Creative explorations Vol #13: Energy

A sketchbook/art journal prompt to support your art practice.

Photo by Matthieu Comoy on Unsplash

Creative Explorations are themed around a prompt that you can explore in your own art/creative practice over the coming weeks. Prompts will be sent out on the first Friday of every month. I hope this month’s prompt sparks your creativity!

What brings you life? Feeds your soul? Makes you feel alive, in awe, excited? And how can you translate some of those feelings into your art?

Some paintings just vibrate with energy — Monet, for example, tried to capture light {see his Haystacks series}; Van Gogh tried to convey emotions; Boccioni tried to express speed and motion. These qualities are variations of energy, and artists have tried, through the years, to depict them through color, form, and composition.

Then there is spiritual energy, which can be conveyed through paintings that feel meditative and dream-like, or can be infused through color, tools, or line.

Let’s explore the somewhat abstract yet rather intriguing concept of ENERGY in our art journals this month.

Resources + ideas

Explore movement: Take a leaf from Boccioni’s paintings {you can see some of his artwork here} and consider how you would express movement in your work. Perhaps you want to capture tail lights of the cars speeding past on the highway, or the movement of a hummingbird, or the ripples in water — how would you express that through art?

Paint your emotions: Get some simple art supplies — paper, watercolors or inks, perhaps some drawing materials. Take a few moments to connect with yourself and ask yourself how you feel. Then take a moment to think about the colors that express those feelings, and paint your emotions.

Capture the light: Use the sunrise or sunset as inspiration. Observe at the colors of the sky and the landscape. The play of shadows and lights. Take some photographs or do a quick sketch so you can remember the quality of light. Use that as inspiration for your painting. This works really well for abstract paintings.

Explore the chakras: Read about the chakras, and then consider ways you can use this information in your art. You could use the colors of the chakras in a painting; create a painting for each chakra; or use the chakra symbols to create mandalas or to create a painting {see this, this and this for inspiration}.

Emma Kunz’s pendulum paintings: Emma Kunz was forty-six and the world was aflame with war when she became an artist. Using a silver pendulum with a jade end, a technique she termed radiesthesia, she began making large-scale drawings in pencil and crayon on graph paper. Read more about Kunz and see some of her pendulum drawings here, watch a pendulum painting come to life, and if you have the space and the inclination, build a rig and try making a pendulum painting!

I look forward to seeing your take on this prompt! You can email your finished pieces to me on shinjinim@substack.com or share them on Notes if you use the Substack app. If you share on Instagram, tag me @moderngypsy.in

Like this prompt? Share it with your friends and invite them into our virtual studio. If you’re on the Substack app, you can tap on the like button or restack to Notes to let me know you enjoyed this post.