Thursday, February 4, 2010



Lone Lemon

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase

Larger-scale works and commissions have been occupying me lately, so the smaller paintings are a little less frequent. Sometimes, even if a small painting took only an hour or two, I have trouble switching gears to work on something else. Creative energy requires a measure of physical stamina but I think it is more demanding of one's psychic energy. Some days for me that mental focus seems to get blurry after completing the daily (musn't tax my little brain,) and I can't summon the will to move on to something else. I wonder sometimes if it has something to do with the nature of the daily painting process. When I work on a piece and "complete" it that day, maybe I'm subconsciously telling myself that my day is complete.

Or...maybe it's just a good excuse to be lazy!

11 comments:

RUDHI RĂ¼scher said...

Hey, thats exactly the way I also feel with my 'Dailys'...

Anonymous said...

Re: Lone Lemom-Dang, thats purty!!!!Dixie

Susan Roux said...

I don't think you're being lazy! Wow, quite the opposite. To be fair it is winter and energy levels are lower. But also when we paint we pour ourselves out on canvas and much more then the energy used to move the brush around leaves us. Its a very draining activity thought it can feel totally relaxing while doing it. For me its more like "brain exhaustion".

I do love your daily paintings. Hope you don't stop them...

Sheryl Parsons said...

Well I hate to leave a note after a spam post, but I love how you can paint each day and finish. It takes me forever, and I fuss and worry myself over painting. But then I'm not in any way as experienced as you. You set a wonderful example to follow. I love the diversity in what you do as well.

Sheryl

Don Gray said...

Nice to know I'm not alone, Rudhi. Thanks for the visit.

Don Gray said...

Hi Dixie--thanks.

Don Gray said...

Susan, you're very kind. You're right, it's very draining. While you're working the process is energizing and absorbing, but when you lay down the brush, you realize how much it took out of you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Don Gray said...

Thanks for your supportive comments, Cathyann--I agree completely. Glad you mentioned the other aspects of doing dailies: setting up posts, answering and sending emails and blog comments, packing, shipping, recordkeeping, etc. I'm certainly not complaining, but one tends not to consider all these activities when deciding to devote an hour or two a day to a daily painting.

Don Gray said...

Sheryl, thanks a lot for the kind words.

Dean Grey said...

Don!

Awwww, poor guy. He looks kind of sad. Beautiful but sad!

-Dean

Unknown said...

Hey Don,

Found your blog through Facebook, ironically, while taking a break from a small painting, after working on two different larger paintings.

What is hard for me is the transition between pieces, I like to work on one thing, but I use glazing and not everything can be wet on wet, so I must wait, and well, I need something to do besides mess around online, so I sometimes start something new, or pull something from yesterday back out, but it's a mind game.

I guess some of this online stuff is research, so it's not technically being lazy.