96,840 Paintings! #30×30 2021

Here’s some random stats about the group this year:

• 4517 Total Members / 3228 Active Members < I think that’s a pretty great ratio of readers to contributors!.
• 96,840 Paintings! < That’s what it would be, if every active member completed the marathon!
• 77% Female, 22% male. < No idea why art clubs are like that, but it certainly matches what I see at workshops.
• USA and India are the two top countries represented! with Sydney AUS scooping top top city spot, followed by San Francisco and Montreal – so that is the founder effect at work!

So we’ve come to an end of the thirty days of painting in June!

It’s been a terrific fourth year of the Direct Watercolor experiment, and I’m very much looking forward to next year.

For me, reaching five years of anything is a major accomplishment. I’m so bad at sticking to things! It’s you, the community, that is keeping this together! So you have my heart-felt thanks.

It’s been a great feeling watching this small community come together this year, and I think, offer up a much stronger array of work as the years go by.

As a group, all of us in our own studios, but working ‘side-by-side’ online – I can see that everyone is getting stronger together.

I personally entered this event a little bit ‘on the back foot’. I’d come off a year of very low motivation (pandemic blues). But the more time I spend looking at the posts everyone has been sharing, the more excited and energized I’ve become.

Everyone says art is a solitary activity – but I think, in fact, this is not true!

I also used to be a passionate believer in the ‘everyday artist’ concept – the idea an artist must work hard everyday or it’s all for nothing. It was an obsession of mine for years. But I’m beginning to think, as I get older, and get interested in more complex things, I think I’m changing. I feel, this marathon-model of taking a month out here, a few weeks there, and truly setting aside other things, putting intense focus on painting, at the expense of everything else for a set period of time – it’s much more sustainable, and possibly, more productive.

Set aside time to work, with intensity, and you can make more progress in a month than you might otherwise make in a year of casual ‘dipping into’ creativity.

And if you can’t – if one month is too much to put aside, do it for one week – or even do it for three days. Your family can live without you for three days! But then – find a way to do it many times a year. Whatever it takes to keep engaged with life and creativity, and not just fritter your days away doing a job, or taking care of a home.

So yes! You guys!! I am super energized and excited to do the #30×30 marathon again next year!

Five years will be kind of incredible.

I hope you all had such a great time that you’ll also be coming back!

Right now, I’m about to delve into a few months of writing. I’ve signed up to take some classes, and I’ve got a few writing buddies who’ve agreed to keep ourselves motivated :) (This team-stuff really works!) So I’ll be stepping back from the #30×30 Facebook group for now, (but feel free to post as much as you want in the off-season).

You can always reach out to me here on the blog, there on socials, or my email marc(dot)taro(at)gmail(dot)com.

So thanks again for doing this with us. Really! I am not just saying! Thanks – and see you soon!

~marc