Day 67 — Vintage green dessert dish from the 1960’s
Local Sacramento artist Wayne Thiebaud said, “You cannot expect your paintings to be delivered to your front door like the morning newspaper, you must climb Mount Olympus and steal it.”
The hard climb up the mountain of art practice is to overcome your doubts, and your discouragement, or even just to overcome the everyday boredom of daily drawing. One must wrestle with their spirit and return from the inner journey with a treasure from Mount Olympus.
Starting the ascent is always easy in the beginning. 100 days of making art will be easy. Right? I paint in my studio at least three to four days a week however, I had to find inner discipline and appreciation of the meditative process of drawing. Initially, my daily sketches were from life but later I started drawing and painting from memory—the light in the window of the old Alhambra in Spain and the curve of the waves of our American River. Some of my best drawings occurred when I worked quickly and effortlessly and just closed my eyes to see the true colors. And to keep it interesting, I used a new material or method every few days: pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, oil on paper, oil on board, acrylics, and cold wax. The larger pieces took several days to complete, but many I finished in under two hours.
Day 74 — Perrier and Pink Carnations
Drawing gets easier over time but mastery is a lot more difficult, and as my expectations grew, so did the difficulty. After completing stacks of sketches, canvases, and waters color studies, I have documentation of my climb up the mountain. I may not have discovered the Mount Olympus of Mr. Thiebaud's epic journey as an artist, but I’m following in the footsteps of his words and his works, and the advice of other masters to draw, draw, and draw some more.
Visit the100dayproject.org to learn more about #the100dayproject. I encourage YOU to start a daily artmaking practice.
Day 62 — Summer Flowers
