End Creative Overwhelm: How Limiting Your Tools Can Spark Artistic Growth

We have so many choices today. There are endless types of art supplies and kinds of paint to use in a wide range of minutely nuanced colors. Markers, crayons, pencils galore, and every width, flow, and nib you can imagine. Some are chalky, waxy, or oily, while others are water-soluble or solvent-soluble.

Paint can be applied with spray, brush, or blade. We have a variety of surfaces like canvas, linen, board, panel, or stretched options. You can paint on aluminum, wood, cloth, or glass. There are no longer strict rules or traditions, and whatever you can imagine, you can create. There is a niche or interest for almost any subject matter.

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If you're an art supply junkie like me, then you probably have drawers, cupboards, and shelves filled with creative opportunities and possibilities. But with all this abundance, how do you choose? Where do you start? How can we possibly fit all those supplies, colors, and mediums into one painting!? I've tried it before, and the results were not great. It was like Mexican-flavored spaghetti sushi with sweet and sour sauce.

Creating our own limits and boundaries is what fosters the highest level of creativity. We have our whole lives to explore and test all those materials. Our entire body of work can reflect the journey of creative experimentation. So, where should we begin?

It starts with limitations.

Choose a limited palette of colors, breaking away from the typical primary colors. Limit the tools you will use to spread the paint. Select only one new material to work with. Work in a series where you explore the depths of one subject matter. Time yourself and force your progress with major milestones in your painting within three-hour blocks. Push yourself to exhaust all possibilities with your chosen materials.

How many new colors can you create with only a few tubes of paint? How many nuances of line can you make? How many fields of depth can you pull off? Go deep, not wide!

Our creative journey is a lifelong process, and what a thrill it is! What a glorious life we get to live! We can spend our days exploring the edge of every material, technique, and element of art. What a wondrous feat! Our "bad" paintings or "fails" are all necessary to this adventure!

One painting does NOT define us. Being an artist is a lifestyle.

If you haven't picked up a brush in a while or you're feeling uninspired, just set some limitations for yourself and start with a handful of materials. Join the journey of creativity!