HOW TO GET OUT OF A CREATIVE RUT (5 TIPS)

ALFRED TORRES February 17, 2020

Hi guys! It’s been a minute. I thought I would share my thoughts On how to get out of a creative rut/funk. It happens to all of us artists at some point, even a couple of times a year.

Here are 5 ways to get out of that creative funk

Organize your art space/studio
It helps me get the creative energy flowing when I go through my art supplies. I inventory my paint colors, canvases and other supplies. Often, this helps reinvigorate my creative energy and motivates me to start new projects.
PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.
Practice makes perfect right? Well, ya’ll know that I am not a fan of perfection. However, practicing palm trees, seascapes, clouds, etc., helps me get in a creative state of mind.
This is as easy as grabbing an old canvas, and painting your subject, over and over again. I feel this technique forces your mind to get out of the analytical left side, and into that creative right side of your brain. 🧠
Go look at some art in your community.
This is as simple as visiting a museum, or going to your local arts district.
TOUCH UP AN OLDER ART PIECE
Sometimes looking backwards helps you move forwards. Referencing/touching up your older art pieces may help propel you in a new direction, or simply jump start you into a new piece. This can be as simple as cleaning up some borders on an old painting. Also, I find varnishing some pieces gets me excited and fired up to create my next painting.
SKETCHING
I find sketching ideas that you may be interested in painting, is a fantastic way to get inspired & motivated to create your next masterpiece.
BONUS TIP:
KEEP A SIMPLE PALETTE. Challenge yourself to create a painting using a limited palette. Maybe just black and white?

There are more ways than these that I mentioned. Will you share your ways on getting out of a creative funk with me?

I sure hope this blog helps get you inspired and motivated to create your next masterpiece. I know that it has sure helped me out.
Leave your comments down below

Until next time my friends, you know what to do:

“Stay creative, and keep on painting!”

- C.A.M. OUT

I EARN MY WINGS

ALFRED TORRES December 30, 2019

The Rotary sponsored Avalon Wine Walk seemed to arrive quickly this year. I was fortunate to finish my Angel Wings piece, The Devil Is in the Details , just before the exhibit. I hung the wings up with the fresh smell of varnish still on them.

I had been stuck on the wing details for about a week, and then I envisioned the final wing design one day before the event. It all came to me early in the morning just after I woke up. I must have still been in dreamstate, cuz it happened in a blink.

This would be my second time exhibiting for the Avalon wine walk and I was very excited to exhibit my Angel Wings.

Creating these wings was a fantastic & enlightening journey for me. I never had any interest in painting Angel Wings. The idea came to me one night, but I made a deal and can’t divulge my inspiration. Wink Wink.

The landscape part took me three sessions, over three days. The wings took over two weeks to get right and balanced. As for actually finishing both wings, I was stuck for a hot minute. Then the day before my exhibit, the thought of texture painting them came to me.

Sketching & Painting

Love this “sketch/painting” technique directly on the canvas.

It was a fantastic time socializing with these Orlando artists & our host John always makes it an interesting time. John allows us to transform Avalon Realty Group into the Eastside’s only legit art gallery for a night, and it is truly magical.

CHEERS & HAPPY 2020!

Complicated Art Man

As always, thank you for stopping by the. C.A.M. blog.

Until next time my friends, you know what to do:

“Stay Creative & Keep On Painting“

“HEAVEN SENT” SPRAY PAINTED RESIN ON WOOD

HEAVEN SENT (A SPRAY PAINTED RESIN PROJECT)

ALFRED TORRES November 27, 2019

GREETINGS & HAPPY TURKEY SEASON.

So this piece was one of those happy little accidents that happen when creating art and working with spray painted resin. My original intention was to make an American Flag. That changed in a hurry after my first resin drop. When the resin started curing and the pattern started to emerge something amazing happened. I just couldn’t stop looking at the design that came out. It was so heavenly and ethereal that I had to go with it.

That little artist voice in my head was telling me we now had a new plan.

More on that in a minute. But first; Let’s backtrack for a moment, shall we?

Rollin On The River (Musical Mickey Series #3)

I needed to take a break from my current art project with SteamBoat Willie (ROLLING ON THE RIVER), so what a better way to do that than by mixing up some spray painted resin and dropping it down on some wood.

So after letting the resin cure over night, the following day I was still feeling the vibe and pattern of the design that I had created. It was like looking up at the sky or looking down onto and into the ocean from the sky.

As above so below??? Something like that.

BACKGROUND LAYER & DAM BORDER (Insulation Tape)

I stayed committed and dropped a final coat of spray painted resin, chopped it all up w/a paint stick and that was pretty much that.

All I had left to do was peel off the border dam I had made with the Nashua “DUCT/INSULATION” tape. Then sand down the borders.

