With all of the social distancing that is necessary because of the pandemic, we are missing the in person experience of painting with those with a shared passion.
While it isn't very common in brush painting, we had two members of the OAS Family work together on a collaborative painting a while back.
Collaborative painting is when the two artists work together on a piece of artwork, alternating strokes or groups of strokes. It teaches the important lesson of releasing your expectations, focusing on what is already on the paper, and taking the next best step.
Too often, when artists paint alone, if a stroke doesn't look exactly like they imagined it in their head, they become judgmental and discouraged and take themselves out of the flow of painting. It is hard to continue painting with rigid expectations because strokes don't always turn out how you expect. Even master painters don't paint every stroke in the way that they expect. They have just masted the process of seeing the stroke they just painted and deciding what the next best choice is based on that stroke.
When you collaborate with another painter, you acknowledge that you cannot control their strokes and you focus on the next best decision. This is the mindset that you should have when painting on your own. Release yourself from your own expectations and experience the joy and freedom it allows.
Here are some inspiring videos that demonstrate collaborative painting:
Ning Yeh and grandson, Cody, work together on this collaborative painting
Kevin and Rachel who used to work at OAS collaborate on their 4th koi painting