Back to our regular programming

The 30 day challenge is over but I feel I don't want to stop.  Here are 2 little ones I did.  First the chocolate in the box and then the chocolate bitten.  I got to admit it looked pretty gross under the lights - it got all soft and gooey.  I also couldn't leave it out because I have had a couple of bad experinces of a dog eating my subject.  Sometimes I get no suppport from my loved ones.

I am continuing with my Ray Turner copies.  Turner out a little too purple for my taste.  But getting better.

Day 30 - In my Own time

The last day.  I am glad to say I really enjoyed this.  Glad I made the commitment but more than that glad I came through. Here is another dog that I don't know personally  but just took a picture of.  I think this was at a dog show.  Doesn't he look like a winner?  Of course not in a dog race, but in a winner at something.  

I am grateful to Leslie for setting up the challenge. 

Day 29 - Just call me Charlie

I have no idea what the dog's name is, but I think he looks like a Charlie so Charlie it is. It's sweet how total strangers will pose as long as they have a dog.  Do you think she would have posed for me if I I had just gone up to her and asked - I don't think so, but a dog changes everything.

I originally painted just the values in blue and white, but while I was looking at it I thought I'm in a good mood - what would happen if my darkest value was a middle red and everything else had to be lighter.  I used two colours - red and yellow. OK you caught me I also used white. Funny in my painting the background reads as pure white but the picture shows blue and green in the body.  It of course needs a bit of work but really not that much.  I am quite happy with it as an experiment that went well.  Thanks Charlie.

Tomorrow is the last day for the 30 in 30 challenge.  I have been thinking about what to do next. I have some paintings that are due, but I want to improve my art.  Here are my goals

1. Blog daily - it helps to post and look at your work
2. Pick a master and copy his work every day
3. draw every day.
4. pick a book and work through the exercises 

Doing the challenge and completing it made me think I could be more consistent.  Bombs away.  I don't know why I typed it but that's how I feel

Day 28 - and now for something completely different or ring my bell

I painted on a black canvas, for the first time.  There is a big advantage - somehow its not as scary as a white canvas.  I had fun with this - at first glance,  the bell is just yellow and the more I stared at it, the more colours I saw.

I bought the bell at a garage sale for my dog.  I had the brilliant idea to have her ring the bell when she wanted to go out, but it didn't take.  She is sticking to her method. She takes a shoe and drops it on my head when I am sleeping.  I have to admit it works. She is a better trainer than I am.

Day 27 - Size 7

Oh boy - did this painting feel good.  Wouldn't it be nice if they were all like that. I liked the composition right from the start, I liked the back lighting I just liked it.  It was fun to paint - I didn't worry if something was wrong and I am not going to mention where because it just doesn't matter. One thing I tried differently was I didn't blend.  I put down a stroke and just left it.  I think I will try that tomorrow.  I wonder if it is like golf where you think after a great stroke you know what you have been doing wrong and think you won't make any mistakes again, but you do.  At least that's how I think golfers act because I actually  don't play.  I'll just enjoy the moment today and in the words of Scarlett from Gone with the Wind "I'll think about that tomorrow".

Correction: My daughter informs me, the shoes are size 6 1/2.  Sorry about that

Day 26 More please

I painted the lemon and the mug again.  The lemon is beginning to look a little well -  dead and dare I say gross.  I thought this painting was different than yesterday's  but it has a remarkably similar composition.  Can you plagiarise yourself?  I am not sure about that but none the less here is Mug, again.

Day 25 Tea please

A study in Britain found that women prefer tea to sex and they really like their partners bringing a cup of tea to them in the morning.  I don't know that I am that fond of tea but here is my tribute to British women.  A mug of tea.  The lemon is clearly not finished but I have to go pick up my daughter at the train station and that beats anything.

Day 24 - the little one

I think this is the first child I ever painted but hopefully not the last. Coming down the home stretch.  6 more paintings.

Day 23 Do you see what I see

I painted this tonight after 3 episodes of Leave it to Brian, 1 Jeopardy, and 1/2 the documentary of Salinger, Me doth think she procrastinates too much.  In my defence - I am cold my studio which is in my basement is cold and the whole house feels cold.  and yet I feel really lucky - it is a billion below outside and I have a relative warm house.  I never complain about my space because I feel so blessed to have one at all.  For years I had no where to paint and now I have a room of my own as they say, just a little cold. It really is wonderful to be able to leave your stuff so you can pick up a brush at any time.

