Curiosity & Branching Out

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

— Albert Einstein

For years I have admired the simple beauty of cyanotype prints. You might recognize them for their crisp, white silhouettes against bright blue backgrounds.

Curiosity got the cat in 2021, and I bought my first set of cyanotype print making supplies. Unfortunately, they sat in my supply cabinet for over a year before I felt ready to give them a try. My garden has been so full of life lately, as I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to my plants in 2022, and more native plants have moved into the space as well. Intrigued by the incredible variety of plants I was finding, I pull out the cyanotype making kit and got to work

What is this? Cat nip? Cat mint? I’m still not 100% sure.

What started as an afternoon project quickly turned into a multi-day creative journey. I’ve been experimenting with different paper types; different plants; application processes; making prints while the solution was still wet vs. dry; different additives, and so on.

While I don’t think this technique will ever replace my love for watercolor, the similarities between the two make it a great addition to my body of work. I’m seeing plants in a new light, and it gets me working outside a lot more.

What have you been curious about lately? What’s a new creative journey you’ve been contemplating?

Finding Inspiration & The Art of Letting Go

There was a point in the later weeks of winter when I felt I might never be inspired again. I felt depleted and wondered what I could possibly paint next. Do you ever have days like that? Like the well has run completely dry?

There was just one drop of creativity left inside me: I wanted to use my new red fuchsite watercolor paint. That’s all I started with: a little pink paint and the thought of a flower.

Six days and eight paintings later, my mind was full of ideas again. I don’t quite understand how inspiration is “magically” replenished, but I do know that sometimes it won’t happen until the paint brush touches paper.

Daydream Lilies | By Ashley Pahl 2022

Since those dreary March days, I had painted about 30 new botanical paintings. I thought that I had completed a full spring florals collection, but something didn't feel quite right.

Sometimes it's hard to know the difference between self-doubt and intuition.

I trusted my gut, and I'm glad I did. I re-painted many of the pieces that inspired the whole series to begin with. My saucer magnolias became looser and gained movement. My tulips went from folksy to a little bit more modern.

Saucer Magnolias | Ashley Pahl 2022

While I liked (and still like) my first attempt at this series, I didn't feel like I stood behind them 100%. With my new paintings, I feel like they truly represent my vision for this collection, and I'm actually excited to share them with you!

So trust your intuition. Be willing to let go of work that doesn’t fill your soul - your next attempt could be a creative breakthrough.

Editing an art collection.

Editing is as much a part of the artistic process as any other part. The inspiration, planning, practicing, and creating is only made better by the final step: editing.

When I am creating an art collection, not every piece is a winner. There will inevitably be paintings that just don’t fit in for one reason or another.

My recent collection, Grounded, was no exception. Here are a few examples of pieces that just didn’t fit, and why it’s not necessarily a bad thing:

1. “Botanical Plenty” was a personal favorite, but I didn’t love the way the white ink appeared on the leaves around these rose hips:

2. Similarly, I didn’t love the way the gold paint appeared in person on these leaves in “Golden Garden”

3. While I loved these botanical studies, they were done as practice and not high enough quality to sell as originals:

4. There was nothing wrong with this painting at all; this painting was excluded because I already had a couple of other paintings that were too similar:

5. & 6. While I loved these agate-inspired paintings, I didn’t love the white ink accents I added to them later:

The positive to this? These paintings provided wonderful practice and inspiration for future collections. These are all jumping off points that I can build on.

Additionally, all of these paintings will make beautiful prints! Anything I’m not satisfied with can be gently edited before printing. When the Grounded: Print Collection launches right here on Thursday, May 13th, these pieces of art that didn’t make the original cut will be included. They are all worthy pieces that will be right at home on your gallery wall.

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