12 paintings into the 30x30 Watercolour challenge and my elementary maths tells me that I’m 2/5 of the way through. So far it has been going pretty well in terms of quality, but my 12th picture did prove to be a bit of a hurdle. It’s a complicated picture of an old London bus, which I wrote about in my previous post. Well, I just didn’t have enough time on Monday to finish it. Here’s the finished painting:-
Some people who do the challenge talk and write about getting over a hump, by which they mean reaching the point in the challenge where you have pushed yourself and come so far that there is no doubt that you will complete it. For me personally it comes down to managing the resources that you have. The most important of which are, to my mind:-
Inspiration
Time
Mindset
Nothing there about paint, paper or brushes, you understand. Well, those are easy enough to get hold of. If we deal with each then, let’s start with inspiration. After all – it’s all very well saying that you are going to make 30 paintings, but what are you going to paint? In the past I’ve always taken a pretty relaxed approach. I think what sort of thing I’d like to paint on the day, then try to narrow it down to a specific idea. But this year I’ve tried to be a bit more disciplined and think in terms of themes. 9 out of my first 11 paintings had some element of beach or seaside about them. My last 2 paintings and the one I’m working on for number 13 are all methods of transport. I have another couple of themes up my sleeve for later on. It makes such a difference not having to think about WHAT you are going to paint, only about HOW you are going to paint it.
With regards to time, well, you have the time that you have. So it is all about making the most of the time that you have got. For me this means being pretty disciplined about sitting down to start painting after I get in from work at about 5pm. It also means being prepared to say – I’m not going to finish this today – and going to bed at a reasonable hour so that I’m fresh for work the next day. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. In 2024 and 2025 I was off work both years and had the luxury of having all the time I could ask for. I still didn’t complete in 2024.
I just mentioned that I didn’t complete in 2024. My mindset was not right. Party this happened because my first few paintings were poor, so, thinking that the way I was painting I had little or no chance of making a better set than I’d made in 2023 I started to think of it as a chore. I wanted to get through each painting as quickly as I could, merely as a ticking them off exercise rather than something I enjoyed that was worth doing for its own sake. No wonder I gave up.
No comments:
Post a Comment