Daily Painting: Paint Small and Often To Become a More Creative, Productive, and Successful Artist

This is absolutely the most useful book I've found for aspiring oil painters or people who have painted a little but feel they've lost the knack, or who have been discouraged by past efforts. Full of practical, actionable tips and insights, it really gives you the confidence to get out the paints and get painting!

This book has its origins in the "Daily Painting" movement which, if I am correct, started some 8 or 9 years ago with an American artist, Duane Keiser, was taken up by Julian Merrow-Smith with his "Postcards from Provence" (get his book, too) and now seems to have spread everywhere via the internet, notably on blogspot. The author and her husband have contributed significantly to this movement with their own website, dailypaintworks.com. The book's target audience is painters who want to earn money by selling small paintings via the internet, and there's plenty of advice on how to go about this; but even if you're just a dilettante like me, there's plenty here to inform, inspire and even entertain - since the author writes with a light and often witty touch, which makes reading it much more of a pleasure than those more portentous, heavy-handed, how-to-do-it books one encounters everywhere. Chapters on finding subjects, colour mixing, composition, drawing, and even fighting artist's block, are relevant to all who would improve their painting. In fact, it's an altogether unique addition to the how-to-do-it genre, being part autobiography, part instructional and part gallery, featuring the work of more daily-painting artists than I can conveniently count. The works shown are all representational, and frequently very "painterly" indeed - and the growth of this movement and its fast-selling products show just what kind of art the vast majority of the buying public wants - as compared to the mindless and meaningless modern rubbish that many institutions, galleries and art critics try to thrust down our throats. This has to be one of the best new practical art publications of 2014.

The painting-a-day approach to making visual art is now well-established both in Europe and the US. Carol Marine is an accomplished, resourceful artist, and was in the vanguard when the approach first began to spread. She sets out the methodology clearly, and puts it in a context of developing creativity that I think must inevitably make sense to any artist of some years' experience confronting the very real problems of maintaining freshness and originality over time in their work. The economic approach is equally important. Rather than most often submitting work to galleries, the artist will frequently auction her/his work via the internet. The author describes this approach clearly, explaining that patience is essential to making it work. I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who wants to find out more about this approach from a very energetic, engaging artist.

I was really inspired and learned a lot from reading this book. As a potter interested in painting I found that I learned a lot of the basics about colour, and discovered a place to start experimenting with two-dimensional work. The concept of working on small pieces for a fixed time each day was brilliantly explained and has already begun to influence my artistic practice. I liked Carol's humorous and simple, but clear writing style. The pictures of hers and other artists' work were very valuable and really illustrated the meaning or explanations of the text. Even though I have read the whole book, I have already started to refer back to chapters to review information, and to take up some of the practical exercises suggested. This is without doubt the best painting book that I have read.

I really enjoy this book as I back to it regularly. It is helpful and encourages you to paint and draw much more often than normally. If you enjoy painting/sketching then you will love this book.

This is not a how-to-paint book for beginners, but is very inspirational for artists who are seeking new ways to overcome personal confidence problems with their work. Carol uses her own experiences to show how she also struggled at various times to push her work forward. Getting involved with the daily painting mindset made a big difference and she now paints pretty much every day. Carol and her husband David are behind the DailyPaintWorks website, a hugely popular online gallery where artwork can be sold "straight" or by auction. The book itself gives insights as to how Carol approaches her pictures, many of which are just six inches square. There are many useful tips for getting into the daily painting routine; choosing subjects; arranging still life; choosing colour for impact, and more. Other artists also contribute their stories with many examples of their creativity. I have painted for years and also am a member on this gallery; having adopted several of Carol's approaches to planning and painting, I can say that I have found the book very enlightening.

Great book. Gives direction and practical advice. I borrowed it from the library multiple times so thought it about time to have my own copy.

