Stop saving your ideas for later.

You can paint an idea more than once.

This might be obvious to you, but for me this realisation changed the way I approached my art process. I had always hoarded ideas, subjects, even colour combinations, saving them for the perfect day, the perfect moment, the time when I would be good enough to 'do it justice'. This became a way of procrastinating, holding myself back from doing the things I wanted because I didn't want to 'waste' the ideas. In short, I feared failure.

Then one day last year, as I dithered over whether to attempt a painting I knew was above my skill level but I dearly wanted to try anyway, my partner said, "You can just paint it again. You can paint the same thing as many times as you want."

And my entire outlook on painting was changed. Painting things over and again became freeing, because I didn’t have to worry if I messed up the execution of a great idea. I just did it again.

Because ideas aren’t used up or worn out, they get stronger the more you explore them. Richer. More beautifully detailed.

You can explore a beloved subject in different moods, styles, mediums, or settings. It allows you the freedom to make a grand mess of things, and then start over without grief or catastrophising. It is also an excellent way to form a series or collection of paintings. It without a doubt levels up your painting skills.

And it also levels up your storytelling. How many different story aspects to one idea can you tell? An idea: a woman in a rose garden, laying flowers in the hands of a statue. Is the mood romantic, mournful, playful, victorious? Why not each of them, one after the other? There are choices to be made in changing the story: colour palette, lighting, values, setting . . .

Four ways to explore an idea.

Making many studies

Perhaps the most common way multiple paintings of a similar subject might appear in your creative process is by doing studies: colour studies, value studies, composition studies. This is a low-intensity way to explore possibilities.

Revisiting an old idea

As you develop your style and skill as an artist, you might look back at an old work and wonder what you would do differently, or how it might look in your current style. In these moments, it’s great fun to take out a fresh canvas or piece of paper, and revisit the original idea with a fresh take.

Painting a series around the same idea or motif

If you find yourself with a current obsession, whether it is with sunset skies, autumn apples, or a particular colour combination, you’re in a lucky flush of creativity! Let yourself paint what you are desiring to paint — even if that means 20 similar paintings of a bowl of apples. This sort of focused, repetitive work can be incredibly defining for an artist. It will help you refine your voice, your style, your technique. You’ll also end up with a collection of work that will be stunning to show.

Filling up a sketchbook

The easiest, and most free way to explore an idea, over and over and over. A sketchbook has no limits — if you only want to draw one idea in a hundred different ways, then your sketchbook is only waiting for you to begin. A sketchbook also functions as a record of the evolution of idea. It is so valuable to have this record to come back to, in time, and retrace your process.

So many of my ideas start as a pencil sketch, or a digital sketch on Procreate.

So, what idea have you been saving up? This is my gentle nudge to you to go pick up your brush and get to work on it. There’s no time like the present!