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November 17, 2020If you have been learning to paint for any length of time then you may have heard of the term Daily Painting.
In fact there is a whole movement of people who refer to themselves as daily painters.
Usually they paint a small painting each day. Typically no bigger than an 8″ x 10″ size. And often these artists would make the painting available for sale on eBay using the auction system.
Carol Marine is one well known daily painter and with her husband she runs the popular site https://www.dailypaintworks.com/
So the question is …
“Can Daily Painting Help To Improve Your Painting?”
I am a great believer in painting consistently if you want to become a good to great artist. In fact without consistent painting it is almost impossible for most of us to become a good artist.
At the Learn To Paint Academy I talk about two keys to getting good as an artist:
1/ Learn The Fundamental Skills You Need – This is what we essentially teach at the Learn To Paint Academy. The basics. You have to know the basics if you want to get good.
2/ Regular Consistent Practise – And you have to practise the basics. To become a good painter you need to paint on a regular and consistent basis.
Towards the end of March 2020 as it was becoming clear that the Coronavirus Pandemic was going to shut down the world as we knew it and cause all sorts of problems, I decided I wanted to do what I could to help.
So I proposed that we would do a Daily Painting Challenge in April.
The idea was that every day in April I would do a live stream where I would complete a painting while everyone watched. And of course connect with everyone in our wonderful community.
And then invite everyone to do their painting (either the one from the live stream or their own painting) and post it up on Facebook.
Now I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the idea. Doing a painting a day is one thing. Doing it live and stream it globally for anyone to watch is another matter altogether. And coming up with fresh ideas each day to paint to keep it interesting?? Yikes!
However we completed the challenge and everyone loved it.
But did it actually improve our painting skills? And what did we learn from doing a painting a day in April?
Here is what I learned during the challenge:
- The hardest part is starting each day. Once you make the start it gets easy.
- As each day passed the more comfortable everything felt. The feel of the brush in my hand. Mixing the paint. With each passing day the comfort level expands so it gets easier.
- I found it was easier to come up with ideas to paint then I thought it would be. I didn’t fuss to much over the subject literally deciding what to paint five minutes before we went live.
- I had good days and bad days … I learned not to get caught up with either.
- It freed me up to experiment and take risks which is a good thing.
- Having a dedicated space with all of your art supplies equipment set up is a huge advantage. Clean out a closet and call it your art studio if you have too … that’s where I started.
- I painted in three different mediums but found it best if I stayed with one medium for at least three days. It seems that each time I switch to another medium I need a day or two to get back in the swing with it.
- It was a great opportunity to create small studies and out of the thirty paintings completed at least three of them are going to become larger works for sale through my galleries.
- Having a set time to paint each day makes it easier. You don’t need to push yourself to start if you have a set time scheduled that you need to start by.
- Doing it will a community or group of art friends made it fun and it was great to see what everyone else painted each day.
So did it improve my painting?
At my stage in the journey, having been painting consistently for ten years and having done well over a thousand paintings, I would say it did yes … but only incrementally. A small amount of improvement though is a win in my book.
For those who are not as far along their artistic journey though it can make a huge difference. So if you are in the beginner to intermediate stage then yes definitely painting daily will have a huge impact on your skills.
I asked our community on Facebook to share their thoughts. Here is what they said:
It’s interesting that everyone gained something unique to them through the challenge. For some it was a comment I made like Sandra mentioned ‘What’s on the brush goes on the canvas’.
Others got the lessons and insights from their own experience like Miriam who found the best moments for her where when she surprised herself doing something new.
Here is some more feedback:
Meryl has seen improvement in her paintings as a result of the experience.
Its good to read comments like Pamela’s who recognized that it took here out of her comfort zone which I think is a real key to developing your skills.
And our friend Peter in New Zealand summarised what I think is what we all need to strive for … repetition develops muscle memory … it becomes unconscious. This is an often overlooked factor in improving your painting. Repeating the basics until you no longer have to think about it.
And here is some more feedback:
As you can see, those who really embraced the daily painting challenge all came away with lessons and insights unique to them.
By taking part in the daily painting challenge what I have observed is you tend to get out of it what you need for you personally. We all came away from the challenge changed as artists with customised lessons to serve us on our journey.
Daily painting is probably not for every one as we all have a life with other commitments and things we need to do.
As a professional artist who works full time in my art business I find it difficult to paint each day. Being a professional artist requires you putting time into other activities along side the creation of artwork.
What I do think is within every ones reach though is consistent and regular painting.
It depends on your goals as an artist as to what your definition of consistent and regular painting is. If its just a hobby and you do it for some fun then painting a few times a week is probably all you need.
For those who have aspirations of going further then you will probably want to be painting a lot more than a few times a week.
One other important thing to note … while practising on a regular basis is key to improving, you want to make sure you are practising the right things. So it is essential that you get the basic knowledge and skills you need. To do this you need to incorporate a study program into your plan.
The most important thing though as I always say is just to have fun with your painting.
Perhaps an easier goal than daily painting for a whole month is to try a 7 day daily painting challenge.
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