7 things I learnt from my first Art Challenge
January was a bit of a disaster in terms of productivity, so I made of my February the busiest month ever and I love it!I thought, it's only 28 days long...But then I ended up doing two Art Challenges (mine and the #insanelyinspiredinstagram by @amirarahimart), probably a bit too much, considering I have a full time job, had 2 big canvas commissions and I also flew back at home for a couple of days. But let's not complain about good stuff!!Because... it was AMAZING!
Each morning I took 10/15 mins for each piece, and forced myself to use more colours other than my beloved Blue. And 28 pieces later, this is what I learnt about myself and my process.
1. Painting in the morning makes my day much longer.
It's like going to the gym before work, once you do it then you are really happy you've done it and you still have the rest of your day in front of you.
2. Recording the process
This was great because it gave me the chance to see again what I was doing, and sometimes you are just so focus on a corner of your piece, you miss the whole picture.
Also in this way I had extra content to upload to instagram, which is always a plus!
Read more about why you should record your process here, and all about the equipment you need here.
3. Re-watching my videos
Probably because I'm used to painting on a bigger scale, I discovered that for these little tiles (16x16cm) I often used too much paint. And this was a great learning point for me. I will pay more attention to the amount of colour I use!
4. Where I paint makes a huge difference
I usually try to spend as much of my painting time as possible in the studio, where I can be as messy as I want, but I don't get the best light in the morning so for 2/3 of the challenge I painted in the kitchen where I have beautiful natural light. And natural light made the whole process much easier.
5. Purple & Other Colours
Yeah, purple was tough. So similar to blue, yet so complicated for me. I'm thinking about working on a little purple project and try to master it.
Overall, looking at all the pieces together, I've noticed there was a strong predominance of Pebeo Studio Acrylic Paint, Iridescent Blue Green. Even though it smells funny, it was a satisfying colour to use, and probably kept me close to blue without being blue.
6. Keep it Small
I limited my commitment to 10/15 minutes a day, which was totally manageable. I knew I could stretch it to 30minutes a day, but I didn't want to overthink it. I just wanted to have my cup of tea, paint and then start my day...
Also, I made sure that paper was cut in advanced so I didn't have to think about that each morning.
7. Gratitude
Around day 7 and day 16 I really wanted to quit. But then I kept saying to myself "it's only 15 mins of your day". Basically... suck it up, this is good for you!And then gratitude kicked in. Deciding to paint or not it's such luxury and a big privilege, I will never take it for granted.Getting up early to do what you love is the best feeling in the world. They say, start each day with a grateful heart.And I am grateful, I truly am.
Live quietly in the moment and see the beauty of all before you.
