‘Petite Paper Paintings’ take-aways: reflections on a long term project

It’s been a few weeks since I completed my 100 Petite Paper Paintings Project. I’ve been asked a lot of questions about what the experience taught me and how it might have changed my art practice.

Although I did pop on to Instagram Live for an informal chat about the project (I’ll share the link below), now that a little more time has passed, I’m ready to document those reflections in writing.

Here are my main take-aways from the experience.

• Imposing limitations on the scope of a long-term project makes it EASIER to complete. Because I knew exactly what materials I would be using and had a process for preparing them in advance, getting into the studio and making something almost daily was not difficult at all. (This should not have surprised me given that this is how my successful fitness clients do things; at my suggestion LOL!). Executing a well-though out plan is definitely one of my superpowers!

• Building variety into the project made every week feel like starting something new. Because each week’s collage papers were created using different paint colours and stencils I never got bored. In fact, some weeks I wanted to extend my exploration with the current papers just because I felt like I hadn’t yet exhausted their potential. (I did end up using those favourite papers on a couple of larger pieces, which was a whole different kind of fun!).

• Repetition led to ‘improvement’; for me that meant faster decision-making while creating an individual piece and stronger compositions both at the end of a week of working with the same papers AND as the project went on. One of my goals for this project was to improve my composition skills. I can see that overall, I’ve gotten better at reducing chaos and creating larger, more impactful elements. Less ‘busy’, in other words. When working small, making a powerful piece is almost always the goal.

• Coming to terms with the idea that a strong painting can sometimes come together quite quickly. And that the ‘rule’ that ‘good’ paintings take a considerable amount of time to develop may just be a ‘story’ that I’m telling myself (reinforced by the stories many other artists that I interact with online are telling themselves…).

• And conversely, accepting that lots of things we create aren’t show-stoppers and it’s okay to use them as stepping stones and move on to the next. It’s certainly much easier to take this perspective when the painting is only 5 x 5 inches. Much more difficult when you’ve been working at large scale…Interestingly, when assembled into a group with more exciting pieces, even these ‘weaker’ paintings look great. A reminder that not every painting in a grouping (or on a gallery wall) has to be the ‘look at me’ piece…

• Small, collage paintings may be my art journal of choice. Many artists have enviable sketchbook practices, where they warm-up, play with colour and marks and plan bigger works. While I’ve played in sketchbooks sporadically, they never quite capture the way I like to work. Surprisingly, these 5 x 5 inch paper paintings have become the first thing I make when I come into the studio. They’ve allowed me to play and experiment, without feeling precious about materials. And they’ve already inspired me to ‘size up’.

• Even though the ‘100 Day Project’ is officially over, I have yet to lose interest in this project. In fact, I’ve already made an additional fourteen paintings and have another ten wee canvases on order 🙂

Have you ever completed a ‘100 Day Project’? Or another type of creative project that was more of a marathon than a sprint? Please share your experience in the comments box below (and sign up for notifications each time I publish a Note; it’s an easy way to stay in touch.)