Preparing the resin dam took about an hour. I used paint sticks to keep the dam walls straight and to also measure the height of the dam.

When the second coat of resin cured, I peeled off the resin dam, and sanded the borders down. I started with a quick 60 grit, then worked it up to 150, then 220.

I thought the sanding down process and removing the tape residue was going to be a pain in the ass, but it actually wasn’t. I was very surprised at how tolerable it was to work with that insulation tape.

I touched up the borders with some soft & quick bursts of spray painted blues and that was that. This project that manifested itself out of nowhere, was DUNZOS!

Some really amazing things can happen when you’re working with spray painted resin. Case in point this Angel Feather that magically appeared. I found this quite intriguing, as one of my side projects in between all of these mentioned is a pair of Angel Wings. Interesting.

FOR MORE TIPS ON CREATING ART WITH RESIN, STOP BY MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL. PEEP THE VID DOWN BELOW

My Musical Mickey Series took me three months to the day from start to finish.

I consider these works my HOLY TRINITY of art, in my journey of creating art so far.

TOP: “ROLLIN’ ON THE RIVER”
B LEFT: “C.R.E.A.M.”
B RIGHT: “OH MICKEY YOU’RE SO FINE”

It’s always a pleasure having you as my guest here at the C.A.M. blog.

Have a great THANKSGIVING ya’ll!

Until next time, you know what to do my friends: “STAY CREATIVE AND KEEP ON PAINTING”

COMPLICATED ART MAN OUT!

CREATING "OH MICKEY" & "C.R.E.A.M." MICKEY

ALFRED TORRES November 8, 2019

What’s up guys, it’s your boy the C.A.M.

My latest art creations are two different versions of “STREET CRED MICKEY”.

On the left we have “Oh Mickey You’re So Fine”, and on the right we have “C.R.E.A.M.” (CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME).

“Oh Mickey You’re So Fine” & “C.R.E.A.M.” (CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME) & Sassy the Chihuahua

Bonus feature piece is: “NO COUNTRY FOR OLD GLORY”

“NO COUNTRY FOR OLD GLORY is a mixed media piece, and is created on wood. Old Glory consists of ACRYLIC, SPRAY PAINTED RESIN, SPRAY PAINT, AND RESIN COATED.

“OH MICKEY”, features a cipher imbedded around his chest area and “CREAM” features the WU-TANG style logo with some Basquiat style effects around it.

Once I had the title all figured out, I knew I HAD to incorporate the WU-TANG logo into the painting. It was definitely apros-po. After all, New York is the birthplace of Hip Hop as well as Basquiat.

Sketching practice for the CREAM logo & dollar bill symbols that went over the eyes.

I sketched these out on the card stock paper that comes inside the canvases. The same ones that give the canvas specifications. I save most of these and honestly find them quite useful for situations such as these.

My sketch painting process is to practice over and over until I feel comfortable with the technique. Basically when I’m ready, I switch over to the canvas and let it rip..

Here is a gallery featuring a few stages that these paintings went through. . Click on any photo to expand.

Both versions are mixed media on canvas and roughly 2’ x 3’.

Media types include, acrylic, spray paint, clear lacquer, glitter, glue, stencil, and varnish. I finished both Micks off with two coats of flat varnish and used the gloss varnish to highlight/accent parts of each painting.

Thanks for stopping by the COMPLICATED ART MAN blog.

I hope you enjoyed this quick blog on my latest art pieces. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions down below.

Until next time, you know what to do my friends:

“STAY CREATIVE AND KEEP ON PAINTING”

C.A.M. OUT!

SKETCH PAINTING STEAMBOAT WILLIE, HALLOWEEN, & A PAIR OF ANGEL WINGS

ALFRED TORRES November 2, 2019

Happy November 1st. Does that mean it’s officially fall already?

Regardless, I’ve been very busy with my art projects as of late. So this is just a quick blog on my current project of interest, Steamboat Willie.

This will be the third time I’ve painted Steamboat Willie, but this version will be a throwback all the way to the O.G. Steamboat.

Below is a pic of my other two paintings;

“Oh Mickey You’re So Fine”
“C.R.E.A.M.” (CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME)

This was taken on Halloween night, hence the steampunk theme. Shout out to Sassy Girl the Chihuahua.

HALLOWEEN, SASSY, & 2 MICKS. “OH MICKEY YOU’RE SO FINE” & “C.R.E.A.M.”

This painting will be part of a live art instructional demonstration that I’ve been selected to be a part of. The demo is taking place on Nov. 2nd here in Orlando at Total Wine & Spirits.

