Any Excuse To Paint Project
Rules & Guidelines

What the Any Excuse To Paint Project is:

Any Excuse To Paint is an online, decentralized, collaborative community art project and gallery. I know I just threw a bunch of words at you but here is what that all means: Any Excuse To Paint is a collaborative art project that any artist can be a part of. Their artwork, when shared online, will become part of a larger community art gallery! Rather than centralizing this community gallery to any one website or social media page, it is designed to be online and decentralized. Ideally, this will drive traffic to the individual artist, boosting their metrics. So less “let’s go to a museum” and more of a virtual "art walk” or “studio tours” experience.

The name of this project comes from something I said when I first started doing live demonstrations of my painting process at fairs and festivals. At the end of the show, regardless of turnout, I always felt that it was a positive experience because it was a good excuse to paint. So, no, you are NOT required to paint to participate in the project. Really it is an excuse to paint, draw, sculpt, try a new technique or medium based on a photo reference provided here or on any social media this project is on.

How to participate

  1. Choose any reference photograph within the Any Excuse To Paint archive to start. It can be the latest one or an oldie but goodie that speaks to you. Just make sure you pick something you would be interested in using as a reference and trying to make art from.

  2. Use any medium you’d like with one exception: no generative AI or anything remotely like it (referred to as GenAI from here forward). YOU have to be the one making the decisions and creative problem solving as obstacles come up. YOU have to be the one moving the brush, pencil, mouse, stylus, sculpting, etc.

  3. Use any technique you want: collage, impressionist, abstract, realism, etc. Use a technique you are well versed in or use this as an excuse to try something new. It’s really up to you.

  4. The default deadline is a soft 2 weeks based on the idea that a quick oil painting can be completed in that amount of time. However, not all mediums take that long and some take even longer not to mention all of our schedules look different.
    If you need longer, for whatever reason, that’s ok. Make your own, longer deadline. If you want to do the challenge faster for some added difficulty, go for it. Set your own reasonable timeline and work at your own realistic pace.
    Alternatively, there are some optional challenges and rules you can choose from in the next section: House Rules.

  5. The final product is your’s to do with as you like. Archive it in your sketchbook, post it on your socials, add it to your portfolio, sell prints/originals, whatever. Just don’t forget to respect the Creative Commons (CC) Licenses of the original image and to mention the source of your inspiration when you talk about your work (i.e. Any Excuse To Paint and any third-party contributor to the image library).

  6. CELEBRATE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT!
    I don’t know about you but I am terrible at celebrating a job well done and jump to quickly into the next project or idea. Take a little time to treat yourself to your favorite snack or celebrate with friends. Whatever this looks like to you, I encourage you to celebrate your accomplishments: whether it’s completing one of these challenges or something else big or small. Life is too short to wait for someone else to celebrate you for the rock star you are.

House Rules

The following rule sets are optional challenges you can do! Many of the rules mentioned before still apply (don’t use GenAI, respect the CC of used images, etc. etc.) but there will be some changes in the rule set such as deadlines or even mediums used. The basic rule of thumb here is that the

  • It is said that Van Gogh created 2100 works of art (paintings, drawings, sketches, etc.) during his 10 year art career averaging at completing a project roughly every 2 days.

    For this challenge I won’t be asking you to create and finish one piece of artwork every 2 days for a decade. Instead, pick either 30 days or 90 days and try to keep that pace of starting and finishing a project every two days for that duration.

    You can:

    • work at a faster pace and plan in rest days

    • choose any medium(s) you like (No GenAI, duh)

    • use other reference images or “paint” from life and include those works to this specific challenge. Please, when you share your work online, add a note about the reference images being from elsewhere (give credit too) or that you “painted” from life on the works that didn’t use Any Excuse To Paint reference photos.

    Keys for success:

    • Block out time where you can focus on your work.

    • Block out time for rest and recovery.

    • Choose subjects that are fun for you, something you care about, or something you want to get better at.

    • Have an idea for what you want to get out of this challenge and base everything around that. It’s easier to stick with difficult challenges if you know what you want out of it beyond just making more work. Some ideas include but art not limited to:

      • Do you want to learn how to paint better?

      • Do you want to learn what your style is?

      • Do you want to hone your perspective skills?

    • Have your reference material ready ahead of time not just for the specific piece you are working on but for the challenge as a whole. It is easier to work on something if you know what you will be working on when you don’t necessarily feel motivated that day.

    • Choose mediums you are comfortable and/or have some experience with. Choosing a brand-new-to-you medium can complicate things and cause you to stop part way through.

    • Celebrate your wins along the way, don’t wait until the very end to celebrate.

