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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!