This week’s theme at Illustration Friday is “Leap”, which is the perfect opportunity to share this soft pastel painting I’ve been working on the past month.

It represents a leap into experimenting. The semi-nude woman appears in a half awake dream state. The wings gently hold her as she chases butterflies, creatures of transformation and renewal, while the deep red poppies are in full bloom alluding to endless possibilities.

We must continuous challenge ourselves to evolve, to experient. As Marcel Proust once stated:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

So if you find yourself emerged in creating from comfort, challenge yourself to try a different medium or style. These experiments in time will lead to inspiration, and possibly even a new direction with your artistic path.

Inspire Me Thursday’s theme this week is New Year Resolutions…

The new year is always the perfect opportunity to review the past year, and see what next steps we need to take to bring ourselves more inline with our overall goals. Yet, while I’m a firm believer of setting goals, I’m also think it’s just as important to listen to intuition if not more so.

Last year when I sat down to write down my goals for the year, I never would have imagined that by the end of the year I would have my artwork displayed in the Tampa Museum of Art nor I would have the opportunity to create a live painting at one of the museum’s Art after Dark events.

This past year brought many wonderful opportunities from redesigning my studio that has allowed me to finally create larger scale soft pastel paintings to opening my online Etsy store that has given me the opportunity to connect directly with art collectors near and far.

In this upcoming year, as silly as it sounds, I simply desire to lock myself in my studio and create. While this image is probably what most people would envision an artist doing, it’s been a challenge for me since I’ve become active in the local art community.

As an artist that has a demanding full time job outside of the arts community, my free time is very limited. So in this next year, one of my major goals is to plan out my month in advance to set aside for creating, networking, marketing, and setting up photo shoots with local models to develop a collection of source images for paintings.

So this upcoming weekend, I’ll be locked up in my studio with pastel dust flying everywhere, but I will be out and about next Friday checking out retro|perspectives, the last Art after Dark event, at the Tampa Museum of Art before it’s scheduled closing and demolition. There will be over 50 emerging and established artists participating so you definitely won’t want to miss it if you’re in the Tampa Bay area.

When it comes to creating art, there is a time for everything, and a season for all of our creative cycles.  A time for serious paintings and a time to experiment.  A time to explore in our art journals and a time to create mantra art.

Mantra art speaks to the soul.  Like a written affirmation, it contains a message that we need to remind ourselves of every day.

So I leave you with my mantra art created for this week’s theme at Inspire Me Thursday, “Watercolor“:

A fellow art blogger, Bob Martin, wrote a post the other day on how it’s difficult for him to keep his paintings simple:

It is as if I need to prove that I’ve put a lot of work into a painting in order for it to have value. Of course the value is in the ease in which the painting is able to communicate its message.

In my response, I explained how I had the opposite issue of wondering if my paintings are too simple.

But sometimes I also think that it gives them a timeless feel…something that can be enjoyed for years to come as painting fads come and go.

Take my latest painting as an example for this debate on simplistic versus complex paintings. Right now, it just has a simplistic background, one of my signature elements of style. But the other day, I was debating on maybe adding some symbols on the side of the piece. Nothing too bold. Just something to fill the empty space and create a circular flow to the painting. What do you think?

To me, each painting marks a moment in time, translating emotions into color.

Not all of my pieces will strike the same chord with everyone at an art opening. It all depends on where you are in your own life. Some pieces invoke a sense of passion and desire. Others explore the depths of pain and suffering that life can also bring.

So yes, they do hold a tremendous amount of thought in each piece even though they might come across to some viewers as simple. But with all art, there is always more behind the surface of a painting that we might never know without talking to the artist first hand.

[Submitted for this week’s theme, “Dear Diary“, at Inspire Me Thursday]

A tribute to Brian…in honor of Valentine’s Day, cheers to heart art, this week’s theme at Inspire Me Thursday: