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The 10 Year Challenge, Painting Style

At left, "Beanie, Garnished," 8" x 10", acrylics on panel, from 2009, private collection. At right, "Blue 2.0," 16" x 20", acrylics on panel, from 2019, my personal collection. Questions may always come to me.
My first day back in the studio has included a lot of computer work and returning of phone calls. And many breaks to sneak into the kitchen for a treat of some sort - I've gotta keep my strength up, right? I hope that each of you are enjoying this season and making good memories with loved ones.

There's this new trend on social media, the "10 Year Challenge," where people share a photo of themselves from 10 years ago alongside a recent pic. I thought I would twist this into my own version of the game by placing two paintings side by side (because really, what matters more - what we look like or what we can do with our passions?)

The goal of every creative is to get better with each piece. The passing of time represents opportunities to grow, learn, and make stronger art. You've heard Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory - mastery of a complex task occurs after 10,000 hours spent practicing over the period of 10 years. And I would say I have definitely satisfied my 10,000 hours and then some  (www.PaintingaDogaDay.com, my daily pet portrait project, started way back in 2006, and while I no longer complete a painting each day, I do try to pick up my brushes or spend time actively learning each day). So I was curious to compare paintings from 10 years ago to today's work and see if there truly was a visible difference.

Both pieces pictured above represent my best efforts at that particular moment in time, and both pieces are about the likeness of an animal, it's relationship to the viewer, and telling a bit of it's story. They both are done in acrylics, with a chromatic approach, using the dogs' shape against negative space. But the similarities stop there.

Today I see that I am building more complex designs and color applications, embracing the qualities of my paint, bringing a more expressive approach to the forefront (which enhances emotive qualities), creating a denser atmosphere inside my picture plane, and building an intriguing partnership between line and form.

Which makes me wonder - what will I be creating, what will my paintings look like, in 2029?

Those of you in my audience who are artists, I invite you to do the same sort of comparison with your own work. See what you have learned in the past 10 years (or, if you've not been creating for that long, make your window smaller). Celebrate it! Too often we focus on what we don't do well/don't yet know how to do, and we forget to pat ourselves on the back for what we have learned.

Thanks, as always, for following along with my artwork journey,
Warmly, Kim

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