This week’s paintings have been very pleasant to paint. I’ve been managing to get them done in just an hour, and really loving the results. I need to go through my reference photos again and print some more out. I feel like it’s getting harder and harder to settle on a photo each day. While I love certain aspects of each reference, it’s getting to be slim picking. My paintings will turn out better if I’m really excited about what I’m painting and not just settling.
The smooth sailing ended on day 21. I couldn’t for the life of me make that painting work. Finally on day 22 after attempting to make it work I finally just wiped it off and chose a new photo. That put me a day behind in my goal of creating 30 paintings in 30 days, but I’m going to try to make it up somewhere. I really am determined to have 30 paintings at the end of this.
The painting from day 18 is one I plan on painting really large. My original plan was to paint it last month for the Canyon River Runners Art Show, but I just didn’t have time or mental energy to make it happen. So I decided to try it small, and I’m glad I did. I feel like I got a good feel for the subject and I have a solid plan on what I would do differently. I just love this image. It’s my oldest daughter a few years ago on a hike up the Moab Rim Trail. The trail itself is really steep so she was understandably tired. When she laid down I could help but snap this photo. It reminds me of “Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth.
In other news, my season for vending is really starting to amp up. It’s really exciting to finally feel like I’m getting back to work. The artist/farmers market season in starting up and I’m ready to make new prints and stickers for this year. Also, work at the gallery is finally starting to pick up which is a very welcome change.