Here is my princess in warmer times. One thing I have learnt about this daily posting is I see what I want to correct just by posting it on the blog but unfortunately I don't have time to go down to repaint the spots. So don't look at the spot where - well maybe if I don't point it out you won't notice.  

Here is Ray Turner copy # 3.  This is in black and white and I will paint in colour tomorrow

Day 22 My Mother's Cups

My Mother had a whole set of these cups.  I don't think she ever used them and now I have a whole set of tea cups that I never use.  I wonder which child I will guilt into taking them so they will have a set of cups they never use.  We are more the mug type of people, but the cups are pretty to paint.

I emailed Ray Turner's assistant and he may be having a show in L.A. I live on the east coast in another country.  No problem, my husband will surely understand me flying over the continent for another man.  He's good that way. Today's copy.

 

Day 21 Meow

Yesterday an oink, today a meow, who knows what tomorrow will bring.  The dailypaintworks has a weekly challenge - this is the second time that I am trying it.  A picture was given in black and white and the challenge was to be creative with colour.  Well red is best so I went for it.

Kinda of creepy, but you have to try.  On the other hand, I have continued with my study of Ray Turner's work.  This one is an improvement. Each try makes me appreciate his work even more. I would give a lot to see him paint.  I wonder if he needs an assistant that doesn't really assist but just watches him - you never know.

Day 20 Oink

We bought my daughter this really cute pig from an iron work place that makes charming folk art (http://www.malpequefineiron.com/folkart.htm).  She still hasn't taken it home and I have grown quite attached to it.

I hide it when she comes home to visit.  Don't tell her.

Day 19 - Go ahead and hate him, if you want

My husband has given up sugar - coke, lemonade and sugar in his coffee.  He still eats cake and other well excuse the expression crap.  We are now buying flavoured club soda by the case. His favourite is lemon.

He has lost 15 pounds without trying.  So, go ahead and hate him,  I do.

Day 18 I read the bone collector

I finished the bone collector and that is my explanation for this painting.  One minute it looked pretty good but no I couldn't stop then -  more colour, splash on red, shade with green and this is the result.  I'm going to bed and tomorrow I will watch psycho - who knows what I will create.

Day 17 I See Colour

Remember the movie "the Sixth Sense" when the little boy is always saying "I see dead people" .  Sometimes I feel like that with colour.  A head of garlic isn't white -  it is purple and blue and pink and  a touch of orange and so on and so on and so on.

Of course painting them is another story.  

Day 16 - a little white lie

Well just a little lie - I didn't paint a new painting but redid an earlier one.  So in the spirit of the challenge which is really just to get into the studio,  I feel justified.  I gave it to the baby as a gift,  so the name of the painting is Isla's shoes (which is the name of the baby).  I basically really did practically paint over the whole thing, so while technically it is not a new painting it really is.  With so much talking maybe I really should go into politics

Day 15, copying is the best form of flattery

Another attempt to copy a Ray Turner - I still don't think that he has to be worried about the competition.  I am trying to learn from him and what I am learning is he makes it look easy.

Assessing the Damage

We seem to have a lot of car trouble.  We collect mechanics the same way other people collect souvenirs. We broke a shock in Nova Scotia, had battery trouble in Newfoundland, did something to the fuel pump in Florida,  and we still don't know what happened to the lights we lost in Utah. Let's not even speak of what happened in Maine, Quebec and California,  and yet we don't really have horror stories.  Most of the mechanics we met didn't even want to charge us.  We never had a really bad experience and it always ended in a funny saga.

Our latest incident was in Page, Arizona.  We had booked a boat tour on line and unfortunately we had a flat tire.  How flat - very flat.  Ran back in the hotel and the desk person called a tow truck for us.  We called the boat tour and they said no worries we could make a later outing.  (AAA was  2 hours away) In the end the local tow truck came filled our tire and followed us to the tire repair place, where we were told it would take 12 minutes. We drove out to the boat tour  and even made the original tour time.  Even better we were the only people on the boat.  Greg the captain told us how lucky we were because in season the lake would be buzzing with boats and we would not have the reflections we saw.

I am enjoying doing the 30 in 30 but today's painting isn't finished.  I like to leave paintings overnight.  Usually I hang them in my kitchen and ponder while I cook.  I am going to stop working on this one but I am going to do it again, bigger and slower.  Here is a picture of the canyon as seen by me, my husband and Greg the captain.  I have 723 more is you want to see them.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what happened?

