The third or fourth time is the charm! New Process 😍

Since I have been blogging for so many years, my creative process is very well documented online. I am very grateful to have such a comprehensive record of my journey!

Years ago I painted this 30x30” painting, “Familiar”. I painted it in July, 2019 to be exact. I loved this painting. In fact, I have sold several similar pieces using the same palette and feel..sort of my signature at the time. The problem was, that I didn’t have any place to store this painting while it waited for a forever home. It was too big to fit in my closet and my wall space is very limited here at home. I would say that probably the kiss of death for this painting would be that it was hanging immediately adjacent to my left shoulder as I would sit at my computer desk.

“Familiar”, painted 2019 by Julie Prichard.

In 2019, my focus was to bring organic movement and shapes into my work, I had not discovered an exact science for this, or something that my eye was comfortable with, so I would apply paint to the canvas and hope for the best usually. This worked sometimes, but more often that not, the process resulted in a lot of painting and hoping…covering and hoping..you get the idea.

Fast forward to May 2021. In 2021, I wrote my “Expanding on Color” online workshop. The process put me on an immediate skyrocketing path and new direction with color. I was feeling so great and I completed so many paintings at that time….an “art high” so to speak. I was painting canvases faster than I could get them into the studio….”Familiar” was a sitting duck.

In the first COVID lockdown, I sold a ton of paintings. Unfortunately, I thought that since no one purchased “Familiar”, I should paint over it. I labeled that painting a disappointment. I striped the varnish, and started fresh on the same canvas and “Modern Landscape” was born in October 2021.

October 2021, “Modern Landscape" by artist, Julie Prichard.

“Modern Landscape” received a lot of attention social media. My followers love blue paintings (and so do I!), so it was always a big hit. It never made it to a forever home, it was hanging right beside me every day….I’m sure you know what is going to happen next.

Fast forward to October 2022. In October, still utilizing the “Expanding on Color” process in every painting, I started to hone in on a new process to support my evolving artistic style. Infatuated with shape (and color), I began experimenting and testing a new way of creating organic shape. The new process focsued on more shapes on the canvas, and less “hoping” for a composition. I worked on this process for 5 months or so and my new workshop, “The Abstracting Workshop” was born!

“The Abstracting Workshop” is being well received by the students who have already picked it up on its grand opening promotion. I have been so excited about the process, that I once again decided to alter this canvas…however, unlike it’s predecessor, “Familiar”, “Modern Landscape”, had some great areas that I wanted to retain. I didn’t want to cover it completely to apply my new process to it. Instead, I picked it up mid way through and created, “Count to Ten”, shown below.

“Count to Ten”, 2023. Julie Prichard, San Diego. Mixed media on stretched canvas, 30x30”.

I am very lucky to have such a supportive group of online workshop students. The students that have come through my virtual doors since 2009 have inspired me to ask myself questions and how to develop content in order to help them achieve their painting goals. While filming, “The Abstracting Workshop”, I put myself into the position of a student wanting to learn how to arrive at compelling abstract compositions, all the while using techniques to develop and finish those compositions so that they stand out.

“Count to Ten” was a little challenging to pick up mid way through the completed painting, but I feel that I accomplished my goal of retaining the original feel of “Modern Landscape” while pushing this composition into “2023 Julie”. I am really happy with how this painting turned out.

I don’t think my career is that of a conventional artist, but I think that is what inspires me to teach like I do. I’ve never really had the opportunity to create art for the sake of creating…I’ve always had to balance work with creating… it is not easy to be able to articulate abstract art to everyone…but I feel like after all of these years I have great handle on teaching. I think my repeat customers are a good benchmark of that.

I’ve read that an artist needs to keep striving, keep reinventing and keep pushing in order to be successful. Personally, I push, strive and try to discover just becasue I think I have that fire inside. There is always a voice for me to try new things..and with experience, I know some things are going to work and a lot of times I will fail… and that is what makes the process beautiful.

If you are interested in learning my process for completing complex abstracts with beautiful nuance and complexity, please follow this link to learn more. You can also click here to email me if you have any questions. Thank you for stopping by today!