Learning to paint? Here’s My Story.

I've been painting for about 5 years now (archive) and I realize that it's something I will never stop. Despite never being able to stop creating art, I haven't, up until this point, made it a goal to start an "art practice."

According to the many artists interviewed on Learn to Paint Podcast, creating and maintaining a daily art practice leads to creative discovery, overcoming the motivation problem, and so many other positive things that inspired me to try it for myself.

There are just a few problems.

One problem is that I am a bit defiant, both in body and brain. My body often doesn't allow me to do the things I want to do (I have some chronic health issues I'll talk about at some point).

Secondly, I am a contrarian. I always find a reason not to do whatever it is I have previously told myself that I actually DO want to do. Maybe it is due to my personality, but it's also likely due to having Autism (another thing, I won't get into today).

These mind and body challenges have consistently showed me since I was a kindergartener that doing something every single day, may not be feasible for me. So, my daily art practice is going to be ENGAGING with art every single day.

This can be viewing, thinking, listening, etc.

If I don't want to paint, I will listen to a podcast like Artist Life. If I'm not healthy enough to break out my acrylics, I will learn from one of the artists I follow on Youtube (Jenna Rainey) or Patreon (Chris Fornataro). If none of that sounds good, I will follow some artists on Tiktok.

I'm giving myself lots of options so I can have success with this goal. Sometimes having lots of constraints works, like using a limited color pallete, or only using one medium. In this case, I think my mind and body need freedom to choose WHATEVER WE WANT.

I'll be writing about how my daily practice is going here on this blog.

Since Kafka is my favorite author, and The Metamorphosis set me on a creative exploration, I am naming the blog A Painter's Metamorphosis.

Come witness my transformation.