Friday Fun: Try Some 7 Minute Explorations

7 minute explorations are 5x7 pastel studies  available for $45 each

It has been awhile since I did this fun little exercise. It seemed like the perfect thing to share with my private class yesterday. Just what the doctor ordered! It is a great little exercise if you want to do the following:

• paint more
• paint faster
• paint looser
• paint with more passion and expression
• paint what you love without guilt
• add more miles of paper or practice without spending a lot of time
• overcome fear
• build confidence
• break out of a block 
• break free of a rut
• explore without fear of wasting good paper
• explore color
• explore mark making
• discover new approaches
• discover new compositions for familiar subjects

And I could go on but you get the idea. This is an exercise that I need to do more often. Many artists already do it and many instructors do some variation of the exercise in their classes. I call my version 7 Minute Explorations. They can be done as a warm up before painting or a wind down after painting. Or they can be done on their own during your studio time. Read on for the details.

The reference and painting that inspired my 7 minute explorations

• Choose a subject. Either a reference photo of a still life setup if you prefer. The photo should be one that you are really excited about and it doesn't have to be a perfect or even good photo. I MUST be your own photo....something you experienced!

• Tape up 4 pieces of scrap papers. I like to work on 5x7 scraps of my favorite pastel papers. 6x8 is also a good size for this exercise. I save my scraps from cutting down full sheets of pastel paper.

• Choose pastels for the painting. If this is a warm up you will use the same pastels for the rest of your painting session. If this is a cool down....use the pastels you were working with. Choosing the palette in advance saves precious time!

• Set your timer for 7 minutes and get painting! You will allow 7 minutes for each painting. The goal is to interpret the photo in a different way for each 7 minute block. When the timer goes off you must stop. You may not be finished but the more you do the exercise the more efficient you will be.

This timed exercise will force you to think and react quickly and you will be relying more on your memory, imagination and intuition rather than the analytical part of your brain. You will only be putting down what is most important to YOU. You will not have time to noodle or overwork or overthink! You may or may not end up with a painting worthy of a frame but you will gain valuable knowledge if you embrace the challenge!

My 7 minute explorations are based on the dune painting I finished yesterday. They are 5x7 on various papers.

'Seabreeze I'      5x7      $45

'Seabreeze II'        $45

'Seabreeze III'          $45

'Dune Flowers'         $45