Monday, October 31, 2011

Day 31

31 Paintings done. I think I have one painting that I will frame, and none are going in the woodstove. This is a marsh I have been admiring in Fayette.

My art supply order still has not arrived. The Fedex folks can't find it....it seems to have disappeared, so off to NY without those InkTense pencils....maybe there will be an art store in Utica????

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Day 30

The knife is getting a little easier to use.  I painted this once, hated it, wiped the paint off, (which made a lovely "sand"color), and began again.  This time I stuck with the knife, which keeps me from getting to overworked.

  While trying to mix a shadow color I made the most gorgeous brown!  I also learned that you can make green from black and yellow, who knew?

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Day 28 and 29

Molly was the cutest puppy I had ever seen.  This is an attempt at those crazy spots in gouche.
And today I put on some orange and went down to the lake to paint, thinking it was a far safer place than in the woods on the first day of deer season.  I am not sure where all that red came from, it did not look like that when I painted it.  Tonight a significant snowfall is predicted, so I am not sure if I will be outside or not to paint tomorrow.  I know I should go no matter what, plein air is so much better than inside....but am I tough enough? 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Day 27

Back to still life. Thanks for the fruit Luke!

I remember when fruit came without stickers.  I spent two hours drawing sliver ware today, knowing they will go in still lifes at some point.  It is drudgery, but I can't paint something I can't draw. So it is back to basics.  In the traditional art schools, students spent months drawing plaster casts before they moved on to painting. I need to reposition my shadow box so I can look down a bit on my subject and see the shadows!  I also want to find a surface I can use to capture reflections.

 And this is my drawing done later in the day, clearly I need to practice, practice, practice!





Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Day 26

Today I had a little talk with myself, and we decided that I really could do watercolor animals, I just needed to stick to one brush, three colors and only touch the surface one time: in other words, no fiddling!  I am very  happy with the result, and just hope I learn from my mistakes!  This is a pretty decent depiction of my cat Manny.

Today's big adventure will be to see if I can hook up my zip drive to the laptop I am using now.  I think I put a bunch of photos on zips before we got rid of my last PC....but you never know.  I am worried about drivers, it seems when I want to use old things on my new computers, I can't get drivers. I have a very cool program that will digitize photos and turn them into embroidery files for my embroidery machine, but I can't find a new driver.  I hope the zip drive is an exception!

After posting this pic on Wet Canvas I got some great constructive criticism, and redid the painting, can you see the difference?

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Day 25

Well, any thoughts of doing "pet portraits" are over....and that is all I will say about this one! I tried using watercolor pencils, and we just don't get along. This whole process is about trying different techniques and discovering what I really enjoy using...

Roxie was a JRT we were lucky enough to adopt. She was elderly when we got her, but we had never had a little dog before, so it gave us an opportunity to try one out. Lets just say the next time we go dog shopping, we will be looking for Roxie II, Roxie was awesome, bad breath and all.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Day 24


A quick oil of the marsh near Thomas Bay. I plan to do a larger painting as soon as my big easel is empty. The new french easel worked well for this small size, it was very comfortable to use and I can not wait to get it outside and see how it holds up to wind.

Today we took a relaxing 13 mile ride along the Kennebec River. I think I prefer the colors after the peak season...they are spotty and they make a great contrast to the bare bones of the trees and rocks.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Day 23


This is a pen and wash I did today for Bill and Doug's pen and wash challenge on Wet Canvas. The subject is a Yorkshire Farm. The challenges are fun, and they always get me out of my comfort zone.

We biked a fourteen mile loop in Bethel today,a (mostly) flat ride. The bikes are still on the roof of the car, so who knows where we will go tomorrow.

Oh, and I picked up a french easel today, so this makes....6? Hopefully this will work for either pastels or oils....I just love easels!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Day 22


A quick pastel of a marsh in the settlement of Pretty Marsh, but I don't think it is Pretty Marsh.

On my Christmas List will be a proper pastel box. I have several sets, (and one more on the way) all still in their boxes and it is impossible to paint this way. I need to separate them by six different values, and then those from cool to warm. Aside from the new set of pastels, I have some Wallis paper coming too!

Just sorting them properly will be educational, and will require my brain to work hard. Artists that use pastel have the most amazing collection of colors, I can't wait to get started on mine.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Day 21, Marsh near Thomas Bay

Finally a watercolor that looks like, well, a watercolor!

So, it has been three weeks and I have learned a lot, mostly about myself. That voice that whispers, "what are you thinking, you can't do this", is still there, but she has my attention for shorter periods. Some things I have posted have been rough for me to share, but I did it. I realize now that when I did one of those "bloopers" before, I would just give up and stop painting. This commitment is helping me work through the rough times.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Day 20


Another portrait of Lilly. I intended to do a wash over this, then decided that I should just stop and not overwork it....so it is technically a drawing, not a painting. It is a good thing I make the rules.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Day 19


This is my second try with this goat, a little overworked but better than the first! Goats are very cute, and I will learn to capture that. Someone said that drawing is the ultimate learning experience, and I agree. You have to really understand how something is put together to represent it properly. I will have to spend some time with real goats to understand those feet.

Happily one of my favorite art supply stores sent a Holiday Sale Catalog today, I started out by making a Christmas List for my holiday wishes, and ended up ordering some things I can't wait for. I will be tracking that package!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Day 18


A camp on Webb Lake that caught my eye during yesterday's walk.

