Practice with "Quickies"

 Many people bristle at the term "New Year's Resolution", and yet the new year does seem to offer an opportunity to RE-new, invite something new into your life, reassess and reset priorities. I think of goals more as guiding principles than endpoints that I must reach. The goals are not there to be 'achieved', but to guide, as reference points. They are also fluid - just like the painting process, they are open to revision based on changing environment, new input or ideas, or shifts in my mental landscape.

Read my interview with the Learning to Paint Podcast, "The Brilliance of Bite-Size", about learning and goal setting. 

Quickie, a quick study, 9"x6"

 In 2021, I would like to incorporate the practice of doing quickies - quick studies on paper. You can read here about the oil and cold wax class I took, in which we did four quick, small, studies each day before diving into the work. I won't do it every day, but I'll try to do a set of quickies a few times a week.

Here is a video of my first approach to quickies. I've given myself just a few tools and a few colors to work with.

 

To count as quickies, you are not allowed to agonize over them. Think of them as your warm-up exercises, or your sketchbook, not as pieces you'd show to someone else. They are your private playground, for your benefit as an artist. 

This is a group of 'Quickies', each 9"x6", with plenty of space around the edges to play with in cropping them. Each has the squeegee and palette knife applications, collage, a little spattering, and some have added line work.

2020 was a tough year by any measure, so let's be easy on ourselves in 2021. I'm going to try to invite opportunities and see what happens, rather than set rigid benchmark goals. How about you? What are your plans for 2021? Comment on this or e-mail me. Happy New Year!