2011: A good creative year

This is an underpainting for a work in progress. Even though it’s barely begun, I’m calling it my 40th painting of 2011. (Just because 40 is a nice round number to end the year with.)

I realized in 2010 that if I wanted to become a better painter, I had to stop my periodic dabbling and make a point of painting regularly. I set a goal to produce 50 paintings this year. Though I fell short, I’m happy with my output. I think I’m ending the year as a much improved and more confident painter.

For the painting above I’m using a Gros Morne photo by my colleague Chris Hammond. He’s generously offered up a slew of his landscape photos for me to use as reference. I expect this little collection will result in quite a few landscape paintings in the coming months.

I’ll leave you with a link to great post by Chase Jarvis called 10 Things Every Creative Person (That’s YOU) Must Learn. It’s written for photographers but applies to all creative types. Instead of making resolutions this year, I think I’ll just revisit this list periodically.

Happy New Year!