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Why "Showing Up" Each Day to Paint is Important For You

In today's blog I'm going to make a non-art related book recommendation and explain to you why this book about decision-making and habit is turning my art career toward new and exciting directions.


It can for you, too.


First, the backstory.



I was in a funk. I wasn't painting much anymore except when I had a class to teach. I was bored and thought about giving up painting.


It was serious this time. I've toyed with moving onto some other creative outlet, going back to music exclusively, going back to photography, or just going back to school to do something completely different.


I was also frustrated. I didn't really feel my art was getting better. In fact, I thought my art was getting worse. Sales had slowed down, and not just because the economy is terrible, but because my art just wasn't exciting to collectors. To make things worse, since our move in 2023, most of my collectors are 600 miles away from my studio.


In sports it could be said that I was "phoning it in," meaning I was barely giving an effort to get the job done.


It wasn't intentional, I assure you.


Looking back, a lot of it had to do with leaving our painting friends in the Midwest, who we had spent years developing business and personal relationships with - friends for sure. Rebuilding a business in a new location seemed overwhelming.


Also some of it had to do with the fact that I had moved beyond my Bob Ross roots and was striving for something different and just hadn't found it yet. It can be overwhelming to try to find your place in an overcrowded art world.


But what I discovered was the real culprit of all of my woes was that I had broken the habit of painting every day.


When we first moved to Maryland from Indiana I thought our art business would take a couple of years to get off the ground as it did in Indiana - so I started a small real estate company and affiliated myself with Long & Foster Real Estate while we grew our art business again. After several months the Long & Foster book club recommended a book called "The Slight Edge." It was said that it would motivate me to improve my business tenfold.


So, naturally I bought the book immediately and got to reading.


Wow.


I discovered that I was making microdecisions that were leading me down a path of failure in my real estate company instead of making decisions that would lead to overwhelming success in the long term. The book, by the way, also has nothing to do with real estate. It's a self-help book that will help with anything in life. Literally anything can be affected by "The Slight Edge" philosophy.


Naturally, then, I began reflecting on my art career based on what I had learned in the book and discovered that I had strayed from what I had previously done for many years but that I wasn't doing anymore.


I will bet that if your paintings are not getting better even though you have been painting for years, or if you feel unsatisfied with your art, you may be making the same bad decision every day that is crippling you.


The key to my success and development was painting almost every day, and as I reflected I realized I wasn't painting so much anymore. What's worse, I was avoiding challenges. I was staying in my comfort zone. That's an art killer right there.


By the way, here's the link to the book that transformed my art progress (and many other things in my personal life) right here. No, I do not receive compensation for recommending this book. This is just a solid recommendation to all of you. Read this book and gift it to your friends and, especially, your children. Encourage them live by the slight edge philosophy.


Now that you have bought your book, let's talk how I turned my art life around and how you can turn yours around in a hurry. Interestingly, you may not even know you have an art problem.


Remember that unsatisfying rut I was in? Well, after "The Slight Edge," I went back to my art book shelves and searched for inspiration from two artists I admire - Kevin MacPherson and Haidee-Jo Summers. I grabbed one book from each of them and honed in one key piece of advice from each of them. Kevin MacPherson, in his book "Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light and Color" suggests doing 100 painting starts in 100 days on a smallish canvas and limit your time to 30 minutes. You can't complete the paintings in that time, but the point was to establish the habit of painting every day.



Haidee-Jo Summers (I bought one of her original paintings in New Mexico at the Plein Air Conventions and Expo back in 2022!) recommends several timed exercises to improve speed and drawing accuracy in her book "Plein Air Painting with Oils" She has mentioned in many sources that she generally takes no more than two hours to complete a painting, so she works to simplify the paintings - just an impression of a scene - so she can get it done.


Here's the link to her book:



That notion of simplifying a scene and getting it done in two hours struck a chord with me, so I combined the advice of both authors and decided to make the habit of painting every day, whether I want to or not, for two hours. I miss some days when life throws me a curve or something crops up that needs addressing immediately, but for the past two weeks I have been painting every day to start each day, and I only give myself two hours to complete the paintings. That doesn't mean I can't come back and spend a little more time making some corrections or adding necessary detail if I just couldn't get it done, but my goal was to get out of my slump, get creative, improve my speed and accuracy and just generally have a great time painting again.


This also signified a necessary style shift for me. In order to complete an entire painting in that time it required larger brushes - and larger brushstrokes! - to get the job done. The tradeoff to using a big brush to get the canvas covered results in a marked lack of detail in the paintings. Furthermore, the large brush marks make the paintings so much more exciting! So 2-hour paintings are now my thing for awhile. I am back in the studio each day also creating longer projects over time, but here are a my two-hour paintings in order so you can see the progress. I highly encourage you to showing up in your studio area each day to paint, even if it's just a few minutes. Soon it will become a positive habit in your life and your will get out of your rut, improve your paintings and be excited once again to Paint! Paint! Paint!



Okay, so the first painting wasn't an amazing painting, but it was a good challenge! I barely completed this in two hours. You may find this exercise a challenge, too, and your painting may look barely better than my effort, but don't give up! I didn't! This is in oils.





Notice that this is a simpler scene. I learned on the first painting that I was trying to do too much in two hours, so I ratcheted back the complexity of the subject in order to get this one in. The sailboat above is on a 6 x 12" board. Keep these paintings small so you can get it all covered in the time period and keep those subjects simple. Feeling success begets more success, so don't overwhelm yourself. A simple painting can be super charming. I actually like this little boat in caseins! (For more on casein paints you can visit Brian's video "Paint Like a Caveman with Caseins!")





This little 8 x 10 in oils was next. The view of the beach at the Annapolis Sailing School was a treat to paint. I was getting noticeably faster and more accurate. I even was able to pop in a few details, like the perched birds at the end of the pier.



I got ambitious and wanted a large 18 x 24 painting done in the same timeframe. I decided to enter an abstract art show, so began creating pieces for it. Clearly doing the 2-hour paintings was getting me inspired. It can work for you, I am certain!


Then came another art show, so I needed something in a hurry. The show literally started the next day, and I have never painted a ship before, so let's get it done!

I limited my time to two hours once again and managed a 12 x 24 painting in caseins to submit.


Along the way, there were more serious paintings to be done.



I simply could not get this one done in two hours. There was so much drawing involved, then the majority of the painting was painted using caseins, then I had to varnish and then finish the flowers and leaves in oil paint. The point here, though, is that I may never have attempted this complex a painting while still in my funk!


And that just wasn't enough. The bug has bitten again and I am starting something new every day. After my initial 2-hour session on the below painting, I came back for another hour or two to finish it off. This is in caseins.


I have various other paintings in different stages of completion that I didn't show you here, but this is a pretty good sampling of how I got out of my slump and got to work - every day - or almost every day, at least - to get the spirit of creating art revived and get me ready to tackle just about any subject.


It only took two weeks of daily painting to build the habit. Now I miss painting if I am not doing it each day. I can't wait to get out to my little tiny studio and paint. Making the decision and building the habit to painting is yielding great results on my attitude, motivation and success. I am painting better and with enthusiasm. The more I paint the better I will get. After a year of making the effort to paint every day, the word on the street is that it may become a lifelong habit. Start your habit today.


Up next is figures (people). I've never done them before. I have to keep challenged and moving forward.


I'll keep you posted! If you have a good way to get out of a rut, leave a comment and let us know how you stay inspired! I hope this blog itself has been an inspiration to prioritize painting every day!


Don't forget to post your work on our forum tab. Let's see how your art journey is coming along!



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