Ten things I learned while making a series of paintings!

I have been making my series of paintings entitled “The Butterfly Series” for quite some time. Now that this series is complete, here are ten things I learned while making this series:

1. Cohesiveness: When you work on a series of paintings, all the works are a part of that bigger picture. This cohesiveness acts as a strong stimulus to come up with ideas for the paintings. All paintings have an individual personality and yet they belong to a group. It somehow makes things easier as an artist and the direction of your goal seems clearer.

2. Accountability: When I announced on Facebook that I am going to make a series of ten paintings called “The Butterfly Series” I was nervous as well as excited. Most importantly, I felt accountable to live up to my words. This extra source of motivation pushed me to make art even on days when I was feeling a bit low.

3. Opportunity for deep research: When you have a common topic that spans across several paintings, you do not just study that topic once, you go through it several times. In my case, “The Butterfly Series” made me study about butterflies in great details. I researched online about them. I went to a butterfly park and clicked several pictures for reference. I was more observant of these little creatures in general. Additionally, repeated painting of butterflies in each painting made me realize the details about them of which I was oblivious earlier.

4. On your way to mastery of a subject: This point is a continuation of the previous point in terms of artistic skills. When I made sure to make every painting revolve around butterflies, obviously I was painting a lot of butterflies. Although I have a geometric style, I chose to keep the butterflies realistic and everything else geometric. This made me paint and keep improving my skill of painting a butterfly. However, the road to mastery of any subject is an endless journey, but repeated actions are a sure shot way to reach closer to mastery of a subject.
   

5. Respect for vastness of a subject: Whenever we choose to study a subject deeply, we learn so much that we never even knew existed. While painting butterflies, I was in awe of their minute details and the variety of butterflies that inhabit this world. Maybe there are many butterflies that are still left to be discovered by me even though I tried to cover as much as possible in this series. Painting this butterfly series has left me feel humbled and full of respect for vastness of the subject for butterflies.

6. Scope for more: Making these ten paintings of the butterfly series was a great experience. However, did I completely cover all the butterflies? No. Did I implement all possible ideas possible with butterflies and my signature geometric style? No. Let us be realistic, imagination and ideas and research on any given topic is endless. That’s why putting a number to how many paintings you will make in a series keeps you focused and in check. There is always scope for more paintings, research, ideas, and creativity. However, when the time is right, it is ok to put an end to a project and move on to something new.
   
7. Challenge with each painting: Although I was working for a series of paintings, each painting still came up with its own challenges. As each painting was a unique art work on its own, there were things that I had to accomplish for each individual painting. The individuality of each painting combined with the commonality with rest of the paintings of the series makes for a great experience while painting.

8. Relatability with the audience: When an artist keeps repeating the name of the series while showcasing the paintings to the audience, the name of the series stays in the viewer’s mind. Audience might forget the name of the individual paintings, but they will remember what you are up to. In my case of working with “The Butterfly Series”, my viewers expected to see butterflies in each painting of the series. Even when I met friends offline, they would ask me, ‘How is your butterfly series coming up?”. You feel like everyone understands what you are up to. Audience can relate with you and your art works better if they know your plans for the larger picture. Additionally, it helps to display one collection/series at a time if you exhibit your paintings online/offline in a gallery. You will have a common mission behind the making of each painting. It helps the audience as well as buyers to get what you are doing.

9. Variety: When you are making paintings randomly, then also your paintings will have variety. However, this variety will also be random. On the other hand, if you make art works in a series and still manage to show variety, it captures interest. When all paintings belong to a series, they have a common ground but still each painting is unique. When you show variety on a single topic, it is easier to focus for the audience as well.

10. Accomplishment: Lastly, let us not forget about the sense of accomplishment one feels after they complete a big project. When you finish a painting, you achieve a mini goal, when you finish all the paintings of a series, you achieve a major goal. This accomplishment acts as a big motivator to plan marketing strategy, plan other series and to celebrate your consistency and accountability towards your creativity. You learn lessons and you move on to even bigger accomplishments.