 1888

I am beginning a mixed media piece of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It has much history and meaning to me. I have photographed it many many times - on days with clear skies and a view to Alcatraz and on days where the fog has rolled in and you can barely see the car in front of you.

What bridge calls to you? Is it a bridge you know well, made of steel and wood or an imagined bridge?

Emotional Colors

 Create a series of boxes on a piece of paper or in your art journal. You are going to assign a color to each box. Then each color will be assigned an emotion.

I made 16 boxes and lined them up in a grid. Make as many boxes as you want. You can arrange them in a grid like I did or place them in a random design. 

To decide how many emotions you want, make a list of emotions you sometimes feel. You also can think in terms of "I feel..." (For example, I feel vibrant, I feel feminine.) Good "list of emotions" if you need help.

I also looked at my previous paintings and made a list of the colors I like to use most. I than assigned a color to each emotion on my list. 

Next I am going to fill each box with one color of acrylic paint. To keep the painted boxes clean, I outlined a few boxes at a time with artist tape.

Remember your boxes can be more abstract or even another shape. Don't worry too much about making them perfect. This is not a final piece of art but a practice exercise.

Fill in all of the boxes with your chosen colors. When all the boxes are filled remove the artist tape and let your page completely dry.

The middle of your journal can look a big grungy because of the journal stitching.

So I sometimes use a strip of wash tape to cover it up.

I can even use Washi Tape around the entire facing page.

I use the facing page to take notes and write down any thoughts I have about this exercise.

After the colors are completely dry I write one emotion in each box. I recommend that you use acrylic paints, gouache or watercolors for the boxes. They dry quicker than oil and it is so difficult to write on pastels.