A Quick Word About My New Painting, "Death Of The Charity Box"

Oil on Board 

I saw a donation box one day and incorrectly assumed it was a charitable donation box. But as I kept looking at it I realized it was actually a donation box from a company that collects and resells used items. I did a little research and apparently there are quite a few of these companies that use these boxes for commercial retail purposes (they come in multiple colors). I am assuming that most, if not all, of these companies are legal, but somehow this just seems...wrong. And judging from the hits I received after I researched, I am not alone.

Now, I am not saying you should not give items to these companies (after all, everyone's gotta make a living), but I would ask that if you are donating items for the purpose of giving to charity please make sure that you read these boxes carefully to ensure that your donations are being used for the purpose you intended.

Think Creatively!

Limiting Your Brushstrokes May Just Increase Your Creativity

I was talking to a young artist the other day and she said that she was having a problem with an oil painting. She said she kept painting the same area over and over again until the paint was too thick and she had to scrape it off and start over. Oh, how I remember this problem! I went through this same thing when I first started painting. Not only is this frustrating, because you have obviously lost your original concept (or maybe you never had one to begin with) but this also gives your paintings a tight or overworked look.

I told her about a fun challenge that I came up with to help me.  

Start with a small sketch and pick a certain number of brushstrokes it will take to complete it and try to stay within that number to finish it. Simple! For example - if you only had ten brushstrokes to finish a small landscape do you think you might be a little more conservative with your choices? Most definitely. You could also, of course, try this with bigger paintings and you might not always finish within the estimated number but I believe it does help the artist to focus on what is important. This little exercise helped me to make every brushstroke count and to stop “torturing” my artwork. Good Luck!

Think Creatively!