So last fall I started to do Fifteen Minute Paintings. The idea is to get up 15 minutes early each morning, which, for me is at the crack of 10:00 am, and set a timer for 15 minutes. Then you paint a painting…anything..from your mind or a photo or en plein aire. When the timer rings, you must put down your brush and WALK AWAY. I am now on Day 129. I will be doing them for a full year and as this year is a Leap Year that means 366 days. It is sort of like warm up excercises, or journaling. At the end of the year you are supposed to look back at your work and see what you may have learned. One thing I learned early on is that you must use big brushes wherever possible and work quickly with no second guessing. I started with watercolour but found that it doesn’t dry fast enough so you have to be very careful as there is not enough time to use a hair dryer. Then I tried using Aqua Stix or Watercolour Crayons. That was fun. I soon learned that they have to be dipped in water first and if the crayon is brand new it doesn’t work as well as scuffed up old ones. Then I tried Acrylic on both paper and canvas pad. Now I am switching back and forth depending on my mood. Last week I tried self portraits for the whole week. Glad that is over. I don’t know if the problem was with the artist or the subject. I have to fire one of them.
Hello there…from Zoe
zoeclemens 