My studio is slowly getting organized, and I have been painting 2 to 4 hours a day since I started this project....much better than the 2 to 4 hours a week I was managing. It seemed like when I finally had a chance to paint, I would go to my studio and need to sweep and organize before I could create, and by the time the cleaning was done, my creative energy was gone. Now I can walk in and get to work anytime. I am using up all the lesser quality supplies I have stashed, and will only replace with the best I can afford. Yesterday's painting claimed a fan brush, all of a sudden my work area was covered in hair, then the ferule just gave up the rest in one big chunk.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Day 17


This is a scene from our Sunday morning walk, Parlin Brook here in Weld. I am finally getting a little looser, I think it is because I have been doing still life. All that painting between the lines makes me feel a bit like a rebel I guess!

The leaves are almost all on the ground now, soon all those crazy Fall colors will fade away.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Day 16


The box is working well, but still needs to be painted inside...I must figure out how to add cloth to spice things up.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Now the Real Work Begins! Day 15

I built a rather crude shadow box and completed my first still life. It really feels like work now. I painted until my head hurt.

I now have a very comfortable set up to paint my small paintings, so I can leave my "real" paintings on the easel. I found a table top easel in a corner that I have not used in years, and almost tossed a few times. It fits nicely on my drawing board, and is close to the shadow box...very comfy! Now I must find a home for a crate of books that got displaced by the still life corner....

Friday, October 14, 2011

Oct 14, Fourteen Days, Fourteen Paintings

Roscoe was part of our family for about 20 years. He was tossed out of a moving car when he was a puppy, my husband lured him out of the woods and brought him home. He was always a gentleman, even when we introduced two collie pups to the family when he was an old man. This painting does not do him justice, but I will keep trying.

Instead of traveling this weekend I am going to spend some needed time in the studio, building a light box and organizing a space so I can begin to do still lifes. We will attempt to bike around the lake if it is not raining, and Sunday morning might be a great time to get outside with my paints!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Oct 13, Thirteen Days, Thirteen Paintings


It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I took the dogs for a walk yesterday, and took a photo of my neighbors house on the way home. Still struggling with those fall colors and being "loose".

Twelve Paintings, Twelve Days


As beautiful as Fall is, I have such a hard time even thinking of painting all those colors....they seem to be screaming at me. So I did a tiny bit of my neighborhood.

Eleven Days, Eleven Paintings


I just had to do it over. I like some parts better, but now the poor horses look like ponies. I started loving to draw from horses.

Ten Days, Ten Paintings


We biked a figure eight around Eagle Lake and Jordan Pond. This was the final view of Eagle Lake before we left the carriage trails to lunch in Bar Harbor.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Nine Days, Nine Paintings


We took an extra long weekend and went biking in Acadia. We loved sharing the trail with horses, it brought back fond memories of our two geldings. Truthfully, my horse would have freaked out and sailed over a cliff if he saw all the bikes that were out this weekend.

This is one of those watercolors that end up a pastel..so I call it mixed media and hope to do better next time.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Oct 8, Eight Days, Eight Paintings!

This is a the view of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse that you see on the way to Vinalhaven.

I tried to pretend Alvaro and Charles Reid were standing behind me giving advise....I think I can hear them faintly. (Don't fiddle with the brush, warm and cool, and VALUES!) I will try to channel them this weekend when I am out doing my plein air work.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Oct 7, One Week of Paintings


I woke up early this am still feeling very spleeny about yesterday's painting. I wondered if I should just paint the same thing every day until I "got it", should I just paint water for a while? Then I realized I was not doing this Painting a Day project to punish myself..and I was expecting way to much to think I would love everything I produced. So I am plugging on.

I can already see progress in just a short week, I can imagine what it will be like in a year when I will have 365 paintings to look at next Oct 1st.....

This is a hat hanging inside the door of the Olsen House in Cushing Maine. The house is not "furnished", but each room has a little touch of something that reminds you of the lives of the Olsen's, and what drew Andrew Wyeth there to paint. It feels like being in church to walk through those rooms and see what Mr. Wyeth captured so well.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Oct 6, Six Days, Six Paintings

If I had not committed to the Painting a Day, this would have ended up in the woodstove...overworked, poorly drawn, hard to think of anything good except I followed through and I learned.

I love water, sailing, anything to do with the coast. These scenes inspire me to paint, but they never come out well....so I guess I need to get to work and loosen up. On my big easel is a painting I am working on of the pier at Old Orchard Beach, I am struggling with the water, but at least with oils you can scrap it off; watercolor is not so forgiving.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Oct 5, Five Days, Five Paintings

Back to watercolor and my comfort zone, at least for today.

I took the reference photo for this in 1991 at the Farmington Fair, since it is Fair Season in Maine it seemed appropriate.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Oct 4, Four Days, Four Paintings


This is one of the few scenes I have ever done more than once, so I decided to try it in gouache. There is more that I could do, but ran out of time.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Oct 3, Three Days, Three Paintings




My first try at gouache....and I loved it. Lots to learn, it handles very differently from any other medium I have used. One brush, a little water and a very basic palette of color.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

My "daily painting" today.
It got a little messy and I just had to stop, learning to paint with a knife is not as easy as it sounds, but this is supposed to be a learning experience.

Rainy weekends are good for painting, changing the water in the hot tub and eating cookies!

Saturday, October 1, 2011


My first day. Painted with three colors, no brushes, mediums or thinners. Cleanup is a breeze, but I can see my self going broke very quickly.

I did not expect this, but I am very content with my first one. I am going to try to stick to a very limited palette for a while.