What to Paint?

Passing By
Acrylic on Paper
Copyright 2013

A simple question. Not a simple answer sometimes.

Like the blank canvas or sheet of paper, the question pushes the artist or painter to select a subject or motif to fill up the empty space.

But what?

Maybe you're a portrait painter, so no question what you'll be painting, just who. If you're painting a series of anything, then you already have chosen a path to follow, at least for that series.

If you are in a good place, and as a painter I mean that figuratively--you've already contemplated this and decided what you'll paint, at least in the near future (hours, days, weeks?), then congratulations. That's half the battle.

But what if you are not in a good place? How can you or will select your next subject to paint?

As I have said before in this blog, simple things are usually the best. Don't over-think it.

As you go about your day let your creative eye act as a viewfinder and look for those great compositions in life that could make a good, if not great, painting. When you see what could be a  great composition, take a photo of it.

At the end of the week, you will have more than enough material to chose from, so much so that you won't know which one to paint first.

Today's image is my painting of an unremarkable intersection near here that nonetheless had good composition.

So, to the question, "What to paint?," the answer is--anything!