Finding a style

Personal style is a very important issue for an artist. It’s the magical thing that separates your work from everyone else’s.  It can make a piece of art instantly recognisable and unique to an individual. Obviously this is highly desirable if you are in the field of design, if you can produce a certain exclusive style, then a client will keep coming back for more of the same.

Sadly a unique personal style is something I’m currently lacking, but over the next few months I plan on finding one to call my own.  Style is a rather difficult thing to pin down but I believe it consists of two key factors... what you are painting, and the way you paint it.

Technique is something I’ve already touched upon in my previous pieces. In my second painting ¨the last chapter¨ I managed to achieve a nice loose style of brush work, much like an oil painting. This was just a happy accident really, but I prefer this to the hyper-real style you find in a lot of Photoshop work. I’m a long way off perfecting this look, but I know what I am aiming for, which is a start.

As for subject matter I’m seeing a lot of fantasy/Sci-Fi work lately, now I’m as much a fan of that sort of thing as the next guy but I’m trying to be original here, so that’s not really the way to go.  

So what’s this unique subject that I’ve chosen to paint... reality. That’s right the plain old world around us. A bit boring you might think, but given the infinite amount of reference material I see every day I’m sure I can pull something out of the bag...

...watch this space.