Having Fun With Acrylic Paint!

In addition to my art career, I'm also a published author. In the world of authors, people tend to align to either a "plotter" or a "pantser" with the occasional hybrid writer. If those words don't make sense, let me explain.

Generally, authors tend to come in two flavors, those who do a complete outline, put together scenes, create character profiles, and potentially a lot more. They feel most comfortable and productive when they have just about everything sort of figured out before they start writing... these folks are known as "plotters", meaning they plan out everything in advance. As you can guess by now, a "pantser" is an author who has a general idea or a spark of inspiration and then starts writing away, not sure where the story will go or even how it ends before they get there. The name comes from writing "by the seat of your pants".

As a painting artist, focused on Impressionist Abstracts as well as Geometric Abstracts and Textured Abstracts, I find myself struggling a bit with the pendulum swinging between being a plotter or a pantser. I so often read about other Abstract artists who grab a brush (or tool of choice) and start painting without doing a painting study or even thinking about how the composition might look when finished.

No surprise here, if I'm struggling, then you probably already know I'm a plotter... while writing my first publications (articles for magazines), I worked best when I built the outline, and knew my key points and final messages. When I tackled my first fiction novel, I approached it the same way with an outline, key highlights, and more.

So when I started in earnest with my Abstract art, veering away from my original Impressionist style, I tried the pantser approach. I had a general loose idea of what I thought I might create and then I went for it. Some of it was good, some of it not, which by my unscientific survey is how most artists feel, regardless of style. More recently, I find myself spending more time planning, or in this narrative plotting, my composition. Not all the details mind you but I do a sketch on the canvas with broad shapes and noted letters in the first initial caps of the colors and where they will start, although may not end up.

Here is one of my recent canvases with sketches

I don't know if I'm an outlier in the artist world of Abstract painting - wanting to do more plotting and planning than just being free to roam the canvas with whatever energy I express. So I struggle a bit, not to the point of being anxious, but rather, more philosophically. Am I not "getting it" as an Abstract Artist? To reach my full potential should I be just winging it? Maybe I should turn my studio music a bit higher?

Your thoughts?