I’ve completed several presentable pieces from my daily art practice so far, but I noticed rigidity creeping in when I felt anxiety rising at the thought of completing a piece. I realised I’d unintentionally adopted the thinking that daily art practice means a finished, presentable picture each day.
Starting my daily art practice, it was never the intention to finish a piece every day. It was about the process. It was about breaking the resistance barrier each day and diving in to creating. It’s about working with the media and gaining familiarity.
This isn’t a natural flow for me at the moment. It’s not habit, so it’s all the more important that I’m mindful with how it goes to avoid building bad habits. To make sure I’m building up a healthy creative habit.
If I don’t produce a finished piece today, that’s no bad thing as long as I’ve worked towards it. This can mean gathering the paints and exploring colour palettes. It could be finding the right pen for the type of paper I’m using — one that isn’t too thick, or thin, or one that doesn’t bleed into the paper too much.
Perhaps a producing a sketchbook page of line and shading practice is in order?
