Practicing Daily Warmups in my Studio
Welcome back to another BobBlast!
This week's BobBlast takes a close look at how and why I paint a series of small warmup paintings before working large. These daily routines are my stretching, warm up painting exercises where I repeat the same image over and over.
Typically, I divide my watercolor paper into sections - 6.5 x 9.5 inches. A full sheet of watercolor paper (23x30) yields 10 paintings! You can see the layout on a sheet of watercolor paper in the video.
Next step, before starting to paint, I cut the sections to size, and temporarily tape 4-6 of them together - on the back. That group will be one series of the same subject - like 4 pears or 6 coffee cups. These are my warmup, practice pieces... I figure athletes and musicians repeat stretching, warmup exercises before performing. We artists could be doing this too!
As I paint each one, I place a discarded mat over each - to isolate and easily see how it's coming along! Painting this way may feel like "production line" painting. For me, there's a rhythm to painting - almost like Robert Motherwell's automotism.
The final step is to sign it, varnish the painting, mount it behind a mat and slip it into a crystal clear bag!
And that's how I practice painting... See you at the summer art fairs!
