Citizen Sketcher

10×10″ Oil on Panel.

Crossing the finish line! Sad that it’s the end, but also kind of ready for a break:)

Uma Kelkar and I launched #30×30 on a whim seven years ago. Because we think it’s a great idea for students, but mainly because we wanted to do it ourselves! Anyone who continues making art, year on year, will develop their own rituals and superstitions. We all gravitate towards a working method that matches our brains. I’m sure it’s different for everyone, but if you have the right mix of over-thinking and attention-deficit that I have, a mad push followed by a collapse might be the only sustainable system.

The willingness to ignore all other responsibilities and simply focus on your work. I don’t know if it can be sustained for longer than thirty days at a time?

You can call it a marathon, or call it a sprint. Or call it a risk of public humiliation. You’ve promised to paint when you’re sick, paint when you’re tired, and paint when you’re sure nobody cares. But the real keys is; you’ve promised to broadcast every single thing you do, for better or worse, in real time.

That’s a powerful drug! The fear of letting people down works magic on my motivation :)

Oh sure, besides that, there’s an ‘attunement’ you get from painting every day. A refined sense of color-mixing, and a sensitivity to the physicality of the paint. With watercolor it’s an uncanny ability to sense the dampness of the paper and the dispersion of the paint. With oils it might be a master chef’s ability to feel the texture of ingredients under your knife.

These things can’t be measured with grams and milliliters. It has to be instinct. You need to be in the flow-state.

That’s the secret recipe: The sprint keeps your mind focused on your materials, the marathon keeps you showing up, the teamwork won’t let you quit.

I hope you’ve caught some of the magic.

Take care, please drop me some comments about your own marathon. How it feels to cross that finish line. Share your best work, share your epic fail, or share a story of what you discovered.

Ok! We’ll see you next year!

~Marc

10×10″ Oil on Panel.

I think it’s clear what I’m doing with this series, which is choosing big huge views that are wide enough and vast enough to remove any specific details. They’re an abstraction of the landscape; no buildings, no cars, no people – nothing left but color.

Maybe most significant for me, an artist who’s done so much travelogue – they don’t come with a story about this or that place, or who discovered the view, or what trail to take up the mountain.

They’re a purely visual experience.

There’s a magic trick here; feeling the pull of the imaginary horizon, the sensation of space and depth, while simultaneously being confronted by the juiciness of the paint. The tactile surface simultaneously creating and destroying the illusion.

I’m not sure why I love the feeling so much, but I can look at these for hours. Letting them flip back and forth like the optical illusions they are.

It’s been a great 30×30, even though I’m breaking all the rules :) Including not pushing myself to get to thirty. I’ve always said to people: Do whatever you can. Go at your own pace. Don’t pressure yourself. But I’ve never taken my own advice.

If I do one more tomorrow, I’ll have made 22 paintings in the 30 days.

It’s very possible this is just what getting older is like! I’ve been relaxing, giving myself an entire month to simply enjoy painting, recapturing what I love so much about color mixing and mark making, and everything that oil painting does differently from any other medium.

I haven’t been experiencing the rush (and anxiety) of producing thirty paintings in advance (I’ve often done 30 in 15 days in order to make it work), scanning paintings, editing demo videos, engaging in social media on all fronts, all at the same time. And in return, I’m much more attached to these paintings. I really am painting for myself, after all these years.

So yes; it’s a weird seventh year of #30x30DirectWatercolor (but of course – all the past years are still here on the blog). Maybe it can be an example of how to motivate yourself, just for yourself. Ultimately, that’s the only thing you can do, if your artwork is going to continue to mature, and you’re going to keep up the drive year after year.

So thanks everyone, for helping me get to this spot today.

And if any of you have been doing the event this year, please post your #30×30 in the comments. Feel free to show off here with a link to your blog or your socials. Maybe we can put you in touch with a like minded artist near you :)

Ok, see you tomorrow for the big finish!

~marc