Two-thirds through this challenge and I still don’t like painting flowers. I think I just need to accept that flowers aren’t my thing. This was a good challenge to do though. I was very intimidated by the idea of painting flowers and I’m not anymore. So that’s something.
Every January I try to set up some art goals to achieve throughout the year. I’ve been asked to do several commissions this month that I’ve had to turn down until February. I also received an invitation to participate in the Canyon River Runners Art Show again this year. They moved up the art show so I need to get my landscape paintings done in February so I can submit them the first week of March. I’m slightly relieved to have an extra day this leap year because I don’t know how else I’d get all of these projects done otherwise.
Beyond February, my plans for the year are a bit more flexible. I know I want to do more animal portraits in gouache, landscapes in oil, inktober, and experiment more with watercolor. I spent the last week of December diving deep into watercolor tutorials but I haven’t attempted it on my own yet. July is World Watercolor Month, so maybe I’ll try to spend the month devoted to that medium.
Below are some ideas I have for the year. The months with question marks are just ideas. I’m fine with leaving some months blank and changing plans as needed. Last year was planned out similarly but I ended up painting animals in gouache all summer and I really enjoyed myself.
- January – Strada 31-Day Challenge OILS
- February – 3 Commissions & 2 Art Show Landscapes OILS/GOUACHE
- March – 30 Landscapes OILS
- April – 30 Animals? GOUACHE
- May – Faces of May (30 faces)? GRAPHITE/CHARCOAL
- June – JuneBug (paint 30 bugs)? GOUACHE
- July – World Watercolor Month WATERCOLOR
- August –
- September – Sketchtember (sketch every day)? GRAPHITE/CHARCOAL
- October – Inktober INK
- November – Huevember? INK
- December – End of Year Review/break
I won’t be following prompt lists for any of the official challenges. The prompts are always too random for me. I prefer to create cohesive collections that look good as a whole. Plus, I see more progress when I paint similar subjects repeatedly.
Finally, if you want to follow along with these paintings every day, follow me on Instagram @amber.honour. See you all next Friday with the last progress post in this challenge.
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