Earlier tonight I captured video of myself painting on Ustream.tv as part of my 30in30 project. The video is an hour and a half, so it’s probably a bit boring since I left the audio off (I don’t talk much when I’m painting) but my college friend Phil was watching and asking questions via the site’s chat function. I figured it was easier to answer him verbally rather than with written answers (plus I didn’t want to get paint on my laptop’s keyboard!)

At any rate, I worked on a small 5-by-7-inch piece in oil in the tiny area I’m using as a makeshift studio in a corner of a room in the basement. It was fun to actually paint for a change, and even more fun to have a live Internet audience! (Thanks to both of you!)

I became aware of how much verbal thinking I actually do when I paint. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since I really took the time to paint. I just remember that for a while there my thoughts became completely nonverbal when I painted, and I realized I was thinking in terms of form and color and movement. I was really in my groove then.

I struggled for a bit with this piece, especially in the dark areas when the paint began getting tacky, but that’s okay. I give myself permission to mess up since it’s been so long. I had to stop so the paint didn’t turn into mud.

I think that with some practice I could actually get pretty good at this live painting over the Internet thing. Become a sort of Bob Ross, if you will (without the stoned effect) and learn to be at least somewhat chatty as I paint. Make it interesting and be engaging. Problem is, when I paint I do tend to get all wrapped up in what I’m doing and kinda zone out and become completely unaware of anything else that’s going on. But I know some artists like Michael Shane Neal can carry on a great conversation while slapping down paint and mixing up great colors.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next live painting session. It was fun!