Obviously my mirror is warped - that is all I am going to say.

I admire Ray Turner's portraits and his style of painting.  So I picked one of his and decided to copy it and then paint my own, in his style.  Here is the original.  I feel like crying - I thought he caught a beautiful expression.  I would give my first born to paint such a beautiful painting.  Don't worry, my first born is out of the house and not mine to give away. Here is the drawing I did  and the painting.

And here is my version

Am I upset that it stinks.  No.  I just heard a cartoonist say that each cartoon he does is practice for the next day.  That is my new motto.  "Each yucky painting is practice for the next day."  

but I'm throwing away the mirror.  

Day 12 Strut your Stuff

So.  I went to the Grand Canyon 3 weeks ago.  And yes, it is really big.  I came home with a picture of a crow.  In the parking lot.  Hmm.

Day 11 - how low can you got

Quick post - got to run.  We are actually going out.  It has been so miserable and cold that we have stayed in.

This is the cutest little plastic man that was given to my husband from his company.  He has been staring at me for a long time asking when it is his turn to be painted.  I was actually going to do an exercise but sometimes the simple things are harder to paint because you can't hide the mistakes.  I will try again tomorrow.  

Day 10 On your mark, get set, .......

I like the curve in the dog's body.  There is nothing like a lab.
This is bizarre. These are the same photos but one is cropped.  It is weird how blogger is changing the colour.  So just ignore the stuff in the background, it is closer to the real colours, but still not like the painting.  In my painting the background is almost black.  I have not idea how to get a painting to look like the original - it is probably an art in itself.

Day 9 Don't Flip your Lid

I seem to be alternating painting from a photo and life.  Well not really life but a still life.  The French call it "nature morte" which means dead nature.  That seems like a harsh criticism, I try to make my paintings a little lively.

The first 2 were taken during painting (I seem to have chopped off the lid in the second one photo) and here is the final product. And if you can't tell from the painting, it is a mustard jar - with a  flipped lid.

Day 8 parting of the ways

This is a bizarre building.  The streets split in front of it, the top is ornate and the bottom is bricked in and the sides don't match.  Just weird.  I don't know what it is there are no signs and I have passed it for years.  It glows in the morning

Day 7 Fore

I got curious why golfers yell fore instead of  "watch out because my shot is going to hit you".  One explanation is that, artillery batteries were positioned behind the infantry. When shots were fired they would yell "beware before" to warn the infantry to duck and drop to the ground so they wouldn't be hit by cannon fire and artillery. So polite.  I would have thought they would yell duck instead of beware before, but who knows.  I am pretty sure that if I was there I would never get up.
Golf was becoming popular at the same time and it is thought the golfers shortened it to fore.
Today, I just wanted to get the curve in the back with the feeling that he had just completed his swing.  I will let you decide if  I succeeded.

I almost forgot to paint his club.

Day 6 - Welcome to the World

My friend had a new granddaughter in Toronto.  Unfortunately the city had a big ice storm and a whole bunch of people lost power.  They were kicked out of the hospital because well they weren't the only ones giving birth and there was no room available.  They did manage to find a hotel room and soon after some friends  regained power and put them up.  All is well -

 they have power back and the baby is thriving.  So welcome to the world little baby girl.

Day 5 In the limelight

I like this little salt shaker - nothing fancy just well designed - timeless.

Day 4 - Pretty in Red

 I keep looking at the weather in other places - poor Hawaii is having rain.  I am working on the 30 in 30 and I noticed that my previous paintings were pretty blue.  Here is a red one to cheer me up

Day 3 Guarding the truck 2

Day 3 of the challenge.  First day I posted the wrong painting. Day 2 I posted the name of the painting instead of my name - its a good thing I have 27 more days to get it right. I painted from the same picture as yesterday and I think I did a much better job.  I wanted to capture the feeling of being anxious.  I could keep working forever but I want to go to bed.  It is cold out - really cold and dark and the only place to be right now is in bed with a warm dog.

Guarding the Truck

This puppy was left in the truck and very anxiously watching for its owner to come back.

Day 1 - All legs

I am back from vacation and finding it  hard to get into my usual routine, so I am glad about the thirty in thirty challenge. Here is day one.  This puppy was just all legs.  It is good to be back painting.