It can be hard to find a long period of free time to do a painting. It can also be very tiring as well. Sometimes we spent a whole day working and that left us with little time or energy to paint. Today I want to share with you a few tips to help you get into painting when you are living a busy life and starting to lose motivation to paint. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I have a day job, I have 3 boys, and I have this YouTube channel to run. So it can be a bit difficult to paint consistently. And sometime after a day of work, dealing with my 3 boys, and things in life get in the way. I just feel emotionally drained to pick up my paintbrush and paint. If you are having similar experiences, I have 3 tips to share with you that can hopefully help you to start painting more often.
Just start doodling - Simply starting to paint is actually the hardest part. Because it requires you to initiate the motion. Like Newton’s first law. An object at rest will stay rested unless an external force is applied. And that external force is you. But once you get started, it will be much easier to continue. And also I said start doodling, not start a painting. Because if you always give yourself the pressure to start and finish a painting, you are going to get past a lot more mental hurdles. But if you are just going to play around with a pencil and watercolor. It’s much easier to start. I know you might be thinking that “well if I’m going to start painting, I want to get something out of it, which means a finished painting” But if you always think that way, it will be much harder to start. Learn to enjoy the process. There’s something very cathartic about feeling the brush glide through the paper and making marks. Try to simply enjoy that. If a painting came out of it? Great, if not, you still had a wonderful time painting, and that’s time well spent. At least it’s much better than going on to the internet and watching TV to get yourself upset.
Paint a small painting - Small painting has its charm and it shouldn't be disregarded. I recently bought some smaller watercolor pads because smaller paintings are more manageable and it takes less time and energy to finish. Painting small is also a very good way to practice simplifying your painting and focus on the big shapes. You can get a smaller watercolor pad. Or just tape off a larger paper into 2 or even 4 sections. And pick something simple. A simple sky, a small portrait of a person or a pet. It keeps painting fun and fresh. If you find painting a small painting still a daunting task for you, then let me give you something even simpler...
Paint a small value study - Let’s not even worry about colors. Just paint a quick value study with a single color! You can’t get any simpler than that. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy painting a value study. It is quick and satisfying. Because I can get the result quickly. Value study is super useful to practice washes, values, shapes, and compositions. You’re getting a lot out of a small value study with a very short period of time. Moreover, if you end up with a good value study, this can be a huge morale booster for you to do your final painting next time. I can’t recommend this enough.
Ok, I hope those tips are helpful for you, give them a try, and let me know how they work out for you. Be sure to check out this week’s video to see the demo of the painting of my cat.