WHAT IS MY ART STYLE?
So you want to create art but there’s so many things you could paint or draw - how do you narrow it all down and define what your work needs to be to satisfy your creative drive?
Here's an idea you might like to try out to find your art style:
Go and visit a gallery that is showing a large and diverse range of artworks. (You might want to write down notes because that can help you remember your feelings later).
As you walk around the gallery pay attention to the types of work that you are naturally attracted to.
When you find those works ask yourself “what is it about this painting that makes it stand out from the others for me?” It might be a combination of colours like aqua blue alongside rusty orange, or the fine detailed lines of a print, or a washy dreamy quality of an abstract work or the realistic accuracy of an object thats been painted. For sculptural work it might be the smooth shine or hard angles of a surface, the way the light is reflected or travels through a 3D piece, or maybe its the scale of the work, teeny tiny or taking up half the room.
Keep going around and write down a word for each one you really liked. For example, when I did this test years ago my words were “fine detail, warm colours, contrasting colours, old world colours, beauty” …for me it actually didn’t matter if the painting was of a flower or a train or whatever, it was all about the beautiful colours and tiny details.
From these words you can make your own statement about “I would like my art to be…."
When coming up with ideas about “what” to paint, you can use your keywords as a starting point, like “I am going to put that gorgeous pink colour next to a pastel green and make a washy shape/old car/flower/set of lines or whatever.
I’ve found that the art of “really looking” is a huge part of being an artist and you can use this in-depth investigation to define what it is you like, and what you would like to reflect in your work.