Ever since we started moving more and more into the digital world, I start to wonder how all of this information for a painter affects our ability to come up with original paintings. Of course, it is okay to get influenced by other painters, but I mean more in the sense that your original ideas are fairly unique to you and your own DNA. With having our phone and internet in our pocket and available all the time, it is very easy to get influenced by other great painters of the past and present. So, how do we remedy this? Well, I think most of us have a book collection. It is definitely slower to go through your book collections and find imagery that inspires you. We have SO much information so fast on our phones or devices, sometimes I think it can confuse us.

So, maybe go back to your art books and step away from your electronic screen and slow down. I believe too much information can hurt the creative process when we spend too much time on our electronic devices for inspiration. This might change with time, but underneath it, being creative and finding the thing that makes you tick takes time. It does not come from flipping your phone on. It is something that I don’t have one answer to, but I do hope this will make you step back and go out into nature more (or paint from life more). It does not need to be anything crazy or far away from your house. Just go around your neighborhood, in the woods, and be detached as much as you can. I understand it is difficult to do this now, but you are making a choice one way or another.

Don’t look at too much online as it can set a certain amount of confusion when there is too much to choose from. Ultimately, it will hinder your growth. Finding what makes you tick is the most important part. It will take more work, but it comes down to will. Everything that is worthwhile takes work. It is hard work and there is no beauty in it in the sense of working at it. 

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