Tips on Creating A Daily Painting

July 19, 2019 Michelle Brunner

Daily painting is one of the major ways to break through and find a lot about yourself and your own personal art style. I would love to chat with you today about what changed my life and helped define my art style. Sounds like something magical, right?

Daily painting essentials: Iced coffee in the summer, paints, color charts and sketchbook

Actually it was a single habit of daily painting for 10 minutes… something… anything… every day. Sounds pretty simple, huh? Well at first it is, but to keep it going for weeks, months, a year, and more takes dedication. You need to have this kind of a commitment to daily practice to transform your art. Here are some practical tips I used to stay dedicated.

Me Before Starting a Daily Painting Habit

I had been teaching high school art for over 10 years, had two young children, and was feeling super frustrated with my lack of creating art. I was an art teacher who couldn’t find time to actually create the art I loved.

How was I supposed to inspire others if I could not even find time to inspire myself?

I decided on January 1st, 2016 that I would do something for me. I would do one painting a day for 365 days.

I bought myself a sketchbook and spent like an hour on the first sketch ever. It was over my winter break, so I actually had time for it. Three years later and I am still doing it in 2019! I plan on never stopping!

Tip 1: Plan an Artist Date and DO NOT Break it!:

To create a daily sketch, I had to figure a time each day that I could do it, especially when school started. That’s when my lunch hour paintings began. Luckily for me I am an art teacher, so painting in my classroom during my lunch break was not that complicated. I only get about 20 minutes each day for lunch so these paintings had to be quick. No matter what I make sure to keep my painting date with myself. Even if I give myself only 10 minutes I do not break it. Actually I broke it for a couple of days this past year. I got the flu and could not get out of bed for four days. That is one of the only acceptable excuses for breaking your artist date!

Tip 2: Start Small:

One thing I recommend for artists with very short time frames is to get a sketchbook that’s 7 x 10 inches or smaller. I started with a 5 x 7 sketchbook but eventually loved using the larger paper as I got speedier with my painting.

My sketchbook is a mixed media sketchbook and I use acrylics. Coffee and good music is also an important component to the daily sketch!

Tip 3: Paint What You Love or Want to Improve

When I first started painting every day, I honestly painted the most random things ever. When you first start something the most important thing is to establish a consistent habit. Don’t worry about what you are painting. It might look horrible. Keep going! You have to get through the bad art to get to the good art. Trust me on this. After about two weeks of daily painting I noticed I loved painting landscapes of Lake Erie. Painting these scenes brought me so much happiness and peace. When you start to feel this way about the subject you are painting you know you are going in the right direction.

Tip 4: Small Habits = Big Results:

When you start a daily painting habit, just be patient. Major breakthroughs probably won’t happen right away. It took me a solid 6 months before I saw any major breakthroughs in my art. What I noticed first was how I was gravitating toward certain colors, Then I could see my brushstrokes becoming more my own. I could tell my compositions were getting better. It took patience and a lot of sketches to finally break through and figure out what my style is. To be honest, it’s still evolving. You don’t want to peak, you want to constantly evolve as an artist, right?

Tip 5: Don’t Wait for Inspiration:

Picasso said “Inspiration exists but it must find you working.” Essentially it means that you do not wait for inspiration to find you. You go out and make inspiration come to you! How can you do this? Experiment with color mixing, mark making, mixed media, whatever it takes to get you engaged in the process. The daily painting does not have to be perfect. Just show up every day consistently, have some fun, and wait for the results!

Working in a small sketchbook allows me to play around and experiment with different subject matter and styles. This is an example of a very quickly painted sketchbook.

Get Started Painting Daily

I hope these tips motivate you to start a daily painting habit. I would love to hear from you! If you have started painting daily, post below about how it’s going. What’s been a challenge for you and what’s been a success?