My next step is to pick an overarching theme for the collection.
I specifically loved the idea of painting fruit and pairing it with blues – and y’all know I love ginger jars so that was a natural fit! Citrus ginger jars it was 🙂
Getting Specific
I then brain dump all of my ideas for different designs I could paint (ex: which fruit should I include – lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruit, etc.) , and narrow them down to about 3-5 final painting ideas for a collection.
Time to Browse Pinterest!
Once I have my painting list in mind, I head to Pinterest and start researching and gathering photos.
I like to pin a wide variety of the same type of thing (ex: multiple orange trees, a variety of ginger jar planter styles, etc.) that way I’m able to view them as a whole for inspiration and figure out what I love most from a handful of pieces.
Ex: the shape of one ginger jar planter, but coming up with my own actual design to put on the planter to make it unique – or combining a few different silhouettes of orange trees to make my own composition – keeping it realistic looking but in my own hand.
Take a peek at my Floral Painting Inspiration Pinterest board here!
How to Avoid Copying
This helps me to avoid copying any one thing in particular, and ultimately create a design that is as much from my own mind as possible.
One thing I will note is that I do always research to see if other artists have painted a similar idea before.
I like to do my due diligence to research this before I work on my own design – to make sure my artwork is different from theirs.
Because it’s one thing to intentionally copy someone else’s work (never a good thing!!), but it’s also always so disheartening when you work hard on a painting and then realize that you unintentionally made a design that is super similar to another artist’s work. So this helps to avoid that!
PS – you can hear me chat more about this topic on my friend Laylee’s podcast – the So Here’s The Thing Podcast!
