Exploration: The Key to Creating Art

I believe that every day is a good day to start something different. Why? Well, to help explain, let me tell you a little story about how I started creating art.

In May 2014 I took a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I don't remember the exact date, but I do remember it was a sunny day away from home - 2,339 miles away, to be exact. The end of this trip coincided with the closing of the day, which was a sky spread with a very purply/pinkish sunset.

On seeing this sky exploding with color, my mind experienced something I can only describe as "the color explosion." I remember a sensation so intense and impactful that I couldn't get that sunset out of my head for the next few days. I knew I had to try painting what I had seen, so I trekked out to the closest art store and purchased watercolors, brushes and paper. Back home, I started painting the sunset - not sure if I could even do this, but I had to try.

And so, I say that exploration is the key to creating art because this wasn't anything I had planned or knew would happen - it just came about. The literal exploration - the trip - brought about the color explosion, which led to just seeing if I even could copy the sunset. This whole experience has been exploring, experimenting - I just had to be open to it all even starting.

And now I can honestly say that the day I started painting the sunset was the day the artist in me was made.

Outer Banks sunset, May 2014 (Photograph).