Can painting daily really make you a better artist?

Yes, painting daily will put your art painting into overdrive! The more you paint, the better artist you will become.
Launch your art by painting every day.

There is a current craze among the art community for daily painting. Artists are learning to paint daily and to paint often.

In the daily painting craze the artist completes a painting every day. Obviously in order to complete a painting every day, it needs to be a small painting.

Actually this is not new. Professional artists for centuries have been painting almost every day. How else could they turn out so many paintings?

They did not complete a painting every day, but they instead worked on a larger painting. That's what we are talking about here.

Daily painting speeds learning.

A popular book ad "Daily Painting" explains the many perks of painting every day. This book is for the artists who not only want to paint more often, but want to learn more about painting.

This book is a good read with lots of helpful painting tips. It encouraged me to paint more often.

There also is a website where you can sell your daily paintings. Or you can put them up for sale or auction on eBay.

who wants to learn to paint?

We (including myself) want to learn more about painting. There is always more to learn! As long as we keep painting, we keep learning.

People often ask, "How long does it take to learn to paint - to become an artist?"

Well, I did my first painting in high school art class, back in the 1960s. Painting has been my pass-time ever since. Eighty years is in my view, so how many years has that been?

Learning is inspiring and I'm still learning to paint. There is always more to learn!

let me ask you

"How long does it take to learn to play the piano?"

Cabbage Palms

There is no exact amount of time to learn to play a piano. It all depends on how much we practice.

When someone starts playing, we don't expect them to immediately play with the symphony orchestra.

Why not?

We first have to learn the different notes of the scale. Our fingers need to learn to hit the correct notes. We may have to learn to read music, etc., etc.

Before we can play with the symphony it takes practice - lots and lots of practice!

How often does a baker go to work in their bakery?
Does a shoemaker work in his shop only once a month?
How about a photographer, do they take photographs only when they are on vacation?

No, these professionals work at their trade often, many times daily. Their repetition makes them good at what they do.

learning to paint is the same!

Learning to paint takes practice, lots of practice.

Daily painting takes discipline, but it will make you a better painter.

Go to - How to Paint a Rose

The hardest thing about painting is getting started.

Once we get started, it seems like time just flies by because we are so engrossed in the process of painting.

Getting started has been my stumbling block.

Painting has been put off until there was a full day to spend painting.

How often does that happen?!? Rarely, so my painting sessions have been very intermittent. Sigh!

Striving for perfection is another stumbling point.

We can't expect to play a symphony every time we paint. That's not good. It takes the joy out of painting.

what's the answer?

Paint more often. We don’t have to do a painting daily, just paint more often.
Don't try to be perfect.
Keep your heart and mind open to learn new things.

Everyone has a different time restraints. When our heart is set on doing something, we make time.

Practice is a fun way to learn!

Myself personally, I am going to paint smaller, more often, and for shorter periods of time.

Instead of painting for perfection - I'll call it practice.

Then I don’t feel so bad if it doesn't turn out good - it's just practice.

Am I happy with this 8"x10" Sunflower painting - not really? But, I relaxed and enjoyed it more. The looser feel reflects the joy of painting.

just paint - it doesn't have to be perfect.

what do you need for painting daily?

First, you need a place to paint.

The ideal place is where you can have your painting supplies ready to go each day. Hopefully a place where you can leave them out. Then you won't have to spend time getting them out and putting them away every day.

You want to spend your time painting, not moving your painting things around. The one thing you should do each day is clean your brushes. You want them ready to go the next day. Starting the day out cleaning brushes tends to dampen our painting enthusiasm.

Daily Painting is a great way to improve our painting skills.

Celebrating Joy

Second, keep an adequate supply of paints, etc.

Nothing can be more frustrating than running out of paint in the middle of a painting.

Art supplies are so easy to order over the internet nowadays. There is no excuse. We can even have them shipped directly to our house.

Third, what size will you paint?

Figure out what size you want to paint. Many of the daily painters do small pieces, 3x3 or 4x4 inches. It doesn't have to square, 3x6, 5x7 and 6x8 are popular sizes.

You may want to paint larger, 11x14, 16x20 or 18x24. Start painting daily and it will be finished before you know it.

Whatever size you use, paint in the standard sizes. Then it will be easy to find ready-made frames.

Fourth, have something to paint.

You can go outside and paint on location somewhere. That's wonderful if you can do it.

Most of us paint at home, so we need a supply of things to paint. Live flowers, fruit, still life objects, photographs, your dog, children or whatever is available.

Fifth, set some guidelines.

Set yourself a time for painting each day. It's like having to be at work on time. Hold to your commitment.

Decide how long you will paint. It doesn't have to be hours. It could only be twenty minutes. That's right, 20 minutes. It could be 30 minutes, an hour or whatever your schedule allows.

It's not how long you paint, it's the commitment and dedication for painting daily that counts.

painting daily takes child-like faith

A child plays the scale on the piano over and over with dreams of playing in the symphony one day.

See - Butterfly Paintings

Aspiring artists do "practice paintings" over and over on their way to becoming an accomplished painter.

Painting daily is not my habit, but I'm working on making painting a regular habit.

You can do it, too.

This Monarch Butterfly painting and the Banded Butterfly fish up the page are both 8"x8" paintings. A 6"x6" or an 8"x8" size make it easy to complete a painting in a day.

From time-to-time I will share a daily painting on this page.