We enjoy looking at art, especially admiring large scale works, like that of Peter Paul Rubens, or pieces with almost incomprehensible detail, like the work of Curtis Wilson Cost.

A project of this nature requires much dedication and patience in order to produce such a masterpiece.

As an art and creative enthusiast myself, I (Lauren), decided to challenge myself to embark on a larger piece recently—namely painting a 4.5 ’x 2’ triptych.

As one who typically enjoys the satisfaction of pieces that are completed in a shorter time frame, I knew I wanted to be strategic so that the process wouldn’t be painstakingly long, but I would still be pleased with the amount of detail and quality of work.

Through this piece, I learned that the artist’s way is actually a universally applicable method for successfully tackling any large scale project, creative or not.

Here’s how it works so you can use it too!

Make your roadmap

To start, I researched for inspiration and then combined all of my ideas into a three part sketch that mirrored the canvases. Of course it wasn’t a mini reproduction of the painting, but the pencil sketch provided enough detail to flesh out the concept, do proper spacing, and serve as a roadmap during the actual working process. Do your best to figure out what you want the finished concept to be. You may not have every aspect figured out at this stage, but get as much detail as you can.

Mark out mini milestones

Thinking of doing the entire three piece painting could be somewhat overwhelming, so instead, I broke it down into incremental goals such as: paint all the animals, paint all of the foliage, paint all of the water, paint all of the background scenery. Put that all together, and voila! Done…but so much easier than thinking about it as a whole. How can you split your project into mini milestones to make it easier to tackle?

Measure up

Taking pictures periodically helped me to see that progress was being made, which in turn motivated me to keep going. Sometimes we’re too close to the project, so it is good to step back periodically to see how far you’ve come. From this vantage point, you can also evaluate your pace of completion.

Move with momentum

Throughout the process, I tried to commit to at least one hour each evening to work on the painting, that way even if it wasn’t massive progress, I could still see that I was moving forward and getting more completed. Sometimes we try to bite off more than we can chew, but if you do it in small chunks, it’s much more doable, and the consistent effort builds momentum.

Midcourse correct

The great thing about pacing yourself on a large scale project is that it affords you the opportunity to make adjustments along the way that are easy to miss when rushing. As I would step back and evaluate the progress, I saw minor edits that I wanted to make to the original plan on the sketch, and I was able to paint in extra leaves or change the colors or foliage in places that would better suit the final product. Remember, faster is not always better.

Curious to see how it turned out?

Here it is! King of the Jungle

So, what masterpiece are you going to create? The next time you have a big project on your hands, tap into the artist’s method!

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu

Which one of these steps stood out to you the most?

The Artist's Method