The Touchstone 7 Day Mini Painting Series challenge - video from day one

Today is the first day of a week long experiment/challenge I devised in honour of the fact that for so many of us, finding our unique artistic voice and weaving together the strands of the myriad things we want to make into something cohesive is often an ongoing frustration.

The idea was that by experimenting with creating a small series in a short period of time, it might be possible to start to uncover consistencies in our work we perhaps hadn’t seen before.

At the very least, doing a project alongside others with similar experiences, and in the safe and friendly container a challenge creates, it would be a way to explore something each of us is interested in, and dive that little bit more deeply into our own work.

How I’m approaching it

My plan was to make a series of small paintings using my current favourite materials {charcoal, Inktense blocks, Neocolors, and gesso, on paper}, and combine what I’ve been doing recently with my first love – figurative art. I wanted to see if I could generate abstract landscapes from the body, while retaining just a suggestion of the original source.

Below is a video I made of the first day’s foray into this idea! It was indeed a challenge; I am out of practice at drawing which made the drawn element part of my idea feel awkward. I also struggled to interweave the figure and the landscape in the subtle way I envisioned.

Still, it is only day one and I now have a feel for what needs more attention. I’ve created the first step on the path, and now have something to bounce off.

Not shown: the long pauses while I stepped back and listened and watched; the shriek of frustration about two thirds of the way through. 🙂

It’s not too late to join the challenge if you like the idea! Sign up here {scroll down to the box that says ‘join the challenge’} to start receiving the daily encouragement emails I’m sending throughout the week, and to print off the worksheet for helping you plan it.

We’re sharing our projects over on Instagram using the hashtag #mycreativetouchstones.

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