30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Leslie Saeta, an accomplished artist in South Pasadena, CA, has put out a challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days - and I signed up!!!  I believe there are about 150 artists signed up so far . . . challenge begins on January 2, 2013. 

Each day the paintings will be posted on Leslie Saeta's blog (http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/) and on the individual artist's blog.

Happy New Year . . . and stand by for paintings!!!
Linda

Poinsettia

Today I finished the poinsettia painting.
Linda

Painting Exercises

I just finished up a series of classes meant to learn new skills or strengthen existing skills.  Here are my two latest exercises - neither of which are finished paintings.  Interstingly enough, the pointsettia was much harder than the folds in the fabric.
Linda

Self-Portrait

So . . . I took another stab at a self-portrait . . . I must be in denial though as I didn't paint in any wrinkles!  And I haven't figured out how to paint in freckles!
Linda

Fiber Arts

Today a very dear friend of mine, Beverly Petty, and I took a fiber arts class from Jane LaFazio, a well known and accomplished fiber arts/watercolor artist (and lovely person) at the Oceanside Museum of Art.  The class was only 3 hours long and was basically an introduction to doing a SMALL HAND-STITCHED art quilt.  These are not quite finished, but it was super fun!

Here is Beverly's lovely purple creation with lots of texture:

Here is mine - I had it my head to do a bird, which is what I did:

Pots and Pitcher

Another painting class, another exercise . . . still working on the light/shadow . . .
Here is today's work.
Linda

Hopscotch

Here is a new painting (6x6) from a photo I took of a little girl on Fashion Island in Newport Beach. 
Linda

Light and Shadow

Today in class we worked on pushing the light and shadow which makes for a more dramatic painting.  Here is my exercise from today's class.
Linda

Veggies

One of the reasons I wanted to do a blog was to chronicle my journey as a painter and (hopefully) see some growth.  It's easy to only post paintings that I feel are successful -- but, as in life, we seem to learn more from situations that aren't so successful.   So, in that vein, here is the exercise from class #3 of the new painting class.  I did learn a lot!
Linda

New Class

So, I am taking a new painting class -- this class is designed to hone painting skills - we are painting from real life (still lifes), which some painters believe is the only way to truly see the colors of the subject matter - see how the light hits an object - how the light bounces onto other objects and/or is reflected from other objects.  Last week was my first class.  We are starting out simply . . . and these are just exercises, not finished paintings.  Here is last week's exercise:

And today, we graduated to 2 objects!  Here is today's exercise:

more to follow . . .
Linda

Red Tennies

Here is a painting I did yesterday - it is from a photo I took at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.  When you are trying to take photos of kids, they are moving so fast and you just start clicking and hope that you get a good shot.  The red tennies and yellow t-shirt caught my eye on this little guy - and I was lucky enough to get some good shadows in the  photo.
Linda

Girl in White Dress

Last weekend while waiting to meet some friends at the movie theater, I snapped a photo of this darling little girl and her mom.  I took artistic license and placed them at the beach, instead of concrete!  I may try this again, but this is first attempt . . .
Linda

Lillies

Today's very loose interpretation of lillies (8x8):

Three Amigos

Today's painting is of three men that I saw in a restaurant in Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island a couple of months ago.  It is 9x12 and called Three Amigos.
Linda

Color Theory

I just finished a 4-day color theory class with artist Robin Hall.  Very interesting and informative class studying the value, hue and chroma (intensity) of color.  We worked on a color chart (which is harder than it looks).
Linda

Honorable Mention

I went to the opening reception tonight at the Guggenheim Gallery for the Orange Art Association Show.  I am attaching a photo of one of my paintings that won an Honorable Mention!
Linda

Architecture

 Okay, veered a bit from figures today to try some architecture.  It is called Turquoise Door, 11x14.
Linda

Art Show

There is an art show at the Guggenheim Gallery on the Chapman University campus in Orange, CA from Friday, July 20, 2012 to Friday, August 3, 2012.  It is sponsored by the Orange Art Association and is usually a great show with diverse and interesting artwork.  And yes, I have four paintings in the show this year!
Linda

Girl in Bar Harbor

Last week I did a painting - a seascape -- for me, it is important to remember to paint subjects that speak to me.  Although I love the ocean and admire other artists' seascape paintings, it's just not something I like to paint.  Needless to say, the painting from last week ended up in the trash. 

