Passion, coffee, and painting

A lot of artists talk about passion... about an unstoppable urge to create, to make, to get to the studio.

Passion definitely can't get me in the studio any faster than coffee...

Starting is hard. Getting into the studio is hard. After all, this is work, and I work long days. Like anyone else I'd really rather like to stay in bed or have a day off!

But once I'm over the paperwork and email at the start of the day, catching up on biz reading, getting my motivation to get into the studio room, putting on something to listen to, get cleaning the palette... then I start to mix paint. Ponder the painting from yesterday. Tentatively put some layers on.

Small study for Chesil Beach - acrylic on board
For sale on Dailypaintworks

Even if I've decided to just plunge into something, take that risk, I still start with the paint tentatively. What's bold is that decision to do it. Maybe deciding to put on a layer that in my gut I know might not work and ruin everything. But yet another part of my gut knows it needs to be there, that it will start something.

An hour later or so, that's when the passion is there. You see, it sneaks up. Unlike other artists, for me it's not an impulse or a driving force. It's the joy in the depths of activity. It needs to percolate first. When it's there I'm deep in thought and considering angles and brightnesses, colour tones and contrast. For me it's the thinking. It's when I'm putting on some blue and calculating in my head just how much umber needs to be glazed over it for the perfect depth of shadow. When I put a small white glaze on and think, yes that's right, then work out how many more layers, and in which overlapping areas, I need to apply to get the right effect. When I'm painting, really painting, I'm thinking and analysing constantly with each brushstroke.

And when it's done there's joy at standing back and thinking YES! Little happy dance in my head. Possibly singing loudly to a They Might Be Giants song.

Then it sneaks away and I want another cup of coffee because I'm exhausted.

See the coast paintings tina-m.com