A Daily Painting Practice
There is a quiet kind of satisfaction in finishing something you once weren’t sure you would stick with.
At the beginning of the year, I set out to paint every day. One small gouache painting at a time. Nothing elaborate. Just consistent.
One hundred days later, I can say I finished.
Some days came easily. Other days felt repetitive. There were stretches where I questioned whether anything I was making was all that interesting. But somewhere along the way, the point shifted.
It stopped being about each individual painting and became about showing up. It was about sitting down and beginning without overthinking it. About trusting that something would come, even if it was simple. And about letting the work be enough for that day.
Noticing More
I finished as I spent a few days in New York City. It is the kind of place that naturally draws your attention. There is a lot to take in, but I noticed I wasn’t trying to hold onto all of it. I wasn’t turning every detail into an idea or a plan.
I was just noticing. When you know you are going to return to your work the next day, and the next, there is less urgency to capture everything at once. You trust that what matters will stay with you.
Carrying the Practice Forward
Finishing this project does not feel like a big ending. It feels more like something I can carry forward. A way of working that feels steady. Something I can return to, even when I am not in the middle of a defined challenge.
For those of you building something of your own, I think this is the part that matters most. Not the beginning when everything is new. Not the end when everything is finished. But the stretch in between, where you decide to keep going. That is where something real takes shape.
