Be Brave - Take the Chance

I belong to a studio portrait painting group and we meet every Wednesday which is exactly when a local landscape group meets --so the choice is one or the other (portrait or landscape). Oh how I would love to do plein air painting, why can't it be on another day?

A One Hour Quick Study - Up North Fall 5x7

I did find, on the plein air website, a very reasonable plein air "Spring Retreat" paint out that will occur in April. When I emailed asking for more information, I learned that I was emailing with the Wednesday Plein Air Contact. I have a new art friend simply from a few emails. Aren't Art Friends wonderful?

In our email exchanges the Plein Air Contact invited me to meet with them on one of their regular Wednesday paint outs - which I cannot do because of the schedule conflict. However, I did suggest adding a "Bonus Tuesday" to the plein air schedule. Guess what? We are going to coordinate a few Bonus Tuesdays this Spring -and all I had to do was ask! Be Brave!

WOW! It was so easy to ask for and create what I hope will be a fun experience with new art friends!

The other item that I wanted to mention was be sure to share challenges and ideas with your art colleagues too. I mentioned a few months ago that I wanted to paint 1 hour quick studies each week. And, I mentioned it to several art friends. We now paint 2 quick paintings per week, each one hour (small) and the results which we post online are amazing. I am surprised at how much can be accomplished in an hour and also how many people have joined the group! I really feel that the quick painting and fast decision making are helping me improve my painting skills.

So, my advice to you is to be brave--ask the question, talk to your friends, organize and coordinate! Take the Chance!