A series of simple things

Apples and Turquoise Plate 12 x 16

Paintings don’t have to be about big, important subjects but, like many artists, I can get stuck agonizing over what I should paint. Time creeps by while I ponder genres: still life? Portrait? Figure? Selfie? The more subjects I suggest, the harsher my inner critic becomes: “You’ve done that before.” “You’re not interested enough to do a good job of that.” “Find something original.” Ennui sets in.

But then I remind myself of Campbell Walker’s brilliant video about the drawing advice that changed his life. Essentially, he says that there is no perfect subject so just pick one, stick with it, and use it as a way to get working. You may be surprised at how that arbitrary choice can result in work that excites you and stimulates your creativity.

So, when things were feeling a bit stale in the studio last month, I arbitrarily picked apples as a subject and determined to paint some every day. The every day thing didn’t happen, but I did paint a lot of apples - some that really made me happy. I continue to turn to them when I want to do a quick warm up painting or I want to squeeze in some more brushwork at the end of the day. Most of these paintings are 8 x 10” but I did feel excited enough by my studio fruit to paint a few larger pieces as well.

I numbered each but, for me, the most important one is the first, awkward attempt in which I was trying to do way too much in one small space:

1

and the one that I did today:

17

I’ve stopped struggling with the subject and have started to enjoy the process and the paint. This doesn’t feel stale.

Apples and Platter 14 x 18

Apples and Blossoms 18 x 14

Here, in no particular order, are the apples so far. There are moments of genuine quality in some of them while others are the paintings that I needed to do in order to get to those quality pieces. All of them feel important to me.

I hope they’ll inspire you to pick a random subject and see where it takes you.

Happy painting!