Questioning the Daily Painting Movement
Duane Keiser Green Apples
An apple a day is good for you, but how about a painting a day?
The more paintings a blogging artist finishes and then posts, the more traffic comes to their site. There are many services to choose from to keep track of all this blog traffic, and the graphs are motivating. Who wouldn't be happy to see a continuing increase in visitors to their blog?
Up, up and away
BUT...
Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever feels a little trapped by the Daily Painting Movement. Do you ever feel pressured to keep your paintings small and to work quickly no matter what?
It's a good thing to be able to simplify, and having to learn to finish up quickly can help everyone's work, but...sometimes I wonder if the practice of Daily Painting encourages superficiality.
(Some of the above post first appeared in my other blog, and these are some of the responses. Please add your thoughts!)
Crystal Cook says: I actually have just been thinking the same thing... I've been working on a portrait that is small (6x6) and I HAVE been taking my time on it, because I think she called for a more refined working method. And then I found myself trying to rush through it this afternoon just so I'd have something to post! But then I got frustrated because it wasn't going with my 'vision' for the painting!
So yes. I think it can be a little stifling. Although at the same time it has been very good for me too. Especially since I tend to suffer from detailitis. But I also wonder if it is causing artists to churn out work just for the sake of having work to post without any real feeling behind it. Not
that that's bad sometimes. But maybe not all the time.
Michael Dooney says: I think that something may have been lost in translation from the original intent of the daily painting concept. While painting everyday is a great goal, churning out 300 plus small (and in many artist's case) very similar paintings seems almost like having a factory job ;)
Artists like Carol Marine have made an interesting twist on the daily painting treadmill. It is my understanding that she does her week's worth of small paintings in two days and then has the rest of the week to concentrate on other work. But she can still post one a day to satisfy the DP addicts!that that's bad sometimes. But maybe not all the time.
Michael Dooney says: I think that something may have been lost in translation from the original intent of the daily painting concept. While painting everyday is a great goal, churning out 300 plus small (and in many artist's case) very similar paintings seems almost like having a factory job ;)
AnnaMaria: I am so glad you brought this up Taryn. I have been really struggling with the daily painting concept. Yes, I can see the merits (battling with 'detailitis' as well),but there must be some time when one can really think and paint and change things and paint again, and sigh...Painters used to step back and look for ages and I wonder have we misplaced the time needed for that contemplative 'looking'?
Jim Serret: The daily paint market is an interesting creation and it has been very important as far as opening the web to artist and developing a market for inexpensive original art. But I am in the camp that a movement needs more of a philosophical base outside of consumption, merchandising, marketing and mass production. Often I can not see the difference between the work being mass produced from the ” Oil Painting Village of Darfin” in China and the Daily Paint Bombardments. Do not get me wrong I admire many artist that are participating in the daily paint thing, I mean who can not but admire the works of Duane Kieser and Julian Merrow Smith?I am just having difficulties in understanding why it is ok to mass produce small daily paintings often from photographs and yet we are appalled by what goes on in paint factories. I think you should give the Slow Art Manifesto a read, a different perspective on things. Here is a link from a gallery in Atlanta, the orginal PDF version with art work.
Crystal Cook: I think what it really comes down to is listening to your own artistic impulses and then following them. For some artists, daily painting fulfills them and they are able to execute ideas and feelings perfectly in a short period of time. For others more thought and time is required to get across their feelings. I think if more artists would listen to how they feel about painting, what makes them happy, what excites them, then there would be less superficial art. Less trying to be like everyone else. I don't think there's anything wrong with daily painting or slow painting, or painting from life or painting from photos as long as you as the artist are heeding your own inner vision instead of someone else's.
Karen Boe: Great topic for discussion Taryn. I started my blog a little over a year as a way to set goals and track my progress. For me, the appeal of daily painting movement was is its focus on painting regularly. I wanted to learn, practice different techniques, grow in my work and develop my own style. I set a goal to complete a small painting every day and set to it. But man, I failed at that real quick! Small paintings would take me several days or even weeks to finish, (still do), and that was really discouraging at first. I began to detest that unfinished painting staring at me from my easel. It was a symbol of my failure to be the free-minded, confident artist I thought I'd be, cranking out a painterly masterpiece on a daily basis. Why couldn't I get over myself and stop fussing with this thing? Just get it done and move on! I've since learned to make peace with that part of myself and think of "daily painting" as a verb, not a noun. It's the practice of painting daily, not the output.
Jo McKenzie: I have not been at this painting thing long enough to have thought about how I might feel about it in a year or two. I have found in my life that when I start asking questions an answer will come . Not right away and not the final answer by any means but just enough of a hint of an answer to guide me to the next "baby step" I need to take. I do find the "answer" is often a surprise. Something I never expected. I will be watching to see where you decide to move (artistically).
