Today I made a start on my goal to paint an oil sketch every single day of 2011, to improve my observation skills, paint handling, to loosen me up a little, and to basically learn lots by pushing myself right out of my comfort zone! I usually paint carefully with tiny brushes and string out my paintings for weeks so using BIG brushes painting alla prima at speed is throwing myself right in the deep end!
The rules that I have set myself are simple:
1. Each painting may take absolutely no longer than 30 minutes.
2. 1 painting to be produced every day in 2011.
3. Paintings are to be from life wherever possible
4. The end result really doesn't matter, it's the process that matters!
Have decided that I'd rather store all the paintings online in an album rather than a blog, to make them easier to look through, so I have set up a Flickr album here. If you ever need a good giggle then by all means stop by and see how I'm doing hahaha!
Happy New Year!
Well, your first picture has four legs, 2 ears and a tail so I'd say its pretty much pony/horse shaped - if somewhat different to your norm :o)
ReplyDeleteI'll look forward to peeking at the album to see what you are doing - are you going to share your thoughts about what you're learning along the way? 30 minute deadline is very restrictive - I don't think I could cope
I just know if I don't make it 30 mins I won't have the time to do it! Plus, if I didn't have a deadline I'd be pottering on forever correcting and cheating! The majority of the paintings will look rubbish, but that's ok, as it is all about the process, and experience :-)
ReplyDeleteWill definitely share thoughts, both with each image on the album and sporadically on here.
Congratulations for making a commitment to stepping out of your "comfort zone"!! I am sure you will have some that you are very proud of! And the great thing about art is...everyone has different tastes, so the few you might think belong in the dumpster...someone else will absolutely love!
ReplyDeleteWow Laura definitely 10/10 for bravery!
ReplyDeleteIt's a big ask to set yourself for a whole year too but all power to you and I hope you find yourself enjoying the challenge, I will watch with interest and I promise not to laugh at all!
(I used to do something similar in a group on Tuesday evenings...we had a ball and the less able artists in the group loved to see my failures ;-)