Pumpkin with Squash

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I've been trying to focus on color and form rather than the subject matter, itself. Mixing color and applying it to canvas is such a pleasant, meditative pastime!

Covered Bridge at Dorena

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I spent some more time on this painting and like it better. Perhaps this one has a bit more depth and interest than the one posted previously. I felt I was beginning to slip back into old habits, so watched Julie Ford Oliver's tutorial on fracturing again. After viewing the tutorial, I approached the painting more assertively, and I like the result - it reminds me of the beautiful day we drove down to Cottage Grove so I could paint the old covered bridge.

Time for Witches

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This is the time of year to snuggle under warm covers and read a really good, really scary book!

The Chief

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My two little grandsons, ages four and seven, stayed with us this weekend. It was too rainy and wet to ride bikes at the park, so we took a trip to GoodWill to see if we could find some fun toys and puzzles to play with at Nana's house.

Graham, my four year old guy, spotted this nifty red fire truck. It is metal rather than plastic and has a silver bell that rings. A real treasure. He had fun with it this weekend and then left it here for his next visit. Nana got to play with it, too...with a paintbrush!

September Challenge #30

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Oh frabjous day! Calooh! Callay! This the last day of the challenge and painting #30. Whew!

Well, for all my whining and fussing, I really did have fun with this challenge. I've learned a lot. While I'm glad to be done with the daily pressure of producing a finished painting, I'll continue to make a concerted effort to be at the easel every day. Not only does the practice help with improving skill, I believe strongly in the meditative benefits of painting. Isn't it wonderful that something which brings such pleasure can also be good for one's mental and spiritual health?

I've also enjoyed visiting the blogs of other challengers, and so appreciate the kind comments left on my blog. All in all, a fabulous experience.

September Challenge #29

One day left! Because my little grandsons are spending the weekend with us, this was painted very quickly, very early this morning. It needs more work, but for the purposes of the challenge, I'm calling it done for now.

September Challenge #28

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This is "Autumn Harvest," It's painting #28, so there are only two more to go...hooray! I had so much fun painting this one. It just seemed to flow. The pressure of having to produce one painting every evening has taught me to be more frugal with my brushstrokes. I've been told that paintings come together more easily when there is less fiddling. I need to keep that in mind - fixing and re-fixing is a hard habit to break, though.

September Challenge #27

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We're heading into the home stretch. This is #27 - only three left to do. This is another painting of mums. I love autumn flowers - painting them is almost a meditative process.

September Challenge #26

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I'm crazy about sunflowers -they're just so cheery!

I asked my husband what he thought this painting should be called.  He suggested "Solar Eclipse." I thought that was a great name for a painting of sunflowers. They do look like little solar eclipses.

September Challenge #25

This is the same oak leaf I painted for Challenge #6. The leaf has been sitting in my studio, turning brown. I thought it would be interesting to try it again using the fracturing technique.

Only 5 days left in the 30 day challenge. I've learned a lot during this time. I've adopted the painting technique created by Julie Ford Oliver, and I'm beginning to be more adventurous with color and brushstrokes. Still not where I want to be, but I feel that I've made a little bit of progress this month. Composition is a weak area for me, and I can see that weak composition results in a weak painting.

During this challenge, I have used a slow-dry medium that Mark Carder recommends. Mark is a realist painter and has an interesting theory about color. It's worthwhile to watch his videos. If you click on his name, it will take you to his site. He also gives a recipe for his medium. It makes oil paint behave like soft butter and it stays open for several days. I love the stuff.

The down side is that paintings take more time to dry. I have an embarrassing situation right now -  one of my paintings sold and I can't ship it yet because it's still wet...a very amateur mistake. At any rate, I'm going to hold off posting to Daily Paintworks until I'm sure the paint is dry enough to ship.

The big lesson for me is that it's not realistic for me to paint every day while I'm working at an outside job. Practice is so important, but for me it has to be balanced with my other responsibilities. I like the discipline that comes with painting, so will probably try to paint on weekends and 2-3 times during the week.  I'll be retiring next June, and then I can devote more time to painting.

I'm eager to hear what other artists have discovered during the month. Hopefully, Leslie will offer a "lessons learned" session in October.

September Challenge #24

My husband found this hand-painted rose coffee mug in a little gift shop in Salem. He bought it for me, thinking I might like to paint it. It's a cute little thing, but I was a tad apprehensive about using it in a painting. It combines the two elements that strike mortal fear and terror in my heart - ellipses and roses! Yikes! Nevertheless, it was a kind thing for him to do, so tonight I got a grip and painted the thing.

