The Main Reasons I Paint From Imagination
People often ask where I get my inspiration from, and seem shocked when I tell them I paint from imagination.
For the majority of my life, I’ve been an artist. And particularly since the 90’s, I have focused my efforts towards painting (but mixed in with other crafts and glass art).
I’ve plodded through drawing and design classes in high school and college, and taken countless workshops from artists whose work I admire. And I’ve loved almost every aspect of the process, start to finish.
But my work truly became exciting for me to create once I started to paint from imagination.
Why I Paint From Imagination
After many years of painting to make a living, I grew tired of rules and expectations. In fact, I stopped painting for nearly five years! Then one day during the pandemic, I started playing with painting familiar everyday objects, crazy critters, and simple shapes. I didn’t use still-life setups – instead I just drew or painted what came to my mind at that moment. As the objects came to life on the canvas, I felt like a child again—creating just for the joy of it. Painting was playful and alive once more.
These simple and imaginary objects make me happy.
So when people ask me why I don’t use props or reference photos when I paint, my answer is simple:
I paint from imagination because it’s the most direct path to expressing something honest inside of me.
How I Started to Paint From Imagination
In a world overflowing with hidden meanings, social media and selfies, we artists are expected to create work that is perfectly shadowed and proportionate, always profound and pleasing to the eyes. When we fail to make “perfect” work, we are apt to be judged or criticized for not following the rules.
Judgment and criticism can suck the life and confidence from any artist – no matter how long or educated you are. And when we start doubting our abilities and aren’t careful to nurture our creative souls, making art becomes more of a job than an enjoyable endeavor.
When COVID hit California and we were locked down, my anxiety started to kick in. And that’s when I began painting directly in journals vs. canvas or other subtrates.
Here are some empty and painted-in journals I sewed together with wax thread from old paintings and pieces of upcycled paper from the many packages being delivered.
I have to say, painting on scrap paper was (and is) fun! Do you know the feeling of opening a new journal and freezing at the thought of desecrating the new book?
That just doesn’t happen when you’re drawing on “garbage.”
With these simple sewn-together pieces of scrap paper, you’re invited to play instead and the fear of not painting or drawing perfectly disappears.
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My Creative Process
My creative process is difficult to describe precisely, but my imagination has me drawing something unseen but deeply felt. I don’t want to copy or replicate what’s already out in the world—but I do want to invite viewers to step inside the invisible landscapes of my soul.
When I paint from imagination, I can bypass realism to engage with real life emotion, memory, and dream. It creates room for symbols to emerge, for mark-making to feel ancient and intuitive. Working this way feels like collaborating with something beyond myself—like a whisper from the subconscious, or a conversation with spirit.
On a cradled wood panel, gallery-wrapped canvas, canvas board or piece of 140# watercolor paper, I start sketching a shape with a Derwent Water-Soluble Pastel or Watercolor Pencil. Then I fill in the shapes with paint: oil, acrylic, and gouache in varying layers, depending on the mood or energy of a piece.
Sometimes I lay down a background with a bold, gestural brushstroke or a soft, faded wash of paint. There’s no formula—I work from whatever feeling arises or desire for a color that calls, or a form that insists on being born.
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$25.19 for 3- 11×14
$20.96 set of 12
$14.99 set of 12
And if I feel like it, I will highlight areas with an oil pastel or Posca markers to add more interest.
People often tell me that my paintings feel both ancient and modern, both sacred and minimal. They tend to admire the simplicity and I’m often told that my work makes them happy.
I think that’s because the work isn’t trying to be anything. The vessels just are. The flowers just bloom. A piece of fruit just is. The table and/or chair is just there. The small details just happen. The work emerges from a quiet space within me—a place without words or logic. A place of comfort and remembering.
The Creative Space Within Us All
As an artist, I value my creative space deeply. This space is within us all, and when you tune into it, your art will be made with a feeling of freedom from judgment and performance.
For me, my still life paintings are where my own personal truth lies. Each of us are surrounded by everyday objects and settings within our homes like this every single day. These objects and settings are our truth, and painting them can be strange yet familiar when we allow the intuitive shapes to be born.
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$13.13 for 30 sheets
$24.99 for 36 colors
$41.18 for 15 markers
The vessels or figures feel like messengers as they dwell in environments that don’t even exist in the physical world. Yet somehow they evoke a feeling of home and honesty – they just are.
So if you’ve ever wondered why my own art looks the way it does—why it doesn’t imitate life as we see it—know this: it’s because it’s a reflection of life as I feel it.
Raw, layered, mysterious, and full of quiet beauty.
I hope you like my work – I really do, but I totally understand if you don’t. My art isn’t for everyone!!
I just know when I paint from imagination, my art comes from a comfortable place in my soul, and it makes me smile.
NEXT READ: 26 Reasons Why Painting Smaller is Better
