Tulips and Oranges

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

This still life painting is for the Daily Paintworks Challenge that began on January 31^st.  It is painted from a photo submitted by Diane Hoeptner.  I love how this little painting turned out with the intense warm and cool reds and oranges.  

Other stuff:

Today is day 82 of my personal challenge of doing art every day.  When I am not painting, I am working on value sketches and oil pastel thumbnails for paintings.  Doing this has really kept me in the art!

 

trees without leaves I - variation 22

 6" x 6", oil on gessobord

30/30

This is the last painting in the challenge!  It's one of my favorites!

And thank you to everyone who stopped by to check out my paintings during the challenge!  I really appreciate it!

This is WHAT I DID for the 30-day challenge:

• Focused on color, value and design. 
• Tried colors and color combinations that I don’t normally use.
• Mixed most colors.
• Used a very limited palette.
• Used thick paint/used thin paint. 
• Painted tight/painted loose.
• Experimented with bigger brushes.
• Experimented with tiny brushes. 
• Documented all color choices/mixtures for each painting.
• Scraped off a couple paintings and started over.
• Did a painting in less than an hour.
• Photographed paintings every day.
• Posted all paintings – even the ones I felt didn’t work well.
• Knocked an almost-finished painting off my easel face down on the floor.
• Got over my fear of putting my paintings “out there.”
• Looked at a lot of other artists’ work.  Was very inspired!
• Got up most days at 5:00 to paint.  
• Painted for 30 days.
• Started mindfulness meditation.  
• Started Qi Tai Gu.

trees without leaves I - variation 21

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

29/30

This painting is done with a triadic color palette (three colors equally spaced on the color wheel) with two of the colors made neutral by adding their complement. 

I've started compiling two lists:  The first one is what I did during the 30-day challenge and the second what I learned.  I'll post the first one tomorrow. 

trees without leaves I - variation 20

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

28/30

As the 30-day challenge nears the end, I want to thank everyone who stopped by my blog to see my paintings.  I really appreciate it!

trees without leaves I - variation 19

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

27/30

For this painting, I pulled out a new tube of paint - Quinacridone Magenta. What a fun color to work with!

trees without leaves I - variation 18

 6" x 6", oil on gessobord

26/30

I've started thinking about doing larger paintings based on these small tree series paintings.  This is one that I am considering doing larger with more detail. 

trees without leaves I - variation 17

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

25/30

For this painting, I kept it loose, used thin paint and let the toned canvas show through.

trees without leaves I - variation 16

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

24/30

Just six days left in the 30-day challenge!  Painting every day is getting a lot easier.

trees without leaves I - variation 15

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

23/30

For this painting, I used a triad (three colors equally spaced on the color wheel). 

trees without leaves I - variation 14

 6" x 6", oil on gessobord

22/30

Every Wednesday morning, I go with my little 2-year-old grandson to music class.  This painting was inspired by one of the songs we are learning - De Colores - talking about the colors we see around us. 

trees without leaves I - variation 13

 6" x 6", oil on gessobord

21/30

For all of the paintings in my tree series, and specifically the 30-day challenge, I have started out with a specific value plan.  I have found that it works better with some color combinations more than others.  This one is a low-key painting (all values darker than middle gray).

trees without leaves I - variation 12

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

20/30

Today we are two-thirds of the way through the challenge.  I have learned SO MUCH from doing these paintings every day!  And I have gotten so much inspiration from other artists participating in this challenge. 

trees without leaves I - variation 11

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

19/30

If you have a chance, check out my friend Laura's blog today.  She has a great post on mindfulness.  

For this painting, I used cool grays with violets and kept it at 3 values. 

trees without leaves I - variation 10

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

18/30

For this painting, I pulled out tubes of green that I have accumulated over the years that I rarely use and mixed in yellows and blues to vary the colors.

trees without leaves I - variation 9

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

17/30

For this painting, I used a few tube colors that I don't normally use a lot.  I really like how they mixed together.  Like yesterday's painting, I used the same process of an underpainting of neutrals with brighter colors over, leaving some of the underpainting showing through.  

trees without leaves I - variation 8

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

16/30

For this painting, I did an underpainting of neutral colors and painted the more intense colors over the top, leaving some of the neutrals showing through.  I love this color combination. 

trees without leaves I - variation 7

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

15/30

Today we are halfway through the 30 paintings in 30 days!  I have lots of new things I want to try for the rest of the challenge, and we'll see what happens!

trees without leaves I - variation 6

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

14/30

For this painting, I went back to my very first image in my "trees without leaves" color series, and I'm going to use that one for the next few paintings.  This one started out with different colors, it didn't work, so I scraped it off and started again.  Same thing.  Above is the third time around and I really like how it turned out.  The colors are soft with fairly thick paint and a lot of texture throughout the painting. 

trees without leaves III - variation 13

 6" x 6", oil on gessobord

13/30

30 paintings in 30 days

I gave myself an hour to paint this one, not including mixing the colors.  It normally takes anywhere from 2-1/2 to 4 hours for me to paint a small painting.  

trees without leaves III - variation 12

6" x 6", oil on gessobord

12/30

I wanted some fresh ideas for color choices, so I went to the library yesterday and found a new book on textile art/design.  I use that type of book a lot for color ideas.  This painting was inspired by one of the color combinations from the book.