Arttalk-Project Lion of Judah

Hello everyone,
Welcome to this months blog post. I just recently attended an art show and one of the comments made were, "You have so much details in your work." My response was very simple, "I really care about the art I make. "  I figured if you are going to do something do it right! Sometimes that is easier said than done. In this months post, I will be sharing three key ingredients needed to produce really great works of art. I will also demonstrate by showing you a time lapse video of the creation of "Lion of Judah."
Every piece of artwork I have created involves three key ingredients, time, patience, and technique. These are things I set in place to motivate myself to advance my skills, to produce great works of art.
TIME
If you have a full time job, raising a family-the list goes on, the thought of making time for creating art can feel overwhelming. Despite the fact that your day may be full of tasks, you can still carve out at least one hour a day. Doing a little bit each day might not seem like a lot, but over time it adds up. I usually set aside time around 10 pm when everyone is about to go to bed. That gives me a good two hours of quiet quality time and no one is asking me to do any chores around the house. Another way to make time is to reduce screen time. Usually the time you spend watching tv or surfing the internet or social media could be used to get a rough sketch completed for drawing or painting. Another thing is having the ability to say "no" to those activities that aren't going to get you closer to your goal of completing the artwork in a timely manner. Remember "Time" is the most valuable thing we have if we use it wisely.
PATIENCE
Having patience to complete a work of art requires us to work at a more realistic pace. Perfection doesn't happen overnight. We are talking about mindsets here. As you are patient with the process, you will begin to unlock potential that you thought you never had. The focus switches from trying to hurry up and finish to, I just learned new techniques that could be applied to the next project. You will also find that every impression, stroke, or mark that you make has a purpose and you can step back from it for refinement. In this project, "The Lion of Judah," I used several graphite pencils to produce many gradient layers in the hair for realism. The more detail a work requires, the more patient you will need to be. 
TECHNIQUE
The elements and principles of design is the key ingredients to create the perfect piece of original art. Even with one picture or subject matter, you can create a variation of works. Understanding these techniques opens the door to a myriad of options such as color schemes, textures, and other opportunities for different audiences. The importance of natural repetition in a work is the presence of variation. The variation of repeated shapes helps the brain comprehend one shape and immediately knows the rest of the shapes are identical. It causes the viewer to subconsciously engage with the work. Another important technique is the correct placement and spacing. This will draw attention to the focal point of many variation of things within a piece. Strangely, to randomly place elements in our paintings in a convincing way takes careful consideration. We have a hard wired expectation for random placement. We see it all the time in nature and in the unconscious distribution of objects around us. When we see a contrived order to what should appear random, it just doesn’t look right. Keep a conscious eye on the placement of every element of your paintings. It will soon become second nature to get that placement, spacing and variation to look just right. 
Until next time, go create something beautiful!

The making of "Lion of Judah." Visit the online store for purchasing your print.