Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often To Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist

I absolutely loved this book, ‘Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often To Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist’ Here’s the biggest reason why it was fabulous. As an artist, such as myself, when I went to ‘School Of Visual Arts’ in Manhattan, from 1978-1982, our painting teachers were always wanting and expecting us to make our own HUGE canvases, over 4 feet, in both directions. It was a while ago, & obviously we didn’t have the ‘thing’ called a computer. We had to learn, not to just make our own stretched canvases, but the bigger painting we did the more attention we received by the class & teacher. It was the day of ‘Studio 54’, everything had to be big and talked by the critiques from the teacher & class, right down to the spec of color, whether needed or not needed! If ANYONE had a painting less than 5 feet, that person was not considered a ‘serious artist’ & resorting to purchasing your own canvas, which was an absolute sin, by many famous students and professionals at SVA, buying ones own small canvas meant you were lazy!Well I wasn’t lazy! And in those days I was a very poor, student, artist & buying more paint meant more money I didn’t have which led me to making my own paint, like all the famous artists did from Day 1 until paint was in tubes?! YES, I learned the hard way and it taught me self discipline also..but as a 59 year old, am still an artist..I NEVER knew how to paint small?! It just wanted considered art..those were my teachers, I’m sure there were a few around..but when Andy Warhol decided to make one of my best friends in our freshman year, Keith Herring, famous, and Keith’s canvasses were the symbols of the ‘80’s all around HUGE blank empty subway ‘canvasses’, painting small was taboo!Writing this I probably sound like a fool! But we didn’t have an ability to photoshop, to make tiny figures, unless we were in film school, but I was a fine artist/illustrator, and didn’t get praised for my paintings of the “Masters”! “It’s not BIG ENOUGH..Jackson Pollacks canvass was on the ground, or in his empty room! Picasso threw his paint with his brushes to create ‘Masterpieces’!!So do you see why I never knew how to paint..small? This book, I so wish I had purchased the Hardcover, but I still make it work..has taught me that I did absolutely NOTHING WRONG as an 18 yr old out of HS to a world of “whatever you knew before..threw it out the window!” I knew I was good yet intimidated by others perfection and not my own!!I owe my journal painting and actually, Bible painting over scriptures & verses due to this book! I owe many things & challenges I never did, whether writing or my painting to things I learned in later life.This book not is just encouraging, but as everything I wrote above, I guarantee my ‘friends’ in the art world know EXACTLY what I was speaking of & the ‘BIGGER THE BETTER’..was always the motto, but if you think about it as much as I did..how the HELL are you productive or successful on a daily basis..painting LARGE?! Thank you Carol Marine! I love you for opening my eyes to ‘teaching older dogs newer tricks”! I can’t wait to finish my gallery show with smaller paintings too!! Thank you again ❤️ I promise for you young art students, painting large is NOT always the best. It has its great moments, but think of the great ideas you’d miss out on if you’re not being productive sooner than later? I highly recommend for new artists and us older artists who used to know the “you no know I knew”?! 😁😁😁💕💕

The media could not be loaded. Inspiration works in strange ways. One artist inspires another, who inspire others.In Daily Painting, author and artist Carol Marine talks about how she was inspired by Duane Keiser who's another daily painter. So since 2006, Marine has been painting daily, and selling her work online.Marine talks about her experience on painting daily, where she finds inspiration and subjects to draw, techniques involved and how you can sell your paintings online. It's very inspiring and insightful. It certainly gives me the if-she-can-do-it-so-can-I feeling.Actually the book covers more technical topics. Here are the contents.1. How daily painting changed my life (and can change yours too!)2. My materials3. Subject matters4. Value5. Color mixing6. Drawing and proportion7. Composition8. Staying fresh and loose with oil9. Fighting artist's block10. How to photograph and edit small paintings11. Tips for better online salesI really like the idea of painting small. Somethings the size of a blank canvas can be intimidating. It's difficult for a small painting to match a big one in terms of impact, but it's likely to sell better because it's more affordable. All these info are mentioned in the book. It also includes a chapter on subject matter that talks about the kind of subjects that work well on a small canvas.Marine uses oil as her main medium. However her tips and techniques can often apply to other media as well except for things specific to oil, such as wiping a canvas and starting over again.Throughout the book, there are many other artists being featured with examples of their paintings, sometimes with interviews, such as in the latter chapter on dealing with artist block. All paintings featured look beautiful and inspiring.The best part about the book is it shows you the possibility of selling your work online. It's a model that works for Marine and other painters. I've went ahead and check out the listing of other artists and her paintings on eBay and some other websites and can see people buying at the listed price. It's great to see other artists make a living using this method and it's something that anyone can get into. It's certainly very motivating.This is a great book for all artists. Highly recommended.(See more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

A beautiful, inspirational book that helps you forgive yourself and move on if your every painting is not a masterpiece. I've been painting as an amateur for over 30 years, and have been on-again, off-again with it because, heck, it's just what I do for fun. Three bad paintings in a row and I'm discouraged and quit for a while. But there's a gratification that I get when I do a really good painting that I don't find anywhere else, so it matters to me. The concept of keeping your "painting muscle" toned up and strong by painting every day makes sense to me.Once you're competent at the basics, just looking at paintings you like can keep you inspired. I love Ms. Marine's painting style and enjoy just flipping through the book, but it also includes chapters on mixing color, color theory, drawing and composition. Let's face it, we can all use a little refresher from time to time! A visit to the dailypaintworks.com website is also inspiring - and how cool to be able to actually buy paintings by the authors of your favorite books (or by artists they include in their books). In the past, my fave authors sold only in galleries, far far away from where I lived, and cost thousands of dollars.This is going on the shelf with my favorite art instruction books: Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards (it taught me to draw); How to See Color and Paint It, by Arthur Stern (it taught me to mix color), and Painting with a Fresh Eye by Alfred C. Chadbourn, along with a few by Charles Sovek, (they showed me what I wanted to achieve in my paintings). Daily Painting fits, because it'll help keep me inspired.