Small loose work!

Ok, so last time I posted, I said that 2019 was the year of print... well not everything goes to plan.  I have been inundated with commissions, yay!  I am so pleased!  So the print work will be put on the back burner, maybe revisited in the Summer holidays of July and August.  As I wade through the commissions which I am unable to show right now, I have been giving myself little breaks by creating some smaller, faster, looser work (Yes even looser than my normal work).

I am using the contacts I have built up on Instagram and their photos to start testing the waters of new ideas and compositions.  This has good benefits too, because if they turn out to be successful, I have some new work to add to my ever expanding work.

These smaller paintings are 7x5 inches on mountboard,  I restrict myself to 45 minutes, with the intention of leaving the paintings alone after the 45 minutes is up no matter if they are finished or not (unfinished, they actually look beautiful).  I am using acrylic, "sketching" out the darks and lights of the painting as I usually do but making sure that important details like the eyes, nose and mouth are refined (especially the eyes). 

These little pieces serve a several purposes, which include:

1: to loosen my painting style up so I am not painting "too tightly," 
2: speed up my ability to paint, so I get more done which aids the first point, 
3: helps me work on a smaller scale to my usual work, 
4: provides art for sale, to all, at an affordable price, 
5: helps me to not sweat the small stuff, "a perfectly painted piece," to allow for a little rough around the edges, to me feel happy and more confident with an "artists impression" finish to my work instead of a photo realistic painting that might as well stay as a photo,
6: create character and energy from the previous points,
7: achieving something in a short amount of time, whether its a beautiful painting or a failure I can learn from,
8: and most important of all, the enjoyment of painting and achieving the other points because thats why I paint,

I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I enjoyed painting them.  There are many more on the way in the coming weeks... maybe making a frequent one a day challenge perhaps.  What are your thoughts?  Get in touch by email, comments on this post or via Instagram where I post regularly. ACSPaintings