Pursue Passion: Peggi Habets on Learning and Goal Setting
This is part of the end of year advice series. Podcast guests offer suggestions on how to use an hour a day to get better at painting and share some of their own goals (and how they set them) for the year ahead.
Peggi Habets (Ep. 4) lives and works as an artist in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. Her deep love for the fluidity and spontaneity of watercolor have led her to paint and teach in the medium for over 15 years.
On an Hour a Day:
For a more beginner student, I would advise filling that hour in several ways. First, learn your materials. Practice color mixing, water control, and application of paint on the paper.
As you become more comfortable, watch tutorials to study a variety of techniques and practice those.
Finally, pick a genre and start painting, over and over and over. Whether painting figures, florals, landscapes, abstracts or realism, paint 100 of them.
“Select something that you are passionate or curious about and paint 20 or more. You will find that your work will evolve as you become more comfortable with your subject...It is extremely gratifying to compare your 1st painting of the series with the 20th.” - Peggi Habets
For a more advanced student, I would suggest painting in a series. Select something that you are passionate or curious about and paint 20 or more. You will find that your work will evolve as you become more comfortable with your subject. Your work may progress in any number of ways, such as becoming more simplified, abstract, colorful, neutral, detailed, or loose. It is extremely gratifying to compare your 1st painting of the series with the 20th.
Setting Art Goals:
I generally only create business goals for the new year and let my artwork goals develop as needed throughout the year.
For my business goals, I buy a giant dry-erase wall calendar (I get mine from neuyear.net). I make lists of potential exhibitions, workshops, and projects that I would like to tackle and start filling up the calendar. I just love looking at that calendar and seeing all those color-coded projects. (Yeah, I’m a nerd.)
As far as art goals are concerned, I paint in series until I exhaust my ideas and interest and decide it’s time to pivot. New ideas can come from just about anywhere: my idea sketchbook, a suggestion from someone, or inspiration from another artist.
Right now, I’m up to my eyeballs in floral paintings. I started them at a gallerist’s suggestion and found I was having too much fun to stop. The largest is 40x40”, all the way down to 8x8” studies.
Learn more about Peggi Habets here:
WEBSITE / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
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