Day 26 & 27 - Learning to Waddle

This 30 in 30 has been much more of a challenge for me to get up to my studio and to paint every single day.  Some of that is just life keeps happening... doctor's appointments, sick kids, work, dinner, laundry... And some of it is that I also make all of my own frames, and have been doing that lately... But part of it is that I just enrolled in a design course which I am hoping will teach me the lost art of composition... knowledge that was well understood by masters such as Michelangelo, Van Gogh and Rockwell, but has been largely forgotten during the past century with the rise of abstraction and conceptual art.  I can tell you this. I have a degree in fine art and went back to college to become certified to teach art to kids k-12.  In all the years I spent in college, I never had one course that taught me what I am beginning to learn with this course.  So, anyway..

The 2 paintings I am presenting today are almost the same... Same subject, colors and almost the same composition, with some seemingly minor differences.  I call them "Learning to Waddle" (probably should include 1 & 2) I guess because it's what I feel I am doing right now with this course.  I am learning the basics again and feel somewhat that I am starting back at the beginning.  Looking forward to sharing my progress!

And if you feel inclined, would you leave a comment telling me which of the 2 compositions you like better?  Thank you!

Learning to Waddle 1, oil on panel, 9"x12"
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Learning to Waddle 2, oil on panel, 9"x12"
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Day 5 - Morning Dove

Today's painting is of my daughter.  As I said in an earlier post, she obliged me a few weeks back and posed in different locales wearing various dresses and costumes. I was trying to capture the beauty of this moment while pushing a little further into impressionism. Although the dove wasn't there in the original photograph, this composition was just calling out for one.. who knows why?  This was definitely one of those paintings that was telling me what needed to be done as I was painting it! Because I love this one so much right now, I fear it is not for sale at this time!  But I will definitely be revisiting the techniques I was experimenting with in future paintings. I am thoroughly enjoying this 30 in 30!

Morning Dove, Oil, 12"x24"

Day One of the September 2016 30 Paintings in 30 Days!!!

Ok... so I am more than a little excited for this 30 in 30.  For those of you who are new to my work and me as an artist, I welcome you here and hope you will visit back often during the month of September.  For those of you who have been with me for awhile, welcome back and THANK YOU for all of your support, comments, feed back and most of all your love!  

I am so ready for this challenge and have been thinking about it and planning the whole month of August.  So, as of day one, I feel pretty ready and psyched to go.  I do have a theme that I am following throughout the 30 days.  I will largely do figurative work (simply put, paintings of people/figures)  But... my goals are several.  (I am going to go artsy on y'all for a minute so, forgive me... ) I love to paint... and I love the paintings I have made in the past few years.  But, as any artist who has been at it for awhile will tell you, you are constantly developing and growing.  I am at a point in my artistic career where I am yearning for some change.  So, in painting figurative work this month, I also intend on attempting to go beyond my usual style and 'language' that I have developed to find new ways to express myself, new ways of applying paint, new color palettes to try and new techniques.  I really hope to push my knowledge and step outside my comfort zone a bit and see where it takes me.  I hope you will enjoy the work I create, as I am excited with the things I will be doing this month!  

Here is painting #1, titled "Watching the Races".  Being that this is #1, I feel it is pretty similar to work that I have created in the past. Starting out cautiously, I tried some new ideas with my colors and reallllly tried to not OVER paint this one...which is a hard thing to do.  I hope you like and please feel free to comment below.  Thanks and have a great night!

Watching the Races, Oil, 20"x20",
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