The best of January’s daily paintings, plus a new weekly challenge

In January, I led what ended up being a 36 day daily-painting challenge on my Facebook group “From Photo to Final Painting.” This format- little square 6”x6” squares is a great way to learn. I talk about it in detail in the original invitation to the challenge, but the short of it is that it helps you focus on what’s essential, and it also shrinks the canvas— a simple yet functional way to help painting daily feel achievable. In the Facebook group, I share step by step photos and input and guidance for each of the subjects. You can follow this link to join, if you’d like.

We had lots of participants, and we’re now stepping in to a weekly painting challenge- to which you all are cordially invited. But before I start describing that, lets share the best of the results!

Day 1

Day 8

Day 12

Day 13

Day 22

Day 26

Day 28

Day 34

Day 29

Day 36

So What’s Next?

A bigger version of Day 8, for the weekly challenge.

If you liked some of these subjects, then you’ll be happy to know that these daily paintings will be the seedbed for the new weekly challenge (and eventually my Spring art sale!). Of course, first and foremost, this gets me to paint subjects I’m excited about. But for fellow painters and students, this is also a great way to get yourself to grow your paintings and expand the composition. This process of iteration is a great way to reassess work and apply your own critical thinking to your art workflow.

Some of these subjects came from the October daily notan challenge. Going from a reference photo to a notan to a small daily painting to a bigger rendition, all of the same subject, is a stellar way to

a) get acquainted with a subject and learn how you’re going to paint it

b) learn the issues inherent with the subject, so you know what you want change, and

c) figure out your own pitfalls, so you can critically self-assess, and then apply your thinking

…all while mixing it up a bit each time. The notan is it’s own beast. The small daily painting is small and square. And the bigger piece is not only larger, but a new format, which generally means a grown composition. Each layer adds new content and challenges to your painting experience, to spice it up a bit at each step.

If You Missed the Daily Painting Challenge, but Want to Join Up…

The good news is that everything is still up in the Facebook group. We’ve got almost 1200 members now, and some new folks had the gumption and fortitude to try painting some of the January daily painting challenges themselves. This is a stellar idea, because all the step by steps and educational material is still there! Plus, as we get into doing these larger weekly paintings, you can now prep by painting the small one first. This is really the best way to learn, because you get better and better acquainted with the subject.

I hope to see some of you there. I’ll be sharing results here on the blog too though! :)