Painting Without a Plan

I’m usually the type or artist who likes to have a plan before I start creating - this usually means gathering inspiration, finding reference images, sketching ideas, deciding on a color palette, developing a theme etc.   But this past weekend, I did something different -  I created this accordion garden sketchbook without a plan and it felt great to be loose, free-flowing and random!

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Margo Tantau’s Windowsill  Workshop: An Accordion Sketchbook Garden Story by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.  I finally made time on Sunday to watch the recording and paint.  

While painting with watercolor was the focus of this workshop, Jennifer emphasized that there were no rules on technique or materials.  She encouraged us to use whatever supplies we had on hand.  So along with watercolor,  I mixed in color pencil, graphite and posca pens. 

I relied on my imagination instead of reference images, I chose random colors and I filled in open spaces with various markings.  This was creative play at its best and this has inspired new ideas - for my next “planned” art piece!  Furthermore, I really love this idea of an accordion sketchbook and feel this is a perfect way to create painted memories of my next vacation! 

So I encourage you to paint without a plan and see where it takes you on your creative art journey.

PS. check out this Instagram Reel for a peek at my painting proces