I’ve been challenging myself to some time-limited painting. I started with a 20 minute time limit, but I just had to have another 10 minutes to add the final touches. So, now I’m doing 30 minutes.
I start with an already painted page in my art journal which saves me a little time. I like to pre-paint the backgrounds on lots of pages at once so that they are ready to go when I’m feeling inspired.
Why am I doing this? Well, I was inspired by Jane Spakowsky’s 20 minute paintings. I saw them via Pinterest and thought I’d try it out. It really helps me to loosen up and not stress about the final outcome, although I am really loving how they have been turning out. That extra 10 minutes makes all the difference for me.
I paint from my imagination most of the time, but I’ve also been finding inspiration by searching for self-portraits on instagram. Sometimes, they look nothing like the person I am painting and sometimes they are a little close. It depends on how devoted I am to the original self portrait, plus the time constraint make it hard to be exact. The bottom right is supposed to be an image I spotted of Flora Bowley. Ha! Not sure what she would think about it.
It’s a fun project and I hope to fill up my new portrait art journal very quickly. My goal is to do one a day for the next 20 days. I will post regularly as I go along.
Great idea! I get so wrapped up in making my paintings ‘just so’ and this would really loosen me up. Just thinking about a 30 minute portrait stresses me out which is probably a good indication that I should try it;-)
Love this idea, looks great and i want to try and create one myself
Cool idea…painting from imagination is the best part. I too love the same.