Artober 2020
In October 2020 I joined #Artober. Typically people follow a list of prompts or a theme. To encourage myself to just start, have fun and experiment, I only set one rule. Paint something new every day. A few paintings in, I realized the value of following a prompt. Following a prompt fosters a feeling of community with the people who are painting the same word. There’s also a greater sense of accountability.
In the end, I finished 8 paintings. I ended up documenting more of my painting process and the tools I used. This created space for pause and reflection and I thought more critically about what I was painting. For example, when I switched to Arches Paper for the last painting I noticed a big difference in how absorbent the paper was. Being able to add more layers of paint to the paper without it buckling allowed me to bring out a wider range of color values. This was my first year doing #Artober which I previously thought was only for “actual artists”. I’m glad I broke through that mental barrier.
Documenting Progress & Tools Used
