Reasons and the result of my 25 mini monochrome portrait painting project 2024
Welcome to my first Blog of the year!!
I’m forever starting mini and more massive (sorry I just wanted to use the letter M again), painting projects. Some projects I am happy to drag over a long period of time, truth be told it’s more down to lost enthusiasm and inspiration rather than a planned timescale. Some, I feel the definite desire to complete on a more intensive production output and tighter timeline.
Which leads me to explain why I decided to complete a set of 25 portraits with a thread of similarity to them.
So what was the painting project outline I had set myself?
The plan I started with was to create 50 (cough cough) changed my mind to 25, 10cm square portraits. The portraits themselves could only be painted using 2 paint colours but the background could be different and I could incorporate the charcoal drawing as a part of the tonal/colour spectrum.
But why did I start this portrait project? Also why did I give myself parameters to work within, when most artists rebel against restriction?
I’m going to need to break this down into a few parts to explain, as there are both artistic and commercial reasons for doing what I have done.
Let’s start with the art brain train of thought. The end of 2023 saw me take the biggest break from painting that I have taken. Ok, so it was just 2 weeks, but that’s a long time for me, and it wasn’t actually a planned break, good old bugs decided to do the rounds at Christmas time, so creating wasn’t realistic. I started the new year, with an average sized portrait for me, and it felt good, but I didn’t feel focused. I absolutely am no longer the person who sets new years resolutions, or someone who sets myself a project to “kick off” off the new year- I am still not in new year mindset and its almost the end of January, and this is ok! I think the need I felt for a project was because I had had a break. A mini project would give me a sense of achievement, and also because I wanted to create a set number of portraits, it gave me space to f*ck up, or maybe be less satisfied with an outcome because I knew I had committed to making more. For any creative, I highly recommend, numbered projects to help build confidence, it stops me dwelling on the less enjoyable and successful parts and encourages consistency in showing up.
Anyhow I have digressed as per usual. I also knew that if I painted on a smaller scale that the time commitment was lower, and the need for patience and focus is potentially less demanding….sort of! I just wanted to make sure I put minimal hurdles in the way, knowing that it is easy to avoid creating if too many “other things” need doing… and this could be really positive other things such as commissioned paintings.
Now to explain the “Why’s” of the parameters or restrictions I gave myself. I have already mentioned the size restriction and the fact that it was a set number I wanted to create. I also decided to only use 2 paint colours to create each portrait, and I stuck with this. The reason I chose to do this was once again to make myself show up without excuses. It really can be as simple as not having the energy to squeeze out multiple paint colours, not having the focus to think about colour and value when recreating skin tones, to stop me in my tracks from painting. Two paints, only value to think about, I had removed even more hurdles that meant I had less excuses, minimal jumps to complete. I also selected all 25 images to work from in advance. This is something I have never done before, as some days an image shouts at you to paint it, and the next day that same image could do nothing for you, but I felt this time it was necessary.
The loudest voice in my head is the one that tells me to paint, what size and when, but running a small business there is a commercial aspect to my work as well…. I refuse to “paint to sell”, or to paint what I think people will like, it doesn’t work- I don’t recommend it. However, I have bills to pay, as we all do, and so if I can make a sound decision that works in line with my art brain then I will do it.
How the portrait project also had commercial reasoning behind it…
Small canvases cost less!! There you go, one good reason to paint on a small scale!! Coming out of Christmas, indulging in extra food and gifts- it was a more obvious financial decision to buy 25 small canvases than 25 larger ones! This also works for my collectors as well. Some of us work from payday to payday, managing our finances this way, and some people don’t have this need, I have collectors from all walks of life. Either way it meant that by offering something smaller for sale, at a lower price, makes it a more likely option for everyone, and for myself it’s also not putting all of my eggs in one basket.
Another aspect is the excitement of building a series, people enjoy seeing it unfold- I certainly do as a creator and an art lover, so it was another way of capturing interest in a positive way, not a TikTok dance like a giraffe type of effort. (I am not on TikTok) I decided this time to give exclusive insights to my newsletter subscribers. Social media is getting harder and harder to navigate, and so my newsletter and blogs will be a way forward for me to ensure longevity for my creative career. It therefore gave me an opportunity to engage properly with my lovely subscribers, not just an email announcing “something new”, but a real time update, revealing what I am actually spending my time doing.
If you haven’t signed up to my newsletter… I don’t send too too many, then you can do so just HERE
Creatives who fancy painting small, if you haven’t before, what to watch out for…
Painting small is not easy! Less mess, that is easier, taking up less space, yep easier, getting eyes and nose in the right place, definitely not easier! It’s worth remembering that the margin for error, in terms of accuracy, the tolerance for this is much lower on a small painting. The answer might be obvious to you, but I’ll share regardless. If you are drawing a huge 1m face and the nose for example is off by 0.5cm from where it should be then it’s unlikely you’ll notice this… however if you are painting a tiny face- some I have painted must be about 4cm high and the positioning is off just even 0.2cm, then its going to show. I love Sloth from the Goonies, but I don’t want a portrait to look like Sloth unless I’m painting him! (although likeness was the least of my concerns with this project, there still had to be a degree of anatomical accuracy)- So just be aware of this pitfall, they are harder to get accurate and also you’ll have to be patient with correcting values, there simply just isn’t as much space for anything!… But I’d still recommend giving it a try, you might love it, or it might make you realise it’s not for you.
I hope, if you have followed, watching this little project unfold. I am 100% ready to paint bigger again now…. maybe even much bigger.
If you want to see all of the pieces that I have created, and even perhaps given them a home, then you can find them on my £200 and under page- they are £95 each, with free UK delivery, but of course i’ll post Worldwide. Tap/Click here to go to the page and see what I’ve been up to.
Always grateful for you sticking with me and reading my Blogs,
With love and thanks
Flo
x
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