What Can You Paint in 10 Minutes and Why You Should Try

'Poppy Abstraction'         7x5             pastel             ©Karen Margulis
available $100

 You know you should. But it is hard to find time. And even when we do have the time it is often wasted as we try to figure out what to paint. We all have heard the benefit of painting practice and how painting smaller and more frequently can help us improve. Devoting time to put in those important 'miles of canvas' can be a challenge. But it can be done if we take some simple steps.

• Lower your expectations. Try not to approach every painting as if it were your last! Don't make it so precious. Calling your practice paintings 'studies' can take the pressure to perform off your shoulders.

• Work smaller. It might seem awkward at first especially if you are used to working large but you will learn to manipulate the pastels to make the marks you need for smaller papers. It also gives you a greater feeling of accomplishment because you can get more done faster on smaller paper. 

• Work faster and set a timer. I developed my painting speed which I prefer to call efficiency because I only had time in my work schedule to do small fast studies. At first they were terrible but with practice I became more efficient in how I approached and finished a painting (study) Try setting a timer for 10 minutes. You will be surprised at how much you can do in that time. Be sure to have your paper and subject ready before starting!

How about some inspiration and some ideas on how you can paint something more efficiently. Check out my poppy demo on my Youtube channel. 

https://youtu.be/dtG6Kl1WgN8

The finished painting and the reference photo