Someone recommended this book and I got a sample on kindle first. I liked the informal style at the beginning of the first chapter so bought it. And that was about it- after that point I was disappointed. The informal style became borderline childish. It got repetitive. I found the author just waffled on quite a bit. The suggestion and advice on composition is not too helpful either. The author uses language in a way which can be discouraging to an amateur artist. For example they may think if you don't follow the 'rules' the author has written and emphasised, they will never be able to get their art/painting right, which is not true. The reader needs to make that decision themselves and not forced to believe it. They may never try to develop their own style if they are following her every step and 'rule'. There are no rules in art. Secondly, this book was written about 10 years ago, hence for 2020+ it is an outdated book- from social media perspective. For someone who is planning to sell online there is no mention of Instagram or Pinterest- that's not the authors fault obviously but I wanted to make this important point that it is not so relevant as far as social media is concerned if that's what the reader is hoping to do. Things have moved on a lot from when this was written. Thirdly, this is about oil painting but again it may not be relevant to some as the tips you pick up can be used in Acrylics or other media. Fourthly, there is alot of input from other artists which is fine but in my opinion, it doesn't really add any value to it. Lastly the print is quite small for a book like this. There is so much empty space on one page- the font could have been bigger and more appealing. I did struggle with it and I do have perfect eyesight (for now!) The good thing about the book is that there are some lovely paintings which I admired a lot. All in all I would say reading this book is more like reading the authors own diary than a book to be inspired with. Quite disappointing.

Carole Marine is one of the painters I truly admire!! I love her art; subjects, colours, composition.....her brushstrokes! Amazing how she can create those great little treasures with deliberate, confident, carefree brushstrokes.....mingling the colours with such skills and precision, resulting in fresh, beautiful, unmuddied, not overworked paintings! I have admired Carol's works from her blog and from the wonderful website dailypaintworks. I have always thought she should publish a book to share her wisdom to others, especially the ones who do not have access to her workshops. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I realized she just did! I was checking Amazon.ca for some gift ideas when I saw her book so I ordered it right away! The best Holiday gift I could give to my artist self!! It seems like she is talking to me directly in the book. I can fully relate to what she talks about! I have painted pieces ranging from huge canvasses to a series of miniatures which I am working on at the moment. Having said this, I have yet to find a clearer direction to a path I want to take and this book has shown me the way! Carol has convinced me so much so that 2015 is the year I will join the growing numbers of successful daily painters! What Carol say in this book make every sense to me!I highly recommend this book to painters of all levels! It does not really matter if you do not intend to become a daily painter or to paint in small format. Carol Marine (and some selected painters) have generously shared their valuable knowledge, tips and insights, applicable to painting in general!! Thank you so much Carol! You are such an inspiration! You have shown me the way.....the rest is up to me!

Interessantes und hilfreiches Buch hinsichtlich kleiner "daily paintings". Die Autorin hat irgendwann damit angefangen jeden Tag ein Bild zu malen und sie schreibt über diesen Prozess. Im Buch selbst sind viele ihrer Bilder zu sehen, mit unterschiedlichen Informationen und Angaben zum Bild. Sehr inspirierend! Schöne Bilder in Acryl, farbenfroh und schön anzuschauen. Angenehm zu lesen und anzuschauen, man kann durchblättern und sich inspirieren lassen von der Vielfalt ihrer Bilder und der Ausführung. Viele Informationen auch zum Thema Gestaltung usw.

Para quem está começando a pintar sempre existe uma barreira do que fazer, o que pintar, quando, etc. O livro dá umas dicas legais para vencer estas barreiras...

Er is geen enkel book die je kan leren om te schilderen of je uit je creatieve block halen, het enige dat werkt is oefening en durven rommel schilderen zonder het u aan te trekken dat ge duur materiaal aan het verspillen zijt, geen enkele poging is namelijk verspilling. Laat je perfectionisme vallen, want dat is kortom samengevat wat al dit soort lectuur tussen de lijnen geschreven staat.

Now this is a unique book. A collection of short stories on many artists and their tips and recommendations to improve your art. The author advises to improve your art by painting “small and often” or get into that habit of painting quickly, frequently, and for short periods. Whatever your medium, you must practice to improve. Each chapter contains an important element of successful artistry. I found chapter 6 to be very impactful. Drawing and proportion. I struggle with this. The author provides useful tips here, including use of a viewfinder. I never did understand why that would be helpful, now I do!! This is a clever and valuable book. Seriously, give it a chance. My first impression was that this was not going to be very valuable for me because I only paint watercolor. It’s not about that. It’s not about what you paint or what you use, it’s how to get better at it. Buy this book and read it! You can thank me later.