Hello, everyone! (this is my first post)
From the daily paintings on here (which I view every day), I’ve gotten the impression that most of you are either impressionists, or somewhere in between impressionism and realism. Hyper Realistic paintings aren’t as common, but they do exist on here also.
I’m interested to know how all of you settled on whichever style you usually use. Are you just doing what comes naturally to you, or do you make a conscious effort to produce a certain style? and why did you choose the style you use?
I try to stay loose as I find it much more interesting to look at and more fun to paint.
Realism seems to involve more skill than imagination to me. I love to find the color in everyday mundane objects that the average observer won’t see. In realism it seems the colors are expected and the painting isn’t very creative. Just me. To each their own!
I paint in a way that comes naturally to me.
Painting more loosely seems to be a thing that we all aspire to. I made me think for a long time that that was what I should be doing as well.
I read, that John Singer Sargeant, renowned for his thick brush stokes only achieved what appeared to be a certain ‘looseness’ by painting first in a tight manner, then wiping off the paint and then applying it more loosely.
I’ve heard several artists say that they do something similar. So sometimes what is happening is that the artist gives the appearance of looseness when actually a lot more thought has gone into the strokes.
I listened to an interview by Julian Merrow Smith who said something similar - that his is a thought- about deliberate looseness.
In the end I think just paint the way you paint and don’t worry about it. That’s what is going to give you your unique style.
Many artists paint a lot more tightly and with more realism. There’s a definite market for that and I’ve noticed a growing trend for a move back towards realism and thankfully a lot of color.
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I’m a realist and definitely use imagination to compose my paintings. I love loose and impressionistic paintings as well, but realism is my jam. 
Hi John. I think a lot of artists simply progress in their artistic journey. Many start out one way and then evolve into something completely and unexpectedly different. Picasso is a great example! I have read many testimonies from artists who began with a tight and detailed style and later changed to a looser more expressive style. Lately I have been fascinated by the works of a few painters who incorporate realism with aspects of abstract. We’ll see where that leads me 
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I like John F. Carlson’s words about it:
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As you say, there is creativity in paint application, but there is also creativity in content, whatever the style of painting.
