Creating art in a series is a powerful way to build your skills and develop your unique artist voice. Working in a series allows you to think deeply about a subject and to tell your story from a variety of viewpoints. It permits you to experiment with a variety of techniques and ideas so you can decide which to embrace and which to let go of. Additionally, knowing that you have a clear end goal: a certain number of works to complete helps you to feel a sense of accomplishment and achievement. Mastery develops through practice and a series is a great way to improve your technique whether working in paint, dance, music, or food.

My friend George Herrick healed his cancer by creating and photographing years of daily stone cairns and he celebrates the joy of his garden with daily mandalas created from fallen petals. Josef Albers didn't paint squares; he painted different color combinations which he always portrayed within squares. Claude Monet explored the color of light at different times of day changing canvases as he worked through the day to the one appropriate for that time and that type of light. The coherence of your work is your artist's voice. When you work in a series it is also easier for you and others to write words about your work. Imagine sitting down to write the entry in the catalog which explains your life’s artistic legacy; which themes, materials, style, and subject matter did you choose to define your work?

How to go about choosing a theme? Consider what you are passionate about. Look around you and you will find inspiration speaking to you everywhere. When looking for a theme consider varying Subject Matter (place, an object, a motif, a concept, a story), varying Technique (design, color, pattern, media), and/or a single or range of Emotions or even a Business Motivation such as (an exhibition, a book, collectible or a brand)

Jack’s 14 pizzas brought me many gifts this month. I am thankful for all that my son and my students teach me about the importance of experimentation, repetition, and play in learning. For the rich and inviting aroma of baking bread and cheese that filled my house and for the opportunity to taste, discuss and compare so much deliciousness. I am even thankful for the extra pounds.

What are you thankful for this month? Where can you invite play and variation to your artistry? Reach out if you would like feedback on the art you are currently creating or if you would like to join me for the May events below.

With Love & Creative Blessings,

P.S. If you didn't get the chance last month, be sure to download your free gift from me: my "Inner Artist Inspiration Package" - a series of illustrated quotes in watercolor based on flower photos taken by family and friends.

Variations, by definition, begin with a theme and alter it. The wealth of techniques for varying the theme without destroying it creates the beauty of the form. I, too, could create a theme, expand it, turn it upside down, turn it inside out, or flip it front to back. I, too, could do all kinds of imaginable operations to it. - Twyla Tharp

Boca Raton Museum of Art - Now through Sunday, September 5, 2021 - “An Irresistible Urge to Create: The Monroe Family Collection of Florida Outsider Art” Starting in the early 1990s, the photographer Gary Monroe drove throughout the state of Florida for more than ten years ― from Key West to Jacksonville to Pensacola ― on a mission to find what he calls “Florida’s renegade artists.” Against the odds, many of these artists created obsessively to escape from their worlds that were often full of deep conflict and personal struggles. “For these artists, making art was as essential as breathing,” says Irvin Lippman. “Their artistic freedom was a pure, sincere and intimate means of communication.” An Irresistible Urge to Create presents 86 works, many never seen before, by 44 Florida artists.  

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