Should I try it?
So I wanted to try a 21 day painting challenge. I went back and forth on trying it for a year or more. I was like… do I want to spend money buying a bunch of supplies? What if I suck?
Yeah so there was some imposter syndrome thinking I’d be wasting my money and time trying to paint. Then one day the timing was right and I just decided to do the challenge and I went to Michael’s that night and started buying some basic supplies.
I hadn’t painted since college some 30 years ago. Back then I liked painting but I only had a class or two and I did very few paintings. I did however grow up drawing all the time, I took lots of art classes in school, then went to art school, and been working as a graphic designer for 30 years some of which I did commercial illustration work.
So I have always been creative but I am not sure I was really too good in college. I do recall it being fun though so I finally bought supplies and got started.
How'd It Go?
My painting challenge was related to Green Tara and I was excited to try to paint around my Buddhist studies and practices. The cool thing for me was this was a 21 day challenge and so I learned to paint in layers and build over time maybe 20 minutes a day.
This was easy to do and made things fun and easy. When I bought supplies I bought 5 canvas boards. The image below was my first painting. I thought it turned out pretty well at the end of the day and I was kind of hooked.
I then painted nearly daily for like 3-6 months. At the end of 6 months I was blown away by the 5-7 paintings I had done and I realized how much joy it was bringing me.
Do You Want to Sell Your Work?
My painting was kind of a spiritual practice for me as I was doing meditative painting and studying many different levels of Green Tara and her background. I was sharing on Facebook because I thought I was doing some fun stuff and I am all about promoting and celebrating creativity and the arts.
What started happening though was I was starting to get people asking me if I would sell my paintings. Early on this was not something even on my radar or something I was interested in.
About 6-8 months in to this journey I had an opportunity to hang my art in a local art show. I got really excited but now I had to figure out how to frame and hang my work and plan the samples I wanted to show and IF I wanted to sell any paintings.
I put prices on my pieces, but I really wasn’t interested in selling any of the work, but I was excited to talk to people and discuss my art. It was a small show and I only talk to a few people but it was still really cool doing an art show.
Below is a photo of just a few of the pieces. I think I hung about 8 or 9 pieces at this show.
Slowly I Warmed Up To Selling My Work & Facilitating Community Art Events
I kept painting like crazy. I kept exploring different styles and moving beyond just my Buddhist flavored art. I explored some different styles and followed my gut for what would be fun.
I thought about teaching some classes and had an opportunity to do a 3-day art camp for 20 kids. I jumped at the opportunity and then started instructing adult paint party fun art painting events. So I slowly started making art money which was pretty cool.
Then I was playing with some still life pieces and loosening up my brush strokes. Then I put a painting up for sale and it sold in a few hours. Then over the next few months I did a few more still lifes and sold several more pieces across the US.Now I felt pretty comfortable with selling some of my work.
Now What?
Committing Even More To Painting…
As I write this article I have about 17-18 months in. Now I am pretty committed to painting as much as I can. I am wanted to do more shows, do art camps and teach art classes for both kids and adults, I want to continue leading paint parties, and just learn and grow in my skillset.
I want to create spaces to do art in community so stay tuned for this.
