Work in a series.

A series does two important things: 1. It answers the question of what next, and 2. It stretches you beyond what you normally do.

If you are the cook in your home, you might know what a relief it is when someone in your family says “could you please make your minestrone (or whatever the request may be)?” The work is often not the hardest part, it is deciding what the work will be, that is stops us from doing anything.

Starting a series is simple. Choose a topic and a number. When I came back from Peru I decided to paint 50 pictures from Peru. One summer, at Ghost Ranch, I decided to paint a dozen cactus paintings. I loved it, every time I didn’t HAVE to paint something, for a demo etc, I just painted a cactus. After about 6, I had pretty much done what I set out to do, I had expressed cactus all the ways I could imagine…which brings me to my second reason you should work in a series…I kept painting the final 6 cacti. I got bold, I tried new colors and new strokes. I painted differently. And hands down, the last 6, were the better 6. I grew because I forced myself to. don’t worry if the series seems boring, that is when the magic will start to happen.

What are you waiting for?

Go make some art!