Working in a series: How to create a new art collection from one drawing

First things first

In my experience a good fine art collection is generally created out of sheer determination and hours of playing with paint.  But in order to get to that bit something has to happen first.  A vital spark.  The trigger that sets the wheels of inspiration in motion.  Finding that spark is something I particularly love, especially when it comes from a single sketchbook drawing.

Supermarket flowers

A current example of what I’m talking about all started with a trip to the supermarket.  Nestled in amongst the cut flowers and cellophane wrapped orchids are often little succulent plants with bright coloured blooms.  They’re inexpensive, easy to keep and the flowers last for weeks at a time.  Despite adorning my kitchen windowsill for the better part of two years it was only in the last couple of months I learned their name, Kalanchoe.

At any one time I’ll have up to five kalanchoe plants in a variety of colours.  Until recently I’ve not been very good a keeping them after their flowers have past.  Overwatering seems to be the issue.  However one has defied the odds and despite the original blooms being long gone it has grown and grown.  It’s leggy stems and scalloped edge leaves are so pleasing I just had to draw it.

Study up

It’s the drawing of a thing that lets you get a feel for it.  How do the shapes work together, what are the predominant colours, are there appealing details you can’t wait to explore with pencils, pens and paint. If your first sketch leaves you wanting more you know the vital spark has struck.  A few more drawings will help cement the idea and familiarity of the object or view you want to work on.  These are typically called studies and there’s something incredibly satisfying when they start to add up.  However it’s worth recognising that if there’s an energy about the first drawing the chances are it’s a subject that will keep you coming back for more.

Altogether now

When it’s time to progress the studies from pen and pencil to paint working in a series is often the way to go.  The lines of enquiry amassed during the sketching stage can, by all means, be channeled into a single painting, however it can be very rewarding to explore lots of possibilities in a series of paintings.  For example, at the start of a new collection, I’ll set up several boards of similar sizes on my art table and work on them together.  This gives me multiple surfaces to experiment on.  It takes the the pressure off testing forms, marks and colours.  If something isn’t working on one I can hop to the next and try again, while still being able to refer back.

Jump around

We all know that humans brains have relatively short attention spans so designing a working practice where you have permission to jump from one idea to another makes heaps of sense.  Spending twenty minutes or so on each painting helps keep the ideas fresh.  You’re no longer labouring on one painting for hours only to realise you made a fundamental error at the beginning and have to paint over the whole thing.  Short burst of activity on several paintings help keep my eye on the bigger picture.  If something worked well on one painting I can immediately try it on the others.  Repetition is great for learning and learning is the aim of the game.

Testing the theory

You may be wondering why would you want to paint the same picture over and over again?  For me it’s painting a similar picture to learn all I can about the mechanics of the subject and how to manipulate it.  What if one painting is predominantly light, one is dark, one is textured one is smooth and so on?  I want to know what these permutations look like so I’ll learn more about the type of paintings that light me up.  At the end of the day I want to come in from the studio one step closer to finding myself in the paint.  That step can be small or momentous but it’s always moving forward.

Next steps

On my art table at the moment are tentative steps into a new collection stemming from my leggy kitchen kalanchoe plant.  The original sketch was the starting point for a series of paint and collage studies.  The studies were my way of working out how I’d like to incorporate the forms of the plants branches with the structure of the handmade pot it’s sitting in.  They also helped me formulate a strategy for the colour palette and textural elements I want to focus on.  Over the course of two weeks four of these studies stood apart form the rest.  They have become my road map for the next steps in the collection. There’s still a long way to go but I’m enjoying what the painted panels are telling me. Structure and colour pairing seem to be most dominant, but I wonder where they’ll end up… I’ll be sure and let you know!

Would you like to see another botanical collection?

Take a peek at the Pots and Plates collection in my portfolio. It’s a collection that started in exactly the same way as the one you’ve just read about. It’s bursting with foliage and fancy decorative details… enjoy!