Updateable

It's past the Witching Hour.  Too early to get up for work.  Mind running.  (Yes, I know... I'm supposed to meditate to help with that.  I know.)  Since I'm up, I visit my canvas friends.

Two large canvases that may or may not be companion pieces.  I think they look great together.  The one on the left is black and grey.  The right is Dioxizine Purple and grey.  Each canvas is 24" x 48".

 A shot of the Dioxizine Purple featured on the canvas on the right.  I've had more than one art instructor tell me, "Don't use Dioxizine Purple."  "It's garish."  "It's unnatural."  "It will take over your whole palette."  Don't tell me not to do something.  I'm stubborn.  I'm going to do it just to spite somebody.

I do what I want.

Mixing black from a limited palette.  Alizerin Crimson, Sap Green, and Ultramarine Blue.  This makes a cool (blue-ish) black with a ratio of 3 parts Alizerin, 2 parts Sap, and 6 parts Ultramarine.  This black is also the base for all my greys and it works as a toner when used in small amounts to cut back the brightness of a color.

In other news, I got a new job.  Pretty much the same as the old job, but better.  I have just a couple of weeks left before Summer Break from school, and I'll have news of a gallery show coming soon.

Cage Free -- 30-in-30, Day Thirty. I Made It and Lived To Tell About It!

Poe
Cage Free Series 037

We are nearly to October and nearly at the death date of Edgar Allen Poe.  I don't know many fine art lovers that are also Football lovers.  I am one.  Since I am in Maryland, and since they won this week, this is for the Baltimore Ravens.


30 Paintings in 30 Days.  It was definitely a struggle.  I mean, I really had a hard time with this challenge.  Like really REALLY.  I think it was just the beautiful weather. And maybe the fact that I overloaded myself with a bunch of other new things all at the same time  -- new gym membership, trying to do 10,000 steps daily, Taekwondo lessons, online classes, all this besides working full time.  Starting two new books probably didn't help either.

I thought I was good at the beginning of the month.  I had 13 paintings done before Sept. 1.  That may have given me a false sense of security.  Then again, by about Sept. 8 (when I still had plenty of paintings in the bag) I got bored with the challenge and I don't know that I recovered, even though I did a lot of good paintings after that.  My heart just wasn't fully in it.

Yes, I missed out on sleep here and there.  Yes my family and my housework got the short end of the stick.  My family has been supportive and encouraging.  The laundry and dishes?  Not so much.

So the big question is: Will I do it again?  Probably.  I'm just crazy like that.  January is a good month for painting in my basement studio.  I crank up the heater and put on some heavy metal music and throw a load of clothes in the washer then I'm good to go.  Besides, there are often snow days which let me catch up on painting and sleep.  The Farmer's Almanac says we're to have a very snowy winter.  So again, yes.  I probably will do another 30 in January.  Maybe I'll paint them all in November and nobody will be the wiser.


"Poe"
6" x 6" oil on gessobord, unframed.
This painting is available through Daily Paintworks Auction.
See the other participating artists at Leslie Saeta's blog.