2016 Day 23

I liked yesterday's painting so much I decided to paint it again - well, not the whole thing! Considering that yesterday my focal point was going to be the birch trees but ended up being the reflections and sunlight on the water, I wanted to focus on the birches today.

Birches by the Stream

I think I am going to start using my Thalo colors more, at least the blues and greens because they are really popping for me.

There is only one more week to go in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge but I won't have much time to rest. I have been asked to do a couple of mini-workshops with the local TAPS (Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors) in February. One will be to make cards with paper flowers and quilling; the other will be to draw some of the places they lived using alphabet art. The seniors will be paired with students and it will be interesting to see the interaction. I have also been asked by the Creston Art Club to do a workshop on quilling. So I will be doing a lot of prep work for the next few weeks to get ready for these workshops - no rest for the wicked!

2016 Day 17

Well I managed to do something with the second painting I started yesterday. It isn't wonderful but I think it turned out okay considering it was a bit of a mess.

Silent Forest

Before Christmas I bought a bunch of small acrylic 'Folk Art' paints from a box of items donated to the Art Club. Yesterday I decided to try them out. This painting started out with Plum, Rose and White. The intent was for a flowing abstract like the green piece I did, but what I got was purple mud. I sprayed, blotted, sprayed again - nothing seemed to help. Finally I decided to just paint over the whole mess, so I grabbed a deep purple and slathered it on, then scrapped away with my palette knife. Once the whole thing was dry I added some white and a little bit of blue and ended up with Silent Forest. The painting is a 6 x 10 acrylic on mat board.

To enjoy a wide variety of art check out the other artists in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge - http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Day 15 - Half-way there!

It is so strange! Yesterday I really enjoyed painting and was very happy with the finished product. I had a good night's sleep and should have been raring to go today. BUT, I had to force myself to sit down and paint. I chose my subject, got the paper and paints ready, and then just sat there. I got up and went into the kitchen looking for something that had to be done, cursed, went back to the studio and started painting.

Waterfall & Pine Trees

I tried to use the various strokes suggested in "Chinese Landscape Painting for Beginners" - bent-ribbon veins, axe-cut veins, moss dots, bone strokes to name a few. In some cases using the proper stroke was very difficult because my hand wanted to paint in my normal style and I had to keep correcting myself. I used color again instead of black and gray and am reasonably happy with today's painting but it was an effort.

Check out the art submitted to the challenge at - http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/ and then go and vote at http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.ca/. Remember, you can vote for 3 paintings and you can go back and vote on the days you might have missed too.

DAY 14 - Using Color

I have been using "A Copybook for Japanese Ink-Painting" in learning the techniques for Oriental style painting. All of the reference photos are, of course, in black and white but today I decided to use color for my study.

Going Fishing

 I also used an unknown type of paper just to experiment. It was something I got at a garage sale and I like the way it turned out! The paper allowed a little bit of blending and I find the color more interesting than the black and white. I think I will try this combination again. I also like the vignette feel of this painting - it leaves a little bit to the imagination.

Check out the art submitted for today at -  http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.ca/ and then go and vote for your favorites at - http://paintamasterpiece.blogspot.ca/