I'd been looking at this painting by Odilon Redon a lot. When a new client told me my work reminded her a bit of his paintings, of course I had to see for myself. I look at art of all kinds on a daily basis, so I was surprised to be learning of an artist I hadn't previously known, and more surprised to see that, yes, my work is (in some instances) reminiscent of his. So, since the summer, I've spent some time looking through images of his paintings, letting them absorb into my skin, in particular the piece shown here called 'Ophelia.'  

I have long been aware of how my water portrait work can seem inspired by Shakespeare's doomed character. {Artists seem to have been drawn to her for centuries.} In fact, I take great care to keep my subjects from looking like Ophelia. I am admittedly enamored by a fully-clothed woman submerged in water-- it's unexpected and I love the way the fabrics flow and float in the water, the way the colors are saturated-- but I don't like the characters I create to look lost, hopeless or dead. Still, how interesting that the first Redon piece I am drawn to is his vision and interpretation of her.

Why all this talk about Redon? 

Two things...

1.  I was hired by that same client to create an artistic portrait of/for her, so I thought it would be cool to let his work seep into my subconscious a bit, study it for awhile then put it away while I created this new work of my own.

2. I am always interested in how art is created, the motivation, the inspiration, and the process. Lately, I find myself discussing that exact thing with my son, who is struggling a bit to find his own voice in music. He feels frustrated that the music and lyrics he writes sound like the music to which he listens. 

"Naturally, what you put in," I tell him, "will eventually come out." What we read, what we see, what we hear and experience becomes part of us. Artists must have input to create output, and, with persistence, the output will become more and more your own. 

I remember one of my high school English teachers had us regularly do an exercise called "Write Like" which called for us to try and mimic the exact style of the particular author we were studying. I specifically remember the challenge of trying to write like Hemingway. He was so effective at communicating a scene without extraneous detail or flowery language. He would have pages of dialogue with no names or he said/she saids. You had to pay attention. 

If you want to make art, you have to look at art. Yes, some of what you observe will come out in your work. To keep from falling into the trap of outright copying, Try to look at work by other artists regularly, but not right before you begin work and not as a way of finding ideas. Also consider looking at art that is a different genre or style than yours. If you are a photographer, look at paintings or sculptures, for example. If you are a painter, read poetry or look at photography. You get the idea. 

Below, are the two final pieces I created for my client.  Maybe you will see my style in these two pieces, and perhaps even be able to see elements of other artists whose work has influenced me.