Monday, June 20, 2011

The challenge of Painting in 2 styles



My posting here has been neglected due to the carpentry work we've had going one. I've been quite distracted. But everything is getting back to normal.

As you probably know, I paint in 2 styles: American Indians/western which I've been doing for many years and Contemporary Realism still lifes which I started doing seriously about 3-4 years ago.

I think it's great to paint in different styles/subject matters because it keeps everything fresh. I don't feel like I'm painting the same thing over and over again. My "problem" is that I don't want to show both styles at the same galleries and I'm a slow painter because of the detail I paint. The result is that I have twice as many galleries as I would have if I painted in one style and I spend twice as much time in the studio. Fortunately, I'd rather paint than anything else but it can be over whelming at times.

But I'm not complaining. Being an artist is a great life for me and I'm Blessed by being able to paint and have the galleries that I do.

2 comments:

  1. Do you break up your painting schedule so that you only work on one style at a particular time? Like, do you paint only the western scenes one week, and the still lifes the next? I was listening to a podcast about time management the other week, and I remember they talked about breaking up projects into regular repeating "lumps" of time. I have been spreading out all of my projects pretty thin myself, and am wondering if it would be better to do them in larger lumps of time.

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  2. Susanna,I normally go back and forth. I paint one still life and then one American Indian. Of course, if I'm getting ready for a show I'll stick with one style. Sometimes, if I'm working in a Series (same subject matter or color scheme) I'll work on them all at once.
    PS Love your painting Graceful Repose!

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