Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver
October Tea, 24x24 oil on gallery wrapped canvas
If you have wanted to be part of a 30 day painting challenge, but felt it was too intimidating, here are some helpful ideas for approaching it.
1) Choose a theme for the challenge. You can have more than one theme, but having at least one will make it easier to stay focused throughout the month. The theme can be anything from your subject matter, your style, your medium, your inspiration, a color scheme, or multiple color schemes. For instance, you could paint 4 different subjects in as many different ways as you can come up with. Or just one subject. Whatever you choose, having a theme makes it much easier.
2) Choose just one or a variety of color schemes. This is a continuation of the suggestion above. You could paint the same subject in 30 different color schemes! Or, you could paint a variety of subjects in, say, 4 previously chosen color schemes. Or just one color scheme used on 30 different subjects. You get the idea!
3) Choose one size to work with. This is one of my favorite things to do. Whether its a familiar size or something I'm not used to, I like to use the same size canvas or panel, or paper, to work on for each painting. I like it because it seems to bring some cohesiveness to my often scattered approach. And if they're for sale, you can let people know ahead of time, what the price will be for each piece.
4) Choose a goal. Another possibility is to choose a goal for the challenge. For instance, your goal might be to get better at painting colorful autumn trees. If this is your goal, you can be free to explore and practice them, without feeling pressured to make a great painting each day. They can all be just studies for your own learning.
5) Get all your supplies together. This is a no-brainer. But, if you don't have all your substrates together or all the paint you need, or even mailing supplies for the paintings you sell, it makes for a miserable month. And you're more likely to quit before the month is over.
6) Make a workflow list. I like to make myself a step by step list of steps to take after the painting is done. Photograph, upload to Artwork Archive, add to my website, add to the challenge site, post on Facebook and Instagram, send out in an email newsletter. That's quite a few steps and I need to have it on a paper I can refer to each day. Remember to provide a link from each of those venues, back to your painting on your website. And if you don't have a website, some of these steps will still apply to you.
That's about it! Really, you CAN do this! It just takes a little preparation. You'll be ready next September when Leslie Saeta will be hosting another 30 day challenge.
Day 13, Strada Easel Challenge
6x8 oil on panel
As my Spin instructor always said, "No challenge, no change!" Just like it's true for working out, so it is in art. I've participated in 30 day painting challenges before, but this year I decided to participate in TWO challenges at the same time. The first challenge, Leslie Saeta's Thirty Paintings in 30 Days is the one I've done before. The second challenge was the Strada Easel 31 Day Challenge.
Leslie's challenge consists of posting 30 paintings, one a day, for 30 days. She has a blog where everyone who does the challenge can post their work. There are no rules really and the whole point is to get a jumpstart to your painting. For the Strada Easel challenge each painting or drawing had to be done from life, each day, not from photos. We posted our work on their Facebook page. There will be 5 winners of the Strada Easel challenge. The prizes are Strada Easels! The winners are chosen randomly and it has nothing to do with the caliber of participants' work. I hope I win!
To make the challenge more challenging for me, I decided to paint portrait sketches. I haven't done portraits for years and wanted some practice, so I asked my newsletter readers to send me any photos they'd like to see me paint. I told them there was no obligation for them to buy the finished paintings and I received 16 photos from readers.
And, oh, ya. I also decided to challenge myself with including a quote each day in my newsletter about choosing to have an attitude of gratitude.
It didn't take long for me to wonder what I had been thinking when I committed to both challenges! Either one would have been pleasantly challenging, but doing two at once was VERY challenging.
But, no challenge, no change! During the month I stressed, I almost cried, I grit my teeth, I questioned my sanity, especially when I had to wipe off my canvas 2 times and start over, before I was satisfied, and I grimly (some days) chose to be grateful about it all. But there were also days when I smiled so much, painting adorable faces of laughing children, or the one of the grandmother and her grand daughter. And of course, some days I had to paint a cow, and they always make me smile!
About half way through I decided to not think in terms of only 16 more days, but to think in terms of a day or a week at a time. I also decided to switch from painting outdoors to sketching indoors. People, if possible because it would support my paintings of people. And other things when no people were available.
So, besides it being challenging, did I change? You bet I did! At the beginning my confidence was at low ebb. I'm not sure why, but it was. It took awhile, but near the third week, I began to feel stronger. And the feedback from my readers was amazingly encouraging! I love my readers! They kept me trying hard to produce good work.
I ended with a huge sense of accomplishment. I had set myself a goal of 100 mid to large size paintings for the year. I've never painted that many in a year before and I wasn't sure how that would go. But now I know I can do it. The challenges helped me establish a real daily routine of painting and posting.
Another result was I finally established a sketching routine. For at least 3 years I've been knowing I need to sketch more, but just couldn't get myself to do it. Nothing like the gauntlet being thrown down to make me do something. I now have a routine and a desire to sketch. Priceless!
I also realized that in my own way, I'm competitive. Not necessarily to beat someone else, but to beat myself. I'm the same with working out. I love to do better this week than last week! I would have liked to quit a few times, but because I had said I was going to do this, I couldn't quit.
And last, but not least, my painting and drawing skills improved. There really is no substitute for daily practice! Just putting in that time, makes small improvements you may not see right away, but you begin to feel it.
So, if you're interested in improving your work, try a 30 day challenge! Leslie will host another in September. And there may be some others out there now, but you can always do your own personal 30 day challenge.
Next time I'll write about some helpful ways to approach a 30 day challenge.
Here's 25 of the 30 paintings I did for the January Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.
To see all the paintings click here.
