I’ve always had a tendency to draw or paint realistic with my art.  I’m sure this came from spending much of my life working in the real world (the not art world) and the creative work I was doing was pencil sketching.  But it was more than sketching, I was also striving for a finished product.  My pencil sketches were almost like a photograph when finished.  I was proud of these, but I always wanted more freedom with my work.

I’m in awe of artists that depict a mood or create an emotion in their paintings, while remaining realistic enough, but not restricted by rules defining what something should look like.

When I told my artist brother that I wanted to get loose, he said:  “get a copy of one of Picasso’s paintings and determine to paint it in fifteen minutes…fifteen!  No more!  Slap that paint on canvass as fast as you can.  It won’t be great, but you’ll have a ton of fun, and you will get loose.”

I tried this little experiment and had fun and learned a bunch about myself.  I’m still realistic with my work, but I’m not letting it define me.  I’m not afraid to slap the paint around a bit.