    • Prioritize rest, nutrition, and health.

    Key notes:

    • Everything you do regarding this challenge counts. That spread you did in your sketchbook before starting the painting counts as a finished piece. You don’t have to put it on display like the final painting but it counts.

    • While this is suppose to be a fun challenge, it is also a difficult one that will have good and bad days. Do NOT let this challenge break you! Your physical and mental health take priority. Regardless if you finish or not, you are still a valid artist.

    • Regardless of finishing the challenge or not, celebrate your efforts! This is a hard challenge and is NOT the standard studio practice. This challenge is to help you get your reps in whether that means you completed 52 works of art or 5 and had to stop. You still did more than you likely would have without the challenge and that is worth celebrating.

Guidelines

  • When posting to your social media, I would much rather you post the image to your own feed rather than as a reply to a post. If the platform we are both on allows for quote posting, reblogging with your own post, etc. that’s ok to do. If you want to also post in the comment section of our post that inspired you, please share a link (if possible) to your original post. This is in the interest of driving traffic to individual artists rather than keeping the traffic on our post. It is our belief that this is the best way to spread the love and keep everyone’s metrics in good order.

    In your post, please do not forget to tag our social media account and/or add #anyexcusetopaint in your post. Do you best to try to link your work back to us so other artists can try the challenge themselves.

    Unless otherwise stated in the CC license of the post, you may download our social media image for the purpose of uploading it as part of your carousel/slideshow/gallery/etc. post so long it is NOT the main/first image of your post. Your art has to be the featured image of your post. You are not required to do this.

    On our end, we will not download your images and upload them to our own posts without your written consent and approval. We might use any given platform’s built in aforementioned reblogging, quote posting, sharing feature to share works that particularly speak out to us. Again, this process is in the interest of driving traffic to artists directly and helping their metrics. It is our belief that this is the best possible way to do it.

    Similarly, we will not be downloading your images for our own marketing purposes without your written consent and approval. It is our belief that you hold the copyright of your own original work of art even if it is referencing or otherwise based on one of our posts.

    Please do not ask us directly or otherwise to post, share, or interact with your artwork. This will NOT increase your chance of us sharing it. Likewise, us not sharing or interacting with your work is NOT a reflection of the quality of your art so spend that time making more art instead of worrying about what we think of it.

    So don’t let the name fool you: use any medium and technique you feel comfortable with or, better yet, uncomfortable with but want to learn. Just no generative A.I. or anything like it. The point is to have an excuse to create work, not to prompt someone/something else to do it for you.

FAQ

  • The name comes from when I started performing live demonstrations of my process at fairs and festivals. Struggling to paint in my own space, I found that using live performance as an excuse to create was freeing and any excuse to paint can be a valid excuse.

    So don’t let the name fool you: use any medium and technique you feel comfortable with or, better yet, uncomfortable with but want to learn. Just no generative A.I. or anything like it. The point is to have an excuse to create work, not to prompt someone/something else to do it for you.

  • No! I’m using the term “paint” here very loosely here. If you want to draw, draw; If you want to paint digitally, bust out your tablet; Sculpt clay or screen print for all I care.

    The only thing you are NOT allowed to use at all is GenAI. The point is to have an excuse to create work, not to prompt someone/something else to do it for you.

  • Absolutely not. I do not and will not claim ownership of any of the artwork created be someone else based off images in the reference library. I only claim ownership of the artwork I personally produce and the photographs I personally took (duh).

    If I would like to use your original artwork in our own materials, we will ask you directly and will only do so with a written agreement. This protects the both of us.

    I will NOT download your artwork to upload it to our own feed without your written consent. I do reserve the right, like any other user of platforms that allow this, to share your work online through links, quote posts, reblogging, etc.

  • At this time, no. While I would love to allow anyone to contribute images in the future, I am currently a one-man team trying to run an entire art business on top of doing this community art project.

    Maybe one day this project will become large enough that I can pay a team of people to run it largely without me. Today is not that day, unfortunately.

Addendums and Notes

  • Created the blog and the “Rules & Guidelines” post. All future edits will be listed in an accordion titled by the date of change (ddMONyyyy) followed by a note about what changes were made in reverse chronological order. In the event there is some arbitrary limit that forces us to remove this section from the post, we will come up with an alternate solution to keep this document going. The most current version of this document at the time of writing this can be found on Ryan Barnes’ portfolio website: ryanbarnes.art/any-excuse-to-paint-rules-guidelines.

  • Simplified some of the wording and defined terms such as “GenAI” and “CC”.

    Added a “House Rules” section for additional, optional rulesets.

    Added Van Gogh challenge to the house rules.