17 Comments

Really great treatise on finding your style. I agree, you can't aim for a style. It has to happen over time. Love the ideas about repetition. People say to artists, "you are so talented", and I'm a firm proponent of "miles on the brush". Thanks for taking the time to outline the idea so thoroughly!

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Yum. So much to chew over here. I’m in the middle of learning my No (to what I don’t want, to what doesn’t serve, to anything that’s not a hell yes), and so much of that involves figuring out my actual wants. Love the focus on the small, repetitive with the aim of discovering what’s there. What a delicious place to explore.

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Absolutely top notch post! It took me a long time to realize that, in spite of being all over the map with my art and illustration, I do have a style— well, a voice at least. I can see it in my work. I still have that urge to refine it and narrow it, but less than I used to. The primary thing I want to instill in myself is a steady habit of making things. Ten minutes a day should be easy but starting is the hardest part! Thank you for this, and for the fantastic links to other artists too.

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This post is so full of wisdom that comes only from lots of experience! In the 13+ years of doing this art thing, I have never been too interested in finding "my style," but I guess my style(s) found me. At this point, it's almost harder to "Be willing to outgrow your style and move on." It's easy to keep doing the same comfortable blue jeans in the backyard, but then I'm not growing. But I recognize the feeling of getting too comfy (I've hit it a few times), and it's always a challenge to push past it, but then I'm always happy and excited when I get to the other side. Now that you've written this excellent post about finding style, maybe another post sometime about pushing past the too-comfy...?

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👏👏👏👏 some excellent points. I’ve done a few 100 day projects and your advice about photo selection in advance was a big help to me one year. It is true that quantity and regularity are where you mine for big self discovery. I love being on this journey with all of you! Keep creating!

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thanks so much!

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Thank you! Yes, I've been searching for my style for a while now. I admire realistic paintings, but I feel more comfortable with loose watercolor. I just selected the first subject to tackle over and over. It's a photo I took on a recent cruise. It may be too complicated for a quick painting, but I'm going to try. I can always simplify it in subsequent attempts.

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I do love your newsletter - I get so much out of it!

I’ve been doing art for years and years, and I have realized what I really really like is doing portraits. I am now working on a series of elder portraits, since most of the tutorials have pretty young women and l get frustrated with that.

We are also selling our house and moving to retirement community, so I have started doing messy ink sketches of every place in the house, and find I love doing that also. I’m sort of an artist in residence of the house I will be leaving soon.

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That’s fantastic! Both great projects

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When it comes to my sketching style once I found it I knew. I used to sketch very realistic details pics which would take hours of focus. But I had a number of health challenges and then medication for said challenges. Both have resulted in a very short focus. 10 to 15min. 30 at a max.

I discovered an artist called Toby from Tobysketchloose on YouTube. He used a very quick wobbly line. And then I figured out myself that if I used simple hatching with straight lines I could get quite a good result.

I love my new quicker messier style. I actually sketch more often now than I did before. Technically it's perhaps not as impressive but its fun. And I get to keep up a hobby I love even if its in a different way.

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Yes! Any kind of constraint is going to produce something like "style." Some of those constraints are imposed upon us, like you say, and some of them are just an outgrowth of how we work--like I don't have the patience to spend 40 hours on a highly accurate botanical drawing, but I know people who do and love it. The "constraint" for me of finishing something in one session is really just part of my own preferences, but it is a useful limitation.

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I really enjoy your newsletter. So many ideas you explore. My thoughts on this are that style is not a "thing" to be sought. I have a seriously strong style and have been a professional artist and illustrator all my life, and a long time Santa Fe gallery owner too, so I know a lot about artists and their styles. Style is real and it is important and it does not mean that someone does the same thing intentionally. Artistic style just happens because you make art - lots of it. It is also important to make art that you like and are attracted to. As you try all these things that attract you, some of each is retained until, like with a good recipe, all those ingredients coalesce into your style. My style turned out to be "Disney meets Dali" as art reviewers and others have called it. But I try everything and take every class that intrigues me and my style gets "informed" by all that and changes in subtle ways. But you can always recognize my work. My gallery artists also all had a style that you could recognize, but the same would be true. They were always trying new things, but you could always tell it was them. SO... style is very important to any serious artist, but you don't have to work at finding or making it, you just have to keep making art that interests you, and it will happen all by itself.

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Yes, absolutely! It comes out of making lots and lots of art. It's something that just emerges, or you fall into it when you're just in that state of flow and doing the thing over and over.

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I'm thoroughly enjoying your articles - they cause me to think, and want to share them with fellow artists. This one particularly resonates for a couple reason. First, my husband is a rock musician and 'collects guitars'. I think he's searching for that first one he bought, then sold when we were poor newly weds. We watched "Walk the Line" recently so the dialogue you quote is fresh in my mind! Second, I feel the most instructive thing I've done in learning watercolor is the monthly challenges - Every Day in May, Inktober, Plein Airpril. I did my first one around 2015. Now I find I prefer to come up with my own prompts to do on a daily basis. It got me in the habit of painting daily, and occasionally with really happy results. Instagram makes it easy not only to see a body of work by other artists, but also to see my own grow and develop. Enjoying the journey!

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Ah, so you understand the guitar/searching for a sound thing! People do it with cameras, painting materials, probably yarn...we all love our materials and gear!

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I enjoy your posts including this one! I saw you and bought your book at Books and Books in the Gables. My husband and I enjoyed listening to you. I was going to stand in line and say so but I was too chicken shit and thought I would just end up gushing all over you but now seemed like a good time since I’m writing to tell you that I enjoy your posts!

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Oh I wish you had said hello! It was really great to meet people in real life who read this little thing I put out into the universe. Thanks for coming anyway! Hope you enjoyed all the technical difficulties! We got through it...

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