The first process of this painting involves what I call “sketch painting”, right on the canvas. I’ve projected the image of Captain Steamboat onto a blank canvas and literally started sketching right onto it with paint. Since it is a form a sketching, I kept it simple with white, grey, and some black.

I find this “sketch painting” stage of the painting free and loose. At this point of the game, I’m not too invested in the painting just yet. So if I want to change things up, it won’t be that difficult.

While we’re on the topic of sketching, check out my past post on sketching and why it’s important here:

http://www.complicatedartman.com/cam-blog/2018/12/10/sketching-why-its-important

The theme of this Steamboat Willie painting will be based around greed.

By the way, if anyone out there thinks that using a projector is an easy way out…news flash: IT ISN’T.

Using a projector can be very difficult and tricky. You have to find the right angles between the projector and the propped up canvas. Also,if you bump the projector the slightest, you’ll have to reset the whole setup.

I found that moving the canvas around is much easier than moving the projector around.

FRESCO’S TIP": USE AN LED LIGHT BULB. Led light bulbs are much brighter. You’ll need it.

ANGEL WINGS: WORK IN PROGRESS

Angel wings in progress UNTITLED — Angel wings in progress *UNTITLED*

This painting of the Angel wings is a work in progress. It is 3’ x 4’ acrylic on canvas. It also has been a Devil of a time painting this one so far… I had to redo the bottom half twice already.

Stay tuned for a future blog on these bad boys.

Well my friends, that’s all I got for now.

How are your art projects going? Let me know in the comments section.

In the meantime my peeps, you know what to do:

“STAY CREATIVE AND KEEP ON PAINTING”

COMPLICATED ART MAN— OUT!

OCTOBER: REPPING PINK for BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

ALFRED TORRES October 15, 2019

Greetings from the C.A.M. Hope you have had a great summer. It was a really hot one here in Orlando, the City Beautiful. Now it’s time to focus on Fall & Winter art project.

But first…

In honor of October being designated Breast Cancer Awareness month, here are some of my artworks incorporating the color pink.

Enjoy

COMPLICATED ART MAN.

OLD GLORY (ON WOOD) SPRAY PAINTED RESIN & RESIN SEALED

Thanks for stopping by the C.A.M. blog!

Please feel free to inquire about any of these pieces, or the creation processes, down below.

Until next time my friends,

You know what to do:

”Stay creative & keep on painting “

HOW TO DESIGN YOUR ARTWORK BORDERS (OR NOT)

ALFRED TORRES May 25, 2019

HOW TO DESIGN YOUR ARTWORK BORDERS (OR NOT)

Greetings everyone from the C.A.M and happy Memorial Day Weekend. I hope you’ve had a fantastic spring.

I’m here today to drop a quick blog on the topic of “BORDER WORK.”

So you’ve finished up your masterpiece that you’ve been working on so hard, and now you don’t know what to do with those border details?

Should you paint them a solid color?

Black them out?

Extend the painting around the edges?

Add a design?

What to do, what to do?

Well my friends, the COMPLICATED ART MAN cannot make that decision for you. What I can tell you though is, that border details are very important to your masterpiece & may be even more important to the potential buyer of said masterpiece. Border details may make or break a sale for you.

So what do you do? Leave them alone? Go touch up all of your past paintings’ borders? I don’t think there’s any reason to hit the panic button. The intention of this article is mainly to bring attention to this issue.

In my experience, I’ve noticed that attention to border detail is very important to many people. I’ve overheard many people chatting about border design & details at many art exhibits. Sometimes giving kudos, sometimes not.

Deciding what to do about the borders on your paintings will be up to you. I base my decisions case by case.

I’ve had conversations with other artists and they’ve run into similar scenarios where they’re unsure of what to do. As artists, we are all extremely different. Some say, “That’s the way the painting comes, take it or leave it.” Others will try to accommodate the buyer, within reason.

I fall into the latter category: WITHIN REASON.

This topic has prompted me to shed some light on my experiences with this “Border Detail Dilemma.”

Recently, I sold a painting and explained to the buyer that the piece came as is. The borders were part of the creation process specific to the organic design of the piece. They understood and voila, everything was copacetic . The piece found a new home.

Below are some pics of my creations and the border detail that I’ve incorporated into the pieces.

Canto VII was a piece about greed and excess, hence the dollar symbol design.

I custom made a dollar bill symbol stencil specifically for this painting.

For The Econ Sees You, I wrapped the trees around to the edges.

For Six Hibiscus Upside Down, I used a flower stencil design. I tapped the brush with varying amount of pressure, to give the stencil design a distressed look.

Serenity #5 (Serenity on the St. John’s River, St. Augustine)

The Serenity series was based all around being near or on the water in Florida. For this series I used a raindrop/mermaid scale design.

