Paint What You Love
Challenge Dashboard
Celebrate yourself for committing to this practice
🎉
Find below all information related to the challenge
- Join the Paint What You Love Challenge Facebook Group. (Click on the words or go to the box below)
This is a private group where we can share our progress, encourage and support each other. - Use the Challenge Planner as a source of inspiration and guidance. (Download below)
Do yourself a BIG favour. No matter how "big" or "small" your goals are, they matter!!
I recommend you set some quiet time aside, and sit down to review what your goals and expectations are for the challenge. Having clear goals can be key to get where you want to be.
All these reflections have always helped me tremendously. It's a work in progress, use pencil so you can change your mind. (YES, it's allowed!) - Sign the Artist Contract. Powerful way to deepen our commitment. I have signed contracts like this one in the past and they have helped me work better which is why I am passing it on to you. Sign it and email back to me or post it in the Facebook group! (Download below)
- Fill in the Before Snapshot form (below) which will summarize where you are at today. (You'll get an email back with your own answers). Then at the end of challenge, we'll fill in another and see what happened. :)
- Take a look at the Tips for Success below.
- Watch the Kick-off Party recording. See link to it Below. Here we got to know each other a bit and we went through goals, tips, and we went through a valuable process to plan the painting by cropping the photo we are using.
- Start going through your photos and put them into ONE file or folder. Call it that folder: Next Paintings. The premise is that you don’t judge whether these are difficult or easy to paint. You just need to be excited about them!
- You'll be receiving the daily prompts via email.
Watch the recording:
🎉 Kick-Off Party 🎉
Click Here for Link
Watch the recording:
🎉 Challenge Paint Party🎉
Click Here for Link
Save the date:
🎉 Celebration Party 🎉
Sep 14, 11 am pacific time
Please register: Click for LINK here
Daily Prompts
Daily prompts are emailed daily at 12.15 am Pacific Time.
Make sure you check spam/junk/promotions folders if you are not seeing them easily.
Send me a note if you are not receiving them please.
Sep 9:
#1- Focus only on big shapes: no details allowed. Block in the largest shapes first and stop there. You can even use some tracing paper overtop of your photo if it's printed and find the big shapes. Make sure you are including a variety of small, medium and large size shapes so that it's not all the same. Details can wait. The structure needs to be there first. Evaluate if you have good bones, and only then proceed if you feel you need to add detail.
#2- What’s your story? What’s the painting about? There has to be ONE big underlying story going on in the painting so that you give more importance to that. All the elements in the painting will support this: from colour choices to design to where to put detail (or not).
Sep 10:
#3- CONTRAST
You can use this word literally or as a reminder to evaluate contrast in your painting. Contrast between sizes, shapes, organic vs geometrical, value, temperature, etc. Same/same is boring. Different is where it's at in art. Contrast can be applied to many elements of design. It can be high contrast or low contrast on purpose too! The important thing is that we are using this in an intentional way. Where can you see contrast in your painting today?
Sep 11:
#4- Use 3 colours only + white
(or just 3 colours if using watercolours).
Think of including one kind of each of the primaries. Limit your palette and see what happens. Again, after your painting session, reflect on what felt easy, what worked, what didn’t. And you’re not allowed to say nothing worked! Even if you created a really ugly painting today, you showed up, which is what counts!
Sep 12:
#5: Do a 40 min timed piece. Stop when the timer ends.
At that point, you can later go back into it to add a few touches. IF you have experience with timed exercises, make it shorter! Do 30 min or 20 min. Anything that will push you to be more decisive & less fussy. The whole premise is to not get caught up in details and overwork your painting. Have a plan before you begin, know what you'll be painting, what colours you'll use. Maybe even sketch it on the canvas before you start the timer. Tip: use a big brush and a small canvas too :)
#6- Paint to music and let the rhythm guide your marks. This should be fun! Maybe share with us if you did this, what you were listening to and how it influenced your brush marks.
Sep 13:
#7- Paint as if no one will ever see this. We have looked at technical aspects most of the week. I know those will still run in the back of your head and today, I want you to pretend you ARE a master and paint your life away. No judgments, no critiques allowed until way after you have finished.
#8- Notice where you hesitate. Paint anyway. Awareness is key. Are you hesitating on mixing colour? Brushwork? All of it? It gives you keys as to where to focus next. When I notice I am hesitating, I take a step back and take a deep breath, look at the photos on my inspiration wall and say to myself: Do it like you mean it, like you know how. This gives me courage and I do go into it all way more boldly. Because I like to consider myself to be a student, (and forever will be), I take note of where those hesitations are and then proceed to practice what I noticed I was lacking.
Sep 14
#9- Grand Finale! Turn on the music and use today to go back to paintings you did during the challenge and tweak them as needed. Paint as if nobody's watching. Celebrate, and as I tell myself sometimes at the easel: Put that stroke down like you mean it. If your paintings are all done, or if you'd rather start a new one, go for it. You can even revisit a prompt you know you want to explore again.
Sorry, I got mixed up with the prompt numbers in the emails!! 😂
Join the Paint What You Love Challenge Facebook Group
This is a private group where we can share our progress, encourage and support each other.
JOINWhen posting on Social media:
Once you have the painting of the day, photograph it and then you can post it in your own social media and in our Facebook group:
When posting, use these hashtag #PaintWhatYouLove
Important: Please mention me by tagging me or simply writing @MarcelaStrasdas on Instagram or @MarcelaStrasdasArtist on Facebook. This is the main way I am alerted you have posted and I can then share your post in my stories.
Share each other's creations in your stories!! This is how I have found artists I love in the past and this is how we spread the word about each other! Always include the @name in the story so they know.
