Why A Painting A Day?
Every second we are affected by the seen and unseen changes in the outside world and our inner worlds. A Painting A Day reflects those changes and are a snapshot of moments in time.
On a walk round the woods in Herefordshire on 27th December 2016 Phil reflected on his creative life. That year he had done a painting in 3 minutes for BBC Hereford and Worcester's Malcolm Boyden show and knew he had to paint more to develop the techniques he had started in 2011 and followed up with speed painting in 2015. He set himself a challenge to paint every day for a year starting with 1st January 2017. Spending the next few days sorting out all the technical issues and setting some stringent parameters about what he was allowed to do, the first painting was done and videoed in the early hours of 2017.
The start was shaky as he was developing his style in front of on audience on social media. It gave him an edge, a risk. On 28 February all the processes came together and he produced a painting, very oddly, similar to the very first one he had done in 2011 but with more validity. He had found his voice.
The challenge continued till the end of the year when he decided to switch to A Painting a Month in 2018. Although this allowed more time and a more measured approach he was not painting every day and felt the momentum lapse. By 2019 he decided to paint every day again. This time he would have a 5 minute restriction on the length of time to paint.
The idea of Risk>Intention>Execution in creating art had been with him for many years although till now he had not had words to express it. He had found his driving force and inspiration and it had a name.
The concept of painting becoming a performing art came into reality on 17th August 2019. This heralded the first LIVE ART event, to paint a 1.2 x 2.4 painting in front of a live studio audience. It was a huge success and as well as confirming his vision it also highlighted Phil's talent as a natural performer.
In 2020 he was going to have a break from painting every day, however by the time 3pm arrived on 1st January 2020 he knew he had to paint, it was ingrained in his life. So he painted and is still painting A Painting A Day now.