I am going to talk to all of you a little about this painting a day for 40 consecutive days. It has been a good experience to have the goal to do a painting a day and to order my day so that it is a priority to be done. I don't have the pressure of trying to make each painting a great painting, but I do have the challenge of painting and posting. I have learned to more efficiently post images. I suspect that making so many paintings has its own reward in making me "think visually all the time." It can only help but move me along the path of being a better artist. The pattern of making art, thinking art as natural as breathing in an out can only deepen my strength as a painter over time.
I have also begun doing something that I had only dreamt of doing since my advanced drawing class in 2006, making figurative sketches, working on subtle character studies. In the painting a day project I have worked from life on several occasions while in other occasions from photos. I truly like working from life when I can have a long conversation with the person I am drawing. That is ideal, but not always possible. I don't really want to go to a live modeling class situation, because I am more interested in the personality of the person than in their individual body parts. That does not mean I do not believe in the importance of working from a live model in a
life drawing setting. However, I don't want a clinical look of the person. I am going for their mood, their persona. The academic live model in a shared "studio" or "class" situation tends to lend itself to the creation of manikins rather than people with heart and soul, angst or delight...on to the full gamut of human emotion.
In this 40 Day project, sometimes my imagery seems somewhat inconsistent taken as a whole. Part of that is simply getting the painting done, even when I am emotionally tired. I pick a no brainer image, where the form and shape is really the idea for the painting rather than the "character" studies that are more demanding.
Balancing the immersion into the mind set of making art with the business of selling art is a real struggle for me as it is for many artists. It is mental toughness I still must work to possess and release at will.
If you have any thoughts, I would apprecitate your comments.
