It is so easy to fall into a routine with painting and drawing and even easier to fall into the trap that Picasso so aptly described: “ Success is dangerous, one begins to copy oneself, and copying oneself is more dangerous. than to copy others. leads to sterility. So if your painting and drawing have come to a standstill, maybe it’s time to take a whole new approach to the way you work and step out of your comfort zone.

Why not try some of the following ideas?

If you normally sit in front of a beautiful landscape, still life or even a life model and draw what you see very carefully and then apply the paint ‘completing the shapes you have created, maybe it is time to be more radical. Why not look at the scene, still life, life model for about five minutes? notice in your mind the things that are important, tones, colors, shapes, even the sensation or emotion that the image evokes. Get away from the scene, hide the still life, or let the model take a break and just stare at their black paper or canvas for a moment or two. Imagine that what you have seen is on paper and draw what you ‘see’, feel and remember. You will not be able to put all the details, but what you will draw is the really important thing from what you have seen and that will be much more interesting.

Why not try to do the opposite of what you would normally do when starting to draw or paint? For example; If you start to draw objects from top to bottom, reverse it. If you normally paint the background first in a landscape, that is, you start with the sky, then the background hills, etc. Try painting the foreground first and working the other way around, filling in the distant hills and sky between the foreground shapes. This method feels quite different from your painting and can be very liberating.

Try to break one of the habits you have acquired with your drawing and painting. Be honest with yourself. Do you rely on drawing only what you see, do you rely on photographs, always draw your idea before painting, and always use the same colors / color scheme? Why not get rid of the habit? It can be quite a liberating experience.

One last idea, grab a piece of graphite and tape it to a three foot long cane. Place a large sheet of drawing paper on a chalkboard on the floor. Stand in front of the board, hold the cane just opposite the graphite end; now draw the scene, the still life or your model. Wow, what great lines you have drawn.