30 Paintings in 30 Days - Leslie Saeta Challenge

As part of my preparing my 2014 goals I have been listening to podcasts by Leslie Saeta at Artists Helping Artists on the Artists Network.  Anyone interested in getting more blog followers or marketing your artwork, she is your girl.  So much FREE wonderful information in the podcasts and on her website.  It always amazes me how much information other artists are willing to share, it surely would shorten a learning curve.  Check her out on her blog.  http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/
She has previously done various 30 day painting and marketing challenges and talked about how much fun, hard work, the sense of accomplishment and both other artist and potential customer feedback she and other participants have gotten - as well as sales.  Two days ago she had 5,000 hits on her site, and that was just Day 2.
So I got all stoked, committed up and decided to enter a 30 day challenge of a painting a day for January. What the heck was I thinking???????
While it sounded good in theory I am having some issues in creating 30 postable paintings each day.  As you can see above I have a couple originals and a couple I did previously (still keeping some in reserve as I'll definitely need them as we get farther into the challenge).   It is definitely much harder than it sounds.  There are over 400 artists taking part in this challenge, so stop by and check what is being painted and you can begin at any time if you want to participate.
While my hubby thinks this is a bad move, because you can't make a quality painting in a day and it will enforce bad habits, I couldn't disagree more.  First it gets me in the art space each day, it makes me think of painting ideas. (who knew this would be the hardest part - I was already stumped yesterday Day 3 when my first paining tanked)  Yes I am working smaller, and yes I am not pondering each stoke, just doing it, but hopefully when I get to Day 30 I will see some improvement just because I did 30 paintings.  I am trying various media, new supports and experimenting too - don't have anything to lose and this is the most people ever that have a chance to see what I create.  I am falling back to working in pastel as it seems the fastest of what I can do.
I think the best thing is to get information just based on other artists viewings the various paintings.  Since I have the awful search engines that swamp your site with bogus hits, I set up a new blog to go through this challenge so I can truly can measure and see what people respond to and think this will help me down the road.
Yes, I am continuing to paint something from life each day as well as studying about composition and value.  Those three things comprise what I really want to focus on this year.  Yes I still have the cherub to finish and will get him completed and start another child from my reference pics.  Guess that means lots of time in the art space -- but that is a good thing.
Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great painting week.

Comments

Nancy Goldman said…
I'm glad others are having the same problems I am (misery loves company). : ) I can see your husband's point but I think you are right that any time in the studio will make us better artists. I laughed when you talked about saving some paintings that you've done to post later in the month when you get into a crunch. I've already done that through the years so I have no more paintings ready to post. Arghhh, I can feel the stress starting again!
January 4, 2014 at 7:28 PM
Sharon Whitley said…
Thank you for popping by my blog Nelvia- great to have a familiar face to share the experience with - I tend to paint quite fast anyway and I try to paint most nights if I can - I'd like to try some different subjects this month as I tend to go for wildlife and pets quite a lot - though I'm sure I'll sneak a few in! I can see what your husband is getting at but I think this can only be a good thing to do to challenge ourselves as long as we don't get too stressed about it - I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't complete all 30 paintings - good luck!!
January 6, 2014 at 11:14 AM
renate said…
Hi Nelvia:) On one hand I can understand the opinion of Paul, on the other hand I agree with you. And I know you be able of doing this and so far, you are doing a hell of a job. Go for it! I already checked out the blog of Leslie. She is doing a great job too!
Nelvia, will you please read the latest post on my blog? (If you have some time left:):)Have a nice sunday!!xxx
January 12, 2014 at 7:25 AM
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