Tiny daily painting.

 I admit to a tiny bit of hero worship to this guy. His tiny paintings of the mundane, ordinary things in life are a wonder to behold.  He had a daily habit of painting a small painting and his rendering are amazing. The daily painting movement is designed to do this, to increase skill in rendering and painting. There are other movements as well, such as daily drawing, etc. 

As a science-y type person, I have also wondered,

if I painted a little painting from start to finish every single day, would *I* get better?

I've had people comment things such as, "well as least you have your mother's talent." It's worth noting that actually, I received very little instruction from my mother. In fact, she discouraged me from a career in art, for practical reasons. 

Anders Ericcson says that it is deliberate practice that results in expertise, not innate ability. (You can read more about him here.)

And thus begins the experiment.  

So here is: day 1. I don't know if I'll be able to do this every day, but the challenge is to take some ordinary thing and paint it onto a 6x6 panel. I expect Mondays and Tuesdays are off the table, because I go to my office all day. Sundays I either play golf or go to a plein air meetup.  But the rest of the time is up for grabs.  

So, I grabbed a jar of chamomile tea, plunked it down on my tabouret, and began my journey. From start to finish, this took about 40 minutes. 

 

Of course, I can never leave something alone - it's one of my failings, the ability to walk away, so I poked at the painting for a while.

 I think I liked it better the way it was. Another lesson learned. 

...