Notes from a week of small paintings

I set myself a simple rule for one week in August: one small painting each morning, one hour, no corrections after the hour was up.

By day three the work had changed noticeably. Fewer marks, better ones. The pieces that survived became the first of the Quiet Hours series.

“Constraints are the fastest way back to instinct.”

The value of the exercise was not the paintings. It was remembering how much of studio work is deciding rather than doing.

I now keep one morning a week for this, and I recommend it to anyone who feels stuck.