I am enjoying reading the book Daily Painting by Carol Marine. She is inspiring me to paint small, paint often. She tells her story of grabbing bits of time daily to paint while her baby napped. It changed her life. In 2006 she joined the movement to paint one painting nearly every day and post it online for sale. She and her spouse then created the website, dailypaintworks.com. She has become a highly accomplished artist as a result. Take a look at her website and enjoy her artwork as well as works by other artists. You will find painting challenges and can post your own artwork there. Fabulous art, fabulous story!
I started by giving myself a Christmas present. I ordered a case of small (5x7, 8x10) art panels, covered with lovely Claussen's linen. I grabbed a painting friend and headed to the Texas Hill Country for three and a half days to paint plein air (outdoors). It was so much fun, and we laughed so hard the first morning. Total wipeout of my canvases: painted all morning and wiped everything out, not once, but twice ! Disappointing, but we laughed so hard at how pitiful our initial plein air attempts were. Linda had a little better effort than I did. We went to lunch, took a break and reset.
The next attempts were better and the following days went well. I was not able to finish any of my pieces, but I did get some color studies and sketches down. On the last morning, we set our timer for 30 minutes and completed three small studies each. This allowed for experimentation, having fun, putting aside fear and learning some lessons to take back to the studio. Painting small was a great experience and I plan to do more in the New Year. Wishing you all the best in 2024 and happy painting!