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Interview With Justin Clayton

Sunday, February 24th, 2008 by Alyice

Clayton. Justin’s been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, The Artist’s Magazine, and several other publications based on his ability to sell his artwork over the Internet via his website and eBay auctions. But as admirable as that is, I was more intrigued by the fact that he’s so graciously humble. While he loves being able to work as an artist full time, his greatest satisfaction comes from producing art that gives pleasure to others. Take a peek into Justin’s world and discover why he feels it’s important to do what you love every single day.

Justin Clayton, Artist

Meet Justin

Justin Clayton Artist

Buy Justin’s Art

How did you get started with the Painting A Day movement?
A few years back I had an art teacher who taught me two things: get rid of my TV and paint every day. Even though I understood his point and don’t watch much TV anyway, I couldn’t bear to throw it out. However, I did manage to paint every day. This was my first introduction to daily painting.

At that time many of my daily paintings were business card size, even smaller than the ones I paint today. Many of these paintings were studies of other artists I admired like John Singer Sargent and William Nicolson. I remember feeling like it was quite a commitment to paint something everyday, but I soon saw the benefits. I realized that to be a proficient painter I would need to paint regularly.

A couple of years later I came across Duane Keiser and his “painting a day” project. He brilliantly combined the practice of painting daily with a simple way to promote and sell online. I was very inspired by what Duane was doing and this was about the time that I decided to start my Daily Paintings website. I’ve been painting these regularly for over two years now.

Do you allot a specific time each day or do you simply set aside x number of hours to complete your task?
I usually spend about 3 hours on my daily paintings. I generally like to complete a painting in one block of time as opposed to splitting it up throughout the day; however, I do take a break or two within that three hour block. When doing the kind of painting that I do, painting from life, it’s good to go away from the painting for a bit and then come back to it with a fresh eye. It’s amazing to me how when I come back from a break I can instantly see the things I need to fix in the painting.

What have been the personal rewards?
It has been tremendously rewarding in terms of learning the craft. In my opinion, it also keeps the artists’ muscles fit. This kind of painting is similar to other occupations… like writing poetry or dancing, the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

The technical aspect of painting, like mixing colors and measurement, become easier, too, which means I can focus on the mood of the painting or any other aspect that interests me about the subject. It makes the painting process much more fun when the technical part of the craft has lessened. Painting is still difficult but it’s just nice to focus on the “good stuff” like composition and rendering the light.

What has been the professional benefits of committing to a painting a day?
When I started, over two years ago, I had no idea where it would go. A few months into it I was starting to get a lot of emails from people all over the world. I was surprised by how kind they were. I was caught off guard a bit by how much people were affected by my paintings. I make a great effort to paint subjects that interest me and to paint them, from my perspective, in a beautiful way. So, to have other people comment so positively on how they enjoy seeing my work has been one of the greatest rewards.

Another great benefit from doing this has been the fact that I’ve been able to sell my work regularly. It certainly helps, if you want to be a full time artist, to sell artwork regularly. Setting up a website and selling these daily paintings has helped me achieve that.

If there was anything you’d do different, now that you’ve been doing the Painting A Day movement for 2 years now, what would it be?
Start earlier! It’s been rewarding in all ways for me. I don’t get paid as much as I did in my office job sitting behind a desk but it definitely pays in satisfaction. I’ve wondered in the past what it might be like to be a flower delivery person because if you think about it, probably most everyone is glad to see them when they arrive at the door. I think in a way I’ve felt like this the last few years when people get my paintings in the mail. They often write and say how much they like the painting and that makes me feel good. In these instances I wonder why I didn’t start sooner.

Visit Justin at JustinsPaintings.com

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Interview With Shelley Grund

Friday, February 22nd, 2008 by Alyice

Today I had the honor of interviewing Shelley Grund, artist and gallery owner. Shelley opened her gallery in October of 2007, complete with a studio and retail area for local artists. Shelley’s blog caught my attention when I discovered that every year she dedicates late winter/early spring to the Painting A Day Movement in which she only allows herself one hour to complete a painting. Won’t you join me as we discover the significance of painting something—anything—every single day?

Shelley Grund, Artist

Meet Shelley

Shelley Grund, Artist

Buy Shelley’s Art

How did you get started with the Painting A Day movement?
In 2005 I discovered Duane Keiser and decided to dedicate time to painting small paintings once a day.

What have been the personal rewards when it comes to one painting a day?
By painting something in only one hour once a day I improved my painting skills. Improvement in your art can only come by doing it. These little exercises really help an artist to learn the “shorthand” of painting. Slowly it is less a matter of thinking what it is your painting but more intuitively creating.

You mention that painting a day becomes an exercise, do you look for new techniques to practice each day or week? Or do you simply do your paintings intuitively and what’s the benefit of the method you choose?
By doing the paintings everyday you get to know your materials so well that it becomes second nature. This includes mixing colors, seeing values, reaching for the right shape/size brush. The subject matter can be the same or different from one time to the next (for instance I’ve painted eggs several times). I’m not necessarily looking for something new to do or some new technique. I find the subject guides me. And the world is unlimited in subject matter. Once you no longer have to think about the materials you can concentrate on what you want to say with the painting. You can experiment with your materials, push them a little every time you work with them, learning their limits and discovering new ways to use them. Generally the creation process becomes part of you, the artist, rather than just technique. You are no longer a student learning how to use the materials, you are a “master” painter creating something with the materials.