Dee Doyle: Wow! Thank you so much for the topic! Am relatively new to the "movement," and have felt like an Outlier, or Imposter, because I am not doing so much as the rest of you are doing. But as many of you have said, indeed, it has improved my painting when I do it. I sort think there are several issues that relate ... one, the task of painting daily and producing some work. I see what some of you mean about factory production, AND, I believe that repeating some of my work makes me better at it. I don't know who said it, but it's better to do thirty one-hour paintings than to do one thirty-hour painting ... one learns more from the repetitiveness of painting many small, and sometimes related, small pieces. Really, that paradigm works for me ... SOMETIMEs. The Daily Painting thing, for me, is akin to "binge drinking." Well, that's sort of a course parallel, but what I mean is, I "get the fever," and can crank out about a dozen small paintings, then nothing for sometimes weeks!
Shinhuey Ho: I've been contemplating on the same question as well. No answer yet but I am now kind of taking a break. Since I joined DPW 3 months ago, I've been giving myself pressure to produce a painting a day. It was a really good exercise and helped to improve my skills. On the other hand, I don't want to paint just to have something to post the next day. Now I try to take my time and paint larger again. I may finish a painting not in one day but two days or three days. And that's ok. What's more important is that I enjoy the process and I don't feel rushed. Thanks for raising the topic.
Brian Cameron: Great subject here. I can relate to just about everything said. The pressure to not just post every day but post something NEW everyday! The pressure to create something different than the others but still sell! Even the pressure to come up with a title for all these little paintings! That's how it feels to me some days...too much pressure. But in my case, painting is how I make a living so just showing up at the studio feels like pressure sometimes. A lot of us artists are rebels by nature so trapping ourselves in a 'must do' situation rubs us the wrong way. But for the most part I've enjoyed the daily thing. Working so small has been a huge change for me and hopefully I've grown by painting 6"x6". One thing I like a lot about the push to produce a complete painting quickly is it easily leads to a more spontaneous looking piece. Someone here mentioned that they wondered what it would be like to spend weeks or more on one painting. I often did that on larger pieces before the daily painting practice took hold of me. Many of those paintings never came to completion. It's easy to lose your way on a piece after coming to it in the studio day after day. Since I started trying to produce a small daily painting, I've found it even harder to spend too much time on my bigger pieces. I very much like the freshness of staying at a piece until it's done. Even if that means going at it 8 or 10 hours. I never want to leave a painting and come back later. I'm always afraid the muse will be gone the next morning.(and it often is!)I originally started the daily thing with no realistic expectation of producing a new painting every day. Instead I took it on as incentive to Paint every day but not necessarily to complete one daily. Even so I found myself not wanting to photograph my progress on every painting and post it every day even though I worry that my blog audience will wander away if I don't keep amusing them. I'll say this, and I may be wrong, but I think we are all apart of an art movement that will be categorized in later years. I imagine, at some distant point, a gallery show of collected DAILY paintings from this era. That's kinda cool huh?!
Brian Cameron: Great subject here. I can relate to just about everything said. The pressure to not just post every day but post something NEW everyday! The pressure to create something different than the others but still sell! Even the pressure to come up with a title for all these little paintings! That's how it feels to me some days...too much pressure. But in my case, painting is how I make a living so just showing up at the studio feels like pressure sometimes. A lot of us artists are rebels by nature so trapping ourselves in a 'must do' situation rubs us the wrong way. But for the most part I've enjoyed the daily thing. Working so small has been a huge change for me and hopefully I've grown by painting 6"x6". One thing I like a lot about the push to produce a complete painting quickly is it easily leads to a more spontaneous looking piece. Someone here mentioned that they wondered what it would be like to spend weeks or more on one painting. I often did that on larger pieces before the daily painting practice took hold of me. Many of those paintings never came to completion. It's easy to lose your way on a piece after coming to it in the studio day after day. Since I started trying to produce a small daily painting, I've found it even harder to spend too much time on my bigger pieces. I very much like the freshness of staying at a piece until it's done. Even if that means going at it 8 or 10 hours. I never want to leave a painting and come back later. I'm always afraid the muse will be gone the next morning.(and it often is!)I originally started the daily thing with no realistic expectation of producing a new painting every day. Instead I took it on as incentive to Paint every day but not necessarily to complete one daily. Even so I found myself not wanting to photograph my progress on every painting and post it every day even though I worry that my blog audience will wander away if I don't keep amusing them. I'll say this, and I may be wrong, but I think we are all apart of an art movement that will be categorized in later years. I imagine, at some distant point, a gallery show of collected DAILY paintings from this era. That's kinda cool huh?!
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