Finding Looseness

When I started my painting journey in high school, my style was very loose and not super planned out. I painted mostly with high viscosity acrylics on fairly large canvases. Many were landscapes and others were very abstract. I was influenced by my incredibly artistic sister and our visits to the De Young Museum, Legion of Honor, and the SFMOMA. Painting then and now is very relaxing for me. But after college, I didn't paint or draw as much. I just got busy and forgot how much joy it brought me.

After I picked up painting again several years ago, the process was very planned and line orientated. This is very meditative for me - drawing the linework then painting the piece with watercolor. However, in the last few months, I wanted to rediscover and develop a looseness in my paintings. A freedom of brush strokes and unthinking creativeness. This was difficult because of my coloring book project is very line orientated.

Somehow learning how to use gouache helped me remember the loose acrylic technique of my younger days. So I recreated a painting that I did a long time ago (I’ll have to find it) but in miniature form. Below is a sneak peek of it. Next month, I'll post it in my February portfolio.