What has been the professional benefits of committing to a painting a day?
Besides improving my overall ability and thus creating better art, those little exercises have allowed the public the opportunity to purchase a piece of art at a reasonable price. I post my paintings on my website and I have sold most of my painting a days to visitors to my website.

If there was anything you’d do different, now that you¹ve been doing the Painting A Day for awhile, what would it be?
Do it more often! It takes a lot of discipline to dedicate yourself to a “painting a day”. The benefits out-weight the inconvenience. I’ve become aware of the passage of time and regret that I haven’t painted more.

Visit her at ShelleyGrund.com

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Interview With Jan Blencowe

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 by Alyice

Today I had the honor of interviewing Jan Blencowe. Jan’s been painting for years and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree back in 1984 but it wasn’t until she committed to painting something every day that her career as a full-time artist and instructor took off. The coverage Jan’s received through her daily paintings has earned her coverage in top magazines, representation in various galleries across the United States, and given her the ability to help struggling artists succeed at their craft. Discover why Jan says the Internet is a wonderful place for artists of every skill level.

Jan Blencowe, Artist

Meet Jan

Jan Blencowe Artist

Buy Jan’s Art

How did you get started with the Painting A Day movement?
One of the wonderful things about the Internet is the ability to connect with other artists from around the globe. In a discussion thread over at Wet Canvas back in 2004 another artist brought Duane Keiser’s blog, “A Painting A Day” to our attention.

Keiser was already well an accomplished gallery-represented artist and art teacher. He had been doing small postcard size paintings as exercises or warm-ups on a daily basis. After accumulating a number of these, 100 to be precise, he decided to have a studio show to sell his works. He called it “A Hundred for a Hundred”, and sold the small works for $100 each. That was such a success that he began thinking about other ways to sell his small paintings. He made a commitment to himself to do a painting every day, without fail. Keiser did a lot of small still life pieces, often just single objects: a marble, an orange, a PBJ sandwich. (Still life work is also one of the best ways to improve your painting skills, regardless of the subjects you choose for your larger works. They are truly a technical work out for an artist.) it wasn’t long before he launched his blog, which became an immediate success.

This idea was intriguing to myself and other artists for a number of reasons. First the idea of an artist painting everyday and doing small studies is nothing new, but posting them on a blog for the whole world to see and purchase was. The blog was a way to keep one accountable. Second, every artist knows that the more you paint the better your work gets. So we decided to take the challenge and commit to a painting a day.

I began in January of 2006. At first I, like the other artists posted my work only on Wetcanvas. Several months later I decided to start my own blog, and called it “The Painting A Day Project”.

Do you allot a specific time each day or do you simply set aside x number of hours to complete your task?
I usually paint first thing in the morning because that’s the best way for me to make sure I have time to paint, otherwise life crowds in and the time seems to evaporate. If the painting for that day is a small study, it takes 1-2 hours to complete. However, after doing small studies daily for quite some time I’ve switched to doing larger works which take 6-8 hours to complete. When working on a larger work, I will break up my painting sessions into 2-3 hour chunks so that I can take care of daily chores, phone calls and the kids. And since I don’t watch much television I can get a lot of painting done at night—when everyone’s in bed or watching their favorite shows.

What have been the personal rewards?
The personal rewards have been many. There is always a great deal of satisfaction when you set out to challenge yourself and stick to it. At the beginning of The Painting a Day Project, I painted everyday no matter what. After two years that has changed somewhat as demands for my work have increased and commitments to various galleries have also increased.

However, I gained a tremendous amount of discipline through that challenge. I am much less likely to let time crowd out the time I’ve set aside for painting. Furthermore, those daily paintings have improved my work and have given me a chance to explore many avenues in subject matter, style, technique, and composition.

What has been the professional benefits of committing to a painting a day?
The professional benefits have also been numerous. Just after I started doing the Painting A Day Proejct I was contacted by Domino Magazine, a home décor magazine. They were doing a feature on daily painters who blog. That article included 6 artists who were the first generation of daily painters behind Duane Keiser and Julian Merrow-Smith. Hits to my blog went crazy and I sold nearly 50 paintings the month the issue came out. That one piece of publicity opened the door for many other publications to contact me, including the New York Times, USA Weekend Magazine and Mastercard’s blog Priceless.com.

My experiences blogging and marketing my art on the Internet led me to develop a seminar for artists. A seminar designed to teach other artists how to sell using the Internet.

The daily painting phenomenon has really become part of art history and now I’m being asked to present lectures about it by many of the same groups who have had me teach my Internet marketing seminar. In essence, my daily paintings have helped me create a parallel career in teaching and lecturing.

Traffic to my blogs and websites continues to rise and the small daily paintings have generated interest in my larger works as well, and that in turn has attracted the notice of art galleries. In fact, after finding me on the Internet, The Black Sheep Gallery in Gloucester, MA contacted me and now carries my work, both small pieces and large, in their gallery. On the whole the daily painting movement has been very good to me!

Visit her at JanBlencowe.com

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