All Things Painter A Fresh Perspective Every Day by John Derry

Have you ever noticed how a new locale can often provide a fresh creative perspective? For example, a vacation or business trip to a new city can offer a variety of environmental differences that pique our artistic senses. Different architecture, weather, modes of transportation, geography, and local customs act together to provide a unique setting that is naturally appealing to the artist. In contrast to our everyday surroundings, a new locale is different and exotic. Why does this happen?

The heart of the matter lies in allowing our usual surroundings to become mundane. I've moved enough times to observe a typical pattern: A new environment offers striking variations from that which you are accustomed to. Over time, you become familiar with your surroundings. Formerly unique factors become mundane visual "wallpaper". A visit to a new environment presents a fresh set of variations and the cycle continues. We can't constantly travel to exotic locales, so how can an artist maintain a fresh perspective every day?

It would not surprise me if a lifelong resident of Paris, France viewed his hometown as ordinary. And yet travelers from the world over visit Paris for its unique charm and beauty. Think about your own daily surroundings. It may seem ordinary to you, but wouldn't a visitor from Paris find it different and unique? Many of the things that seem common to you would almost certainly attract a Parisian's creative perspective. Hey, we may have hit onto something here! If you want to look at your surroundings in a new light, think about what makes your hometown or region unique to outsiders. In other words, think like a tourist.

Think about, or—better yet—drive around your local region and imagine what would appear unique to a visitor. What local features have friends and relatives commented on when visiting? How does your local chamber of commerce or tourism bureau promote the area? The constant presence of the Eiffel Tower may render it invisible to a Parisian, but visitors find it endlessly fascinating and the subject of countless photographs and paintings. Through the eyes of a tourist, your hometown offers many unique focal points. You just need to adjust your perspective to find them.

Another way to refresh your perspective is using sound in addition to sight. Music and visual source material have often been paired to elicit an emotional response. A motion picture soundtrack is a good example. With the popularity of portable music devices, it's easy to have a constant soundtrack accompanying you in your daily travels. Unlike a film score's intentional relationship to the events onscreen, the playlist of an MP3 player is blind to its environment. This phenomenon is known as synchronicity, in which random events appear to be connected. I find that this visual/musical synchronicity often creates unique out-of-the-blue emotional and conceptual relationships that I can employ in my art.

Changing the distance from your subject can also have an effect on your subject matter. For example, if landscapes are your usual subject, try working at the close-up end of the scale. Painter Georgia O'Keefe's work focused on the Southwest United States. She constantly played with the distance between her artistic eye and her subject matter. She found inspiration in both the landscape and a single desert flower. You can do the same with your preferred subject matter.

It's easy to allow your creative muse to hibernate due to a lack of inspiring surroundings. You can overcome this common artistic malady by becoming a tourist in your hometown. A change in perspective could be a song away. Or maybe you just need to take a closer look.

John Derry
Somewhere in Kansas

John Derry is a pioneer of digital painting and one of the original authors of Corel® Painter™. Since 1985, he has leveraged his background in drawing and painting to advance the look and experience of traditional art-making tools on the computer. John has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Fine Art and is a practicing artist and photographer. John's Web site is at www.pixlart.com.