30 Paintings In 30 Days Challenge - Day 10

Day 10 puts me at 1/3 of the way through the 30 day challenge. I have 5 paintings and another one in the works. I "finished" painting #5 and started with the drawing of #6. I made myself stop on this painting because, as I reminded myself, this is about learning. This is about working through the process of a limited palette, working with portraits, seeing shapes, gaining a better understanding of value and warm and cool colors, improving seeing and drawing what I see. And, yes, I do have conversations with myself about my work. 

Today I was part of another conversation and that was with artist, Stanka Kordic. She is a beautiful painter. She said something that struck me as highly important for being an artist. She is an intuitive painter. She pays attention to the painting and studies the painting and works in a way that responds to what she thinks it needs or what should be done next. It's not always successful but that is her process. Most of the time it works but sometimes it doesn't. But, what I found was very important was that underlying all of that, she said first you need to have the technical skill of an artist. And that is what I'm working on. Painting everyday keeps me focused on the art, the work, the shapes, the process of an artist. And hopefully, at some point down the road, I will acquire technical skills to work in a more wholly intuitive manner.