New Year, New Challenge 2017

Happy New Year everyone!

No Resolutions for me this year since I already have so many fantastic things in the works and ways that I improved last year that I simply want to continue on with the current rollercoaster ride.  I know the best is yet to come.

30 Paintings in 30 Days

...sort of.  The last few times I tried the challenge, I was very gung-ho in the beginning.  Painting a lot prior to the challenge and trying to be very organized and methodic.  I find that nice and orderly does not describe me AT ALL.  I do like finishing a lot of paintings in a one-month period of time but the paintings are not always great.  Typically, about a third of the paintings are pretty good.  One or two are really good and I'm quite proud of the work in them.  Of course I want more successes.  The challenge then should be to paint more successes.

Just Too Busy

That is one of my mother's favorite phrases to describe me and my life.  She says it with a lot of emphasis and she means it.  My life is packed full just about every minute.  Sometimes I use lists and calendars (I love the old fashioned paper kind and I have a big, erasable type on the side of my refrigerator!) and reminders on my phone to help me keep up with everything.  I never realized how much "free" time I have until I started back at college last Fall when every moment of every day was truly packed to the gills and I didn't have time for family or even cooking for myself.  I certainly had no time for art or anything enjoyable and that kind of schedule doesn't work for me.  I did well in my classes but that was the only thing I did well.  All this to say, I needed a different approach this time to the challenge.  Classes are starting again soon (I cut back to just one class) and I have work and family so the art has to still fit in to that schedule.

How To Have It All

Say that with tongue firmly planted in cheek.  My schedule will still have to fit everything else and somehow fit in a bit of art.  My approach to the Challenge then is to work at the paintings in short bursts.  I have been trying this idea for a couple of weeks already and I'm really liking the results.  Paintings get attention.  My soul gets time for creativity.  The rest of life gets accomplished.  Win.  Win.  Win.

How Many Paintings??

The number actually doesn't matter to me.  The point is to keep working.  As I said yesterday, I will be working on several paintings at a time and sharing the progress photos here and on Instagram.

Beginning at the Beginning

I painted the whole canvas with a very light tan color so I don't have to worry about getting color to the edges later on.  A light red-violet was applied with a flexible plastic tool that was originally for cake decorating.  I'm not decorating many cakes these days so the tool now lives in the studio.  Water was spritzed on and the color allowed to run.  Some of the edges were smudged with a paper towel.
I mixed "black" from Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green, and Alizarin Crimson and this was thinned with Matte Medium and water, then applied with a plastic Pipette.  Pipettes are my newest find and I absolutely love the control I have with them.  The consistency of the black was like yogurt so it's thin enough to go in the Pipette, but thick enough that it holds without running.  Then I gave the canvas a couple of whacks on the side which created this sort of blocky effect on the black.

Wish me luck!

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