Thoughts on Consistency

& starting a new series of paintings!

Yesterday I published a video to my youtube on consistency. I’ve started a new painting project to help me tackle / quieten the need I feel to re-invent the wheel in my practice, and I’ve had some thoughts since publishing it. I’m sure this is something many people feel when it comes to their artwork, and if you’re anything like me, you get inspired by many things - and just love learning and experimenting!

This growth energy can be a blessing and a curse; brilliant for new ideas, energy and creativity. On the flip side, it can feel unsettling, make you unsure of your creative voice because of inspiration coming from many directions, and wonder if what you’re making is really authentic to you. I think it comes in ebbs and flows, like any feeling - sometimes it’s at a healthy level, and spurs you on. Other times, the worry gets a little loud, and needs a hand settling down again.

I wanted to write this post for transparency - I’ve been creating art professionally full time for five years now, and it’s still a niggle that enters in my practice. It often raises its head at the end or in between projects - when there’s space.

I think part of the challenge of working as a professional artist is learning to navigate and support yourself through these phases - it’s as much a mental game as anything.

Ultimately, like the myth of ‘finding your style’ - I don’t think it’s something to fully arrive at. Cheesy as it is, the story is in the process and journey, and consistency will rise and fall like the tide, bringing new ideas and questions as and when you need it.

I’ve written and spoken lots about creative briefs in my work lately - and for good reason too. It’s been such a game changer for me to consciously realise what I need to support my work, and bring in tools to make this practice energetically sustainable. I’m keen to share what’s working for me, so that you can find what works for you, and hopefully help a little!

Aims

Here are the aims (asides from consistency!) for my new series of paintings:

• To make work for myself, from the heart, direct from my experience

• Through repetition and volume consolidate & see patterns emerge

• Focus on capturing a feeling of play, wonder, awe and discovery

• To push texture, palette, symbolism and motifs

• Bring inspiration from my snorkelling residency & research trip to Cape Wrath

• Explore narrative & story, working from memory

Project Structure

As an artist, I’d say my work could act as one big folio - everything has been dedicated to exploring our connections with landscape, capturing how places feel. Within this overall topic, I work in projects or collections of paintings, working to briefs I set myself. These help guide me through a new idea or focus, project to project. 

Speaking of consistency, I’ve decided to structure this project in a similar way to my ‘Finding Nature’ series - more info on that collection linked here. To summarise, I’m going to start the collection off with a written brief, with my aims, hopes and focuses. 

Each painting is going to be an abstract mixed media piece on paper - this time upping the scale from my Finding Nature A5 series, to A3. Each painting will be driven by a word or phrase, the same as before, and will be written below or within the painting itself to accompany the work. I’m taking consistency through to materials, working with:

oil pastel, acrylic, soft pastel, ink, charcoal & watercolour on paper

I’ve decided to bring in another project I had started years ago - an idea from the wonderful teacher and illustrator Tom Froese. One of his Skillshare lessons focused on making an alphabet of things, from A-Z, centred around one topic. I’ve decided to bring this alphabet led series into my project here - but allow for full phrases instead of solely individual words.

The topic of my A-Z collection is Outdoors. Each painting will be a reflection on my memories outdoors, and how these places make me feel. Tom had structured this lesson to be a style finding exercise, and I’m interested in seeing what patterns emerge from this series. 

To find the sentences, I first wrote an alphabet A-Z of words I associate to the outdoors. I then took the word, and incorporated it into a sentence. The five paintings I worked on in this session from A-E are:

Alive : I never feel more alive than when I’m here with you

Bird : What stories do birds hold on their wings?

Campfire : The crackle of a campfire warms the heart

Discovery: Discoveries outside help discoveries inside

Escapism: I simply left this one as a word.

Part of what I’m wanting from this series is to let story and imagination run loose - which is what the pre planned titles are so helpful with. As the painting develops, so does the narrative. It’s a really fun way to paint, patching all these different memories together to gather the overall feeling of a place or experience. 

When I’m out walking, I love to make up stories, and this practice is something I’ve removed from my art practice to an extent over the years. I have no aim to be a poet with my writing or titles, but I do find words to be such a great source of inspiration. I really miss the naiveté and openness that working with stories brings, building worlds.

I’m going to be uploading this series of paintings to my website shop at the end of the series, but in the mean time, stay tuned to see how this series develops!

See you outside,

Orla