Small bites vs. Lofty Projects
This was a quick painting sketch vs.......so many "overworked" paintings that I don''t finish - My Encore Artist momentum is helping me "recover" from abandoning my art making when it's too hard.
“10 minutes a day”, “30 day challenges”, “Morning Pages”, and “Sketchbook Prompts”…all of these are timed drawing exercises….and- All of these popular short and limited art prompt activities have been crazy helpful for me for the same reason- they limit my time, focus my endless ideas, and most importantly reset my “perfectionist” brain, by helping me find joy in completing simple assignments incrementally.
One of my many positive covid lessons was my adherence to a practice of daily 10 minute art making. Mornings were always the best time, and I learned that just making the 10 minutes for doodling in a sketchbook, or following a FB challenge, or participating in another Substacks drawing prompts likeWendy’s draw with me challenge, changed my art habits and attitude.
Breaking up larger projects into tasks with smaller sections is not new info, it is however the trending continued wisdom from sources like Atomic Habits which champions this approach as fundamental to making a task easy & accessible. Small daily tasks have officially helped me “Practice my imperfectionism” and helped me take my work less seriously- its a key part of my developing my Encore Artist identity. It’s about showing up consistently for my heart’s passion which is creativity. Small bites make this Encore Artist journey possible.
IDEA/Prompt:
Imagine one project - skill - you want to learn.
Describe it simply: ex. I want to learn how to paint with more symbolic abstraction in acrylics.
HOW - the small step part:
Ex. I will dabble and sketch with shape reduction and use a limited color palate for 10 minutes a day (most days-I’m human)
Ex. I will Reflect on my painting sketches and see how their energy and simplicity can seep into my larger painting projects.
How about you? Is there an artistic project that lights you up? Can you break down the small steps? Share it, and it’s ok of we miss a day or fall out of passion, share that too because it’s all a part of this type of growth -
(This photo is from a picture I’ve been working on for 2 years). I still don’t like it and have redone the sky already. I’m sure I’ll redo the colors again too of the sky).
