Day 85

These two beauties are Lena and Pal. This spent too much time on my easel, but I enjoyed doing it. I love to look back on forth between Lena and Pals ears.

My Dakota Traveler arrived today, (finally!) I agonized over how to organize my colors, and finally decided to place them by hue and value. My collection looks a bit tiny in the new box!

Day 84

Drawing horses is how I got interested in art. I was the typical little girl madly in love with anything equine, and growing up that was one thing I always remember wanting. My hubby finally made my dream come true one Mother's Day, and I became a horse owner! I didn't bother drawing them, I had one to ride and brush! Milford was joined by his buddy Tonka and we then had two.

I have been thinking about painting Milford for a while, but I am not ready yet. I did this pastel today of another bay horse just to see if I could do it. It was a learning experience. I had a chance to try spraying fixative on layers and work over it....but I think this poor paper is done taking any pigment. The next time I will use my good paper, and try a portrait of two of my friends horses.

Oddly, this portrait ended up looking a lot like Milford!

Day 83

My second painting of the year, Sand Beach at Acadia. This day there was a crew shooting an add for LL Bean. We resisted the urge to walk down the beach and snoop.

My Terry Ludwig pastels arrived today, and I was able to use them to put the finishing touches on this painting. These pastels are wonderfully soft and rich in color. I already have his set of intense darks on my wish list. My Dakota traveler did not arrive however, the company made a shipping error, and promised to reship today. Patience is not my strong point.

Day 82

My first painting of 2012, another view of sunrise on Cadillac.

I have been contemplating giving up daily painting and converting to painting daily ....being a little stressed from getting behind over the holidays. I want to spend more time on each image now. But, I have decided to grant myself permission to not worry about being behind and start fresh as of today. Completing one painting a day has made an impact in my work. I will think of my daily painting as a warm up for a more detailed piece that I will be working on over several days. My challenge to myself for the month of January will be trees and rocks, as improvement is needed in both. To paint Maine one must be able to do those well.

Day 81

Today's painting is a gouche of Screw Auger Falls. On this day the place was crawling with photographers, it must have been a club outing. I left the tripod out of the painting, to leave something for the viewer to "fill in". Perhaps the figure is fishing?

Well, today all of my "birthday" money was finally spent, an order was placed for the Dakota Traveler to store the new pastels. Now to wait and see which gets here first. I will take photos and post when they arrive.

Day 80

A pastel of sunset at Lamoine State Park. This park has camping right on Frenchman's Bay, and is close to Acadia National Park. We have gone there for years, usually right after Labor Day. There are working lobster boats moored right off shore, and if you are not a sound sleeper, you can hear them take off in the early morning to haul traps.

Well, I have spent a small fortune on art supplies over the last few days! What fun. I ordered a Terry Ludwig set and can't wait to try them. One small order with just a few colors came in today for me to play with later. I finally broke down and ordered mat board, so now I will cover the pool table and get to work matting some of these 80 paintings I have done since Oct 1st. Some are going to be framed and some are going in the wood stove!

Day 79

This is a pastel of the top of Cadillac Mountain, after the sun rose.