My March Challenge consisted of painting every weekday of the month, be it 30 minutes or 3 hours. It was a very good project for me, because the constancy that it required bore its fruits.

Most of the days, I started to paint first thing in the morning, not only to start off with a great and pleasant activity, but also to be able to take its results (colour mixing, for instance) to the work I would later develop during the day.

Painting works for me as an experimental field whose results can be applied and transfered to my graphic design
projects in ways that I mostly don´t anticipate. Composition, texture, colour combinations are some of the things I experiment on canvas that I can later incorporate into ongoing design projects.

Also, as my painting is self generated – there are no clients´ requests – it genuinely feels like I´m playing, just playing. Being in contact with those colours and textures, getting my hands full of paint and hearing the brushes touching and scratching the canvas is just… amazing.

Mondays were the worst days: breaking the habit during the weekend has a lot more impact than I anticipated.

During the challenge I started and completed three portraits and started – but did not finish – a fourth one. Now I must find a way to incorporate painting into my daily routine, without feeling that I must do it because of a challenge. Instead, that I want to do it just because.

If you feel inspired to do the same, let me know.