So, back to figures.  Today's painting is of a little girl in Bar Harbor, Maine at a fountain in a park there in town.   I snapped a quick photo of her when I was in Bar Harbor recently.  The painting is 8x10. 
Linda

Peggy's Cove

After a 2+ week vacation to Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), I am back to my normal routine and back to painting.  The best thing about the trip was the spectacular scenery and I took tons of photographs, hoping to have lots of subject matter for future paintings.  My first painting is of a lovely place in Nova Scotia called Peggy's Cove.
Linda

Soup

Today's painting is painted from an actual still life set up (as opposed to a photograph) - my preference is to paint from real life rather than a photograph, but not always possible.
Here is "Soup" (11x14 on canvas panel):

Rose Bouquet

You might not be able to tell that these are roses as I painted this in a very impressionistic style.  But, for the record, they are!
Linda

More polka dots

Not sure why I am on this polka dot kick (well, can 2 paintings qualify as a "kick"?) - anyway, having lots of fun painting these days - I actually think the polka dots add a touch of whimsey.  Here is the latest.
Linda

Polka dot days

As I have mentioned before, I love to paint figures.  So, here is my latest figure painting (9x12 on panel).
Linda

More Daisies

As I have mentioned before, I just love daisies . . . so, here's another little (8x8) painting of daisies . . .they're just so cheerful!
Linda

Garden Wisteria

Today's painting is a wisteria vine in an abandoned nursery -- not sure if I am done with it or not yet -- always prop the newest painting up on my mantle to look at it for a few days to see if it needs some touching up.
Linda

Red Hair and Green Hat

Here is a new figure painting (15x30 on stretched canvas):

I showed my art teacher the funky face painting shown in the last post - I sort of thought of it as an aborigine woman - my art teacher immediately said "Mick Jagger"!!!  Eye of the beholder and all that.
Linda

Creativity

I believe it's important to develop the creative muscle every chance we get -- most of the time I focus on having a finished painting -- like the still life from the last post.  So, this week, I decided to "play" a little bit.  As I have talked about before, I really enjoy painting faces/figures.  So, this was the result of my play on Wednesday night (8x8 on panel):

Last night, I did a very fun painting (while looking at a photo of myself just to get structure of eyes, nose, etc.) - but no, it is not a self portrait!  ha!  (and yes, it is okay to laugh).  (9x12 on panel)

So, go out and do something creative today! 

Linda

Classic Still Life

Just a still life -- but no matter the subject matter, it's still practice.
This is an 11x14 painting on canvas panel . . .

More palette knife

I am having so much fun -- continuing to experiment with the palette knife.  Here is my latest "Daisies in Turquoise Jar" (8x8 oil on gessobord).
Linda

New Paintings

I have had a dear friend from the Bay area visiting for a few days and we spent some time painting during her visit.  (Her name is Mary Valente -- check out her blog - she is a very talented painter: 
http://mary-valente.blogspot.com/)

We experimented with the palette knife . . . here are a couple of mine:

Both are 6x6 on gessobord panels .
Linda

Persimmons

When I first started painting, I had a thing for painting persimmons . . .painting after painting of the fall fruit.  When arriving at class today and finding out that we could paint a still life of persimmons, I was quickly on board.  I am attaching today's painting and one of my very first paintings of persimmons (hopefully, you will be able to tell the difference).
Linda

Cottage House

Saturday was painting class - what I like about being in a painting class is the collective creative energy of the group and the interaction between fellow students and the teacher.  Generally, people are very complimentary and encouraging about each other's work.  I know I can do a painting in my studio but it can be a solitary experience. 
So, here is my painting from yesterday.
Linda

Superbowl Pear

I am still experimenting with the palette knife.  Using the palette knife versus using a brush is sort of like preferring crunchy peanut butter to creamy.  So much texture with the palette knife - much smoother with the brush.  Both are very fun to do . . . I feel like I don't have near the control with the palette knife - but that keeps me loose!  so, here is one crunchy and one creamy.
Linda

Traditional Still Life

Painted a traditional still life today . . . in sort of a Cezanne-like style . . .

Rooster

The last day of the workshop, we gathered all of the skills we had learned with the palette knife and worked on a rooster!  Here is my specimen!
Linda

Happy New Year!

It probably seems like I fell off the face of the earth - but I haven't!  Life just gets in the way sometimes.  So, here we are in the New Year and I can start off with a resolution of painting more often.

Last week I took a painting workshop in South Pasadena with a great artist (and great person as well) - Leslie Saeta.  It was a 3-day workshop and we painted ONLY with a palette knife the entire 3 days.  The workshop was held in Leslie's studio (which is actually the carriage house behind her house that has been converted into her studio).  And one evening Leslie even has us over for dinner.  The entire 3 days were terrific.

On day one of the workshop, we did these apples . . . while trying out this new technique.  This painting is on a 6x6 panel.

The second day of the workshop, we painted boats and reflections.  The boats are on an 8x8 panel:

If you like a "painterly" style painting, you will like palette knife paintings.  You can really see the strokes and the paint.

So, Happy New Year - here's to more painting and more often!
 Linda