Oil Painting

I wanted to try my hand at oil painting this week, so I bought a canvas, some brushes and some oil paints, and attempted my first piece. First I drew what I wanted to create and I worked on painting it for over a week. Eventually, I stood back to look at it and decided that I absolutely hated what I had created. So, when I got home from work the next day, I bought some paint thinner, and wiped it clean so I could started over. Soon, I started painting again and within about an hour, I had created what you can see here as my background.  My wife called me for dinner so I set down my brushes and walked away. 

When I came back about an hour later, I painted the figure you can see on the left.  It looked to me like a woman, so then I added the child you can see on the right.  Nothing else came to mind, so I stopped right there and cleaned my brushes. I think that's it for this piece. Why was I inspired to paint a woman and child? What it means to me.

Unlike my process in developing a marketing strategy, I've found that whenever I try to "plan my art" I never like it. I always struggle when attempting to draw something that is based on a photo, model or any preconceived ideas. However, when I let go of trying to control my creativity and simply create an image as it comes to me, the outcome is truly unique. When I can paint freely, without a plan, its much more honest and I am able experience something truly unique.