Serenity #3 (Serenity on the St. John’s River)

Serenity #1 (Serenity on the St. John’s River)

For Old Glory I used spray painted resin. I ghosted the spray paint all the way around to the edges. This was a really fun painting. If you haven’t tried working with spray painted resin, I highly recommend it. I have a video of the creation process to this painting on my You Tube Channel. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXkg782W7rw

Peppermint Splatty: I used acrylic paint and wrapped the design around to the edges. Then finished it off with two coats of resin. The seashells are from our beautiful Florida beaches. Here is a video of the creation process for Peppermint Splatty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbAYDoIHYCc&t=18s

With the Tree Of Life I used a loose broken stroke technique. I love this technique and use it often. It’s very free and rewarding. That is how I like to paint: free and loose.

This technique makes me feel great and elated, not stressed and uptight.

Here is the link to the time lapse video of the TOL paint process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c0irh2xfvU&t=2122s

With all of this being said, sometimes I add a design to the borders and sometimes I don’t . It could be a stencil design or maybe some sort of artistic technique. The decision will be up to your individuality and style to decide what to do.

BIG DECISIONS MY FRIENDS!

What kinds of border techniques do you incorporate into your masterpieces?

I hope this article helps you out. Let me know in the comments down below, even if it didn’t help lol.

GOOD LUCK & until next time you know what to do:

STAY CREATIVE and KEEP ON PAINTING!

Uncle Alfresco out- CHEERS!

TREE OF LIFE TIMELAPSE VIDEO

ALFRED TORRES May 14, 2019

Greetings from the C.A.M & Sassy Girl Chihuahua.

It’s a beautiful day here in Otown and I thought it would be awesome to sport my new Cocktailer Hat from Head N Home. This amazing Steampunk top hat was a treat to myself, celebrating the recent sale of a painting.

I’ve been bartending over 20 years and this American made leather hat by Head N Home out of San Francisco, was a perfect to myself.

My Mother’s chihuahua wasn’t impressed with my Cocktailer hat, so I decided to put her on my blog- Even though she wasn’t participating in my shenanigans.

I wanted to give you guys a quick update on my Tree Of Life time lapse video that’s coming out soon on my YT Channel (Complicated Art Man).

The TOL vid is currently in its final stages of production and should debut in a couple of days. My intention for this video is a straight up painting tutorial for people who have a difficult time putting their ideas down on canvas.

During my downtime I like to travel around the small Florida towns and talk to people. Often, I will pop into a cafe, or bar and talk to strangers about art.

One of the most common fears people have about painting is that they can’t translate their ideas onto canvas or paper. That’s why I decided to do this tree of life painting tutorial. I wanted to get back to the basics of my art, and just paint. While at the same time, hopefully, demonstrating to the masses that they can do it too.

”If I can paint it, so can you!”

The TOL vid will be a time lapse video, along with commentary of some of my techniques, methods of painting, & as always a few of Fresco’s Tips mixed in.

Thanks for stopping by the CAM BLOG

and in the meantime, you know what to do my friends:

Stay Creative and Keep On Painting!:

FRESCO OUT!

TREE OF LIFE (ACYRLIC ON CANVAS)

ALFRED TORRES April 24, 2019

TREE OF LIFE

Greetings from the C.A.M.

This TREE OF LIFE painting had been eluding me for a while, but I was finally able to capture it on canvas. A few months back I had painted a small version (6 x 6) & ever since then, I had an itch to paint it bigger.

I resined the trunk and branches on the smaller version for an embossed effect. I liked the end result so I may do it for the bigger version.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

I felt it was important for the bigger version, to paint a big bold beautiful T.O.L with the underground roots exposed and revealed. I feel that it is symbolic of, how we never really know what is going on “behind the scenes”. In this case, beneath the ground. Also of note is that I painted ten main branches. The number ten is sometimes associated with the Tree Of Life.

I finished the borders with some “atmosphere” effects using a broken stroke method with a script liner brush.

I hope you enjoyed the Tree Of Life. Have a fantastic spring and as always,

“Stay Creative & Keep on Painting!”

COLORS I USED:

Titanium white

Pthalo Blue

Ultramarine Blue

Yellow Ochre

Raw Sienna

Sap Green

Pthalo Green

Aliz Crimson

Honeycomb stencil for enhanced effect.

COMPLICATEDARTMAN OUT!

T.O.L. (TREE OF LIFE) Sketch

ALFRED TORRES April 12, 2019

Greetings from the C.A.M.

I’ve been working on these TOL sketches for a hot minute. Never ever underestimate the importance of sketching.

PAINTING COMING SOON!

Until then my friends:

STAY CREATIVE & KEEP ON PAINTING!

Have a wonderful Friday!

SKT 1

SKT 2

SKT 3