DAILY PAINTING
In November 2025, I began making small paintings in oils in a single sitting. Coming out of a long period away from painting, I wanted to return to it regularly and become better acquainted with oils, a medium I had never studied systematically.
I knew from the period I spent learning how to draw that working from life is the best way for one to better their skill in a medium. And that still life is a trusted companion that never gets tired to sit for you and one you can arrange in infinitely varied ways to suit your mood of the day or season.
At the same time I started noticing more and appreciating the work of certain painters from the "movement" of daily painting.
I always had difficulty bringing a painting to a close and the notion of starting and finishing a painting in one sitting or day and getting a tangible lesson that you can apply the very next day on the next one appealed to me.
So I set out to try it. I went all in. In November of 2025 I started my daily painting challenge. Only I took it a little too literally. I set out to complete a painting every single day.
Having two young children I homeschooled, the only way I could see that being possible was if I started painting early in the morning before they got up. Sometimes I got to "finish" a painting before they stirred and sometimes I had to find a way to sneak in the homeschooling room/painting workshop and pick up the brush later in the day. Completing a painting became a reality I could live on a daily basis and waking up excited about what the day's work would bring was something I could not see myself tire of. Things were happening! Paintings, to be more exact.
In November 2025, I began making small paintings in oils in a single sitting. Coming out of a long period away from painting, I wanted to return to it regularly and become better acquainted with oils, a medium I had never studied systematically.
I knew from the period I spent learning how to draw that working from life is the best way for one to better their skill in a medium. And that still life is a trusted companion that never gets tired to sit for you and one you can arrange in infinitely varied ways to suit your mood of the day or season.
At the same time I started noticing more and appreciating the work of certain painters from the "movement" of daily painting.
I always had difficulty bringing a painting to a close and the notion of starting and finishing a painting in one sitting or day and getting a tangible lesson that you can apply the very next day on the next one appealed to me.
So I set out to try it. I went all in. In November of 2025 I started my daily painting challenge. Only I took it a little too literally. I set out to complete a painting every single day.
Having two young children I homeschooled, the only way I could see that being possible was if I started painting early in the morning before they got up. Sometimes I got to "finish" a painting before they stirred and sometimes I had to find a way to sneak in the homeschooling room/painting workshop and pick up the brush later in the day. Completing a painting became a reality I could live on a daily basis and waking up excited about what the day's work would bring was something I could not see myself tire of. Things were happening! Paintings, to be more exact.
One of my son's imaginative pottery works, a soda can and my favorite cactus plant were three of the subjects that made it into my 12-day daily painting sprint in November of 2025.
I was churning out paintings faster than ever before. But perfectionism snuck in. Paintings I had set out to complete in an hour or so started taking up two or three hours. By day thirteen, I could no longer keep up with the challenge alongside everything else in my life.
After the first few days of confusion and dissapointment I realized I did not have to give up what I had discovered. Painting every day wasn't sustainable for me; making a small painting in one sitting could still be a regular part of my practice.
After the first few days of confusion and dissapointment I realized I did not have to give up what I had discovered. Painting every day wasn't sustainable for me; making a small painting in one sitting could still be a regular part of my practice.
Pear and shadow, April 2026, oil on paper, 5.5 x 8.5 in
I now return to it whenever I can. It helps me make decisions, finish a work, and begin again without waiting for ideal conditions. I'm also more willing to paint something simply to see what might come of it. Some of those paintings have become entries in my Diary Paintings series. Others simply taught me something I could carry into the next day's work. The joy of it became predominant. Success or failure, secondary. Daily painting had shown me that a new day can mean a new painting.
Nocturne: Ginger jar with shell, January 2026, oil on canvas panel, 6x6 in