Artist in Salisbury blogs about art.

The Lou's daily painting habit, one week in!

8/1/2016

Several of my artist friends, paint every day, no matter what. I've always found the idea great if a little daunting. If you missed my first blog on the subject I refer back to Carol Marine's book you don't necessarily have to paint every singe day, but the point definitely is little and often, rather than trying to splash some paint on seven canvases every Sunday and pretend you're doing every day!

So I've been painting everyday (mostly)

I've been posting my work on my Facebook page, but here's a catch up if you haven't seen what's been going on.

On Saturday and Sunday, both canvases have been a little bigger than I planned for most of the project. These are both on 25cm x 30 cm, which are pretty manageable as a professional artist, but if you're just starting out you'd be wise to go a bit smaller. Remember the whole point is to be able to experiment, find your artist's voice and paint fearlessly.

For me, both of these paintings are a departure from my landscapes and seascapes.
What am I getting from this so far?
Observation is key.
Discipline is important.
Colour mixing essential.
I'm obsessed with how light changes in nature, but having control over how you light your subjects in still life is a revelation.
I'm delighted that the perfume bootle with the blue bottle is sold already. Nice start!

For two of my my days this week I didn't do an oil painting, one was a watercolour and one a relief print, whilst working in Salisbury museum. I haven't included them as they're not for sale. Also I really want to focus on oil painting, as that's my bread and butter, and it makes sense to really use the project to experiment with such a vast and diverse medium.

So for the next three paintings I've gone smaller, and I've now ordered some more of these cute little canvases from Jacksons art supplies.
They are 15cm x 15cm with a deep edge, they look so cute and chunky. They are professional standard and you can really feel the quality. I really like the impact these chunky little canvases can have. They look particularly lovely when hung in rows of three or groups of four.