How do you find your style?
Finding your artistic style is one of the most common and elusive topics in my classes. Students often ask: “Does your style find you, or do you develop it based on your strengths?”
The first step is mastering the techniques of your chosen medium. Style can’t truly emerge while you’re learning—it develops as you notice which methods resonate with you. In photo encaustic, the process itself sets a mood, but it is content that defines your unique artistic voice.
I guide my students to consider what part of an image they want to conceal versus reveal. On the surface, this is about the photograph. But deeper, it’s about revealing aspects of ourselves. The subconscious guides our image selection and the way we manipulate it. As one student put it: “Spending time with my own photos gives me clues about what is going on inside.”
Photography connects us to moments, people, and places—but the act of working with the image transforms it into something personal. Over time, intuition guides our choices. Through conscious reflection and experimentation, we discover what matters to us, and these choices define our style.
Your style emerges from connection and expression—not the tools you use. It’s the emotional link between you, the subject, and your audience that ultimately makes your work distinct and memorable.
Ready to find your artistic voice? Join my 4-day mini-course and explore your style, content, and creative expression. Start here: Find Your Artistic Voice
Would love to hear from you about your process for discovering your unique style. Leave a comment below.
Be well….be creative,
Very thoughtful, Clare. I am also a very intuitive kind of artist so I appreciate your process. Right now I’m in the middle of painting backgrounds and have had to redo one piece five times but somehow in all this I’m getting closer to finding my own style. The process is the thing and the process is wonderful.
Thanks
Hi Carol, yes, I’m constantly re-doing pieces. It’s just part of my process. Glad you are enjoying the process…..otherwise it might just be too frustrating:)
As I am new to the photo encaustic medium, I’m certainly spending a lot of time “playing” with it, in order to learn what works, what doesn’t, what’s fun, what’s not fun, what exciting things I discover, what frustrating things I struggle with. But I also think that all of this “playing” also leads me to my unique style. For me, it doesn’t work to think too hard about things like style, or I end up scaring my creativity away. Approaching all of the art work and creative projects that I am engaged in with a huge dose of “play” helps my style – my artistic voice – find its way into the work.
Hi Deb, I’m so glad that you are still playing with the medium…..and you are right, the more you play the more you find what speaks to you…..what images work well for your vision, and what do not…..eventually your unique style begins to emerge.