I added the doughnuts to go with the coffee cup...and since it would have been a shame to throw them out, my husband and I ate them after I finished the painting. I suppose it's time to find some healthier food choices as painting subjects.

September Challenge #23

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I was able to complete a second painting today. That will give me a bit of a breather this week as long as I stay current and paint every evening. By being one ahead, I can post in the morning.

I painted a key lime tart this afternoon. Key lime pie is my husband's favorite dessert, but we're both trying to watch our diet, so we rarely have it. Today we went to lunch at a local bakery and these tarts were in the display case. We justified buying the tart because it seemed like a perfect subject to paint.

I spent the afternoon painting it, and then we split it for dessert! It was delicious!

September Challenge #22

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This is a bouquet I brought home from our local market.  After the challenge is over, I'd like to attempt to do a larger floral painting. I think I would need to spend some time on it; I couldn't finish a larger painting in one day. Today is the day I'm going to try to catch up with the challenge. If I can do one more painting this evening, I'll feel better about going into next week.

I wonder how other folks are doing with the challenge. The paintings on Leslie Saeta's blog have been amazing. There are a lot of wonderful artists out there.

09/23/13 Update: So delighted to report that this painting was one of the paintings selected to be a Daily Paintworks Facebook Pick of the Day. This just made my day!

September Challenge #21

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Day 21 of the 30 day challenge. It was nice to have some time to paint today without feeling so stressed about the time. I did take the morning to do some housekeeping tasks that have been sitting undone for the past week...and, I created a new shadow box using PVC pipe based on Carol Marine's tutorial. I had been using a big cardboard box that finally came crashing down last evening as I was cleaning up after painting. It was a precarious contraption and I should have expected the inevitable.

At any rate, I have a new shadow box now, and I like it! Not so sure about this painting, though. Need to step away from it for awhile.

September Challenge #20

Wow! It's day 20 of the September Challenge. Only 10 more days to go. This is a small painting - 5"x5", and I was able to finish it by 7:30 this evening. My husband looked up the name of this squash - it's called "Festival", and is a type of acorn squash...so this is another painting of acorn squash with acorns.

September Challenge #19

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Well, it's another late evening for me.  This is the last hurrah for these flowers, and frankly, good riddance - I'm sick of painting them.  The squashes are "decorative gourds" from the market. I didn't know acorn squash was a gourd...I'll have to look up that definition. The pumpkin is quite a small one, but it was difficult to paint. Anyhoo, since I was painting way into the evening, I thought I'd call this one "Autumn Evening." Not very original, but it's all I got!

September Challenge #18

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I finished this by 9:00 p.m. this evening. Moving a bit faster, but getting tired of painting every evening. It's hard for me to see this painting. You folks who are painters know what I mean...sometimes you stare at something for so long that it's almost impossible to judge what you're seeing. I'll look at this tomorrow - maybe I'll be able to see more clearly in the morning.

September Challenge #17

I'm really pushing the time limit on these paintings this week.  I'm trying to concentrate on the painting, but feeling a bit rushed. Hurry up, weekend - I need more time to paint!

These yellow flowers are a type of mum. I attempted to paint them once before without much success. They're about to fade so I thought I'd give them another shot before they are thrown away. It's good to to see the squash and gourds in the market. Soon there will be pumpkins!

My husband picked up the little acorns on a lunch time stroll at work because I'd been complaining that there were no uneaten acorns in our yard. The neighborhood squirrels have been chomping them all!

September Challenge #16

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Whew! I'm still in the challenge (although nobody's counting but me). This is the chocolate sunflower that gave me such fits last night. It gave me fits tonight, too, but at least I finished it. I need to get one extra painting done to take the pressure off of having to get the paintings posted the same evening they're painted. Maybe I'll paint two on Saturday.

September Challenge #15

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We're midway through the 30 Day Challenge. Having the goal of creating 30 paintings in 30 days has really helped spur me to practice regularly. Bit by bit, I'm finding ways to incorporate painting into my everyday life.

I'm continuing on with fracturing. Perhaps this new technique is also helping me practice because I am having the best time with it. I start the painting with a general idea of what I want to accomplish, then the painting seems to paint itself. What a wonderful feeling!