Day 10 | "My First Tweet"

“My First Tweet”

6x6” oil ($50)

I have a long time friend (since junior high!) who is a wonderful photographer.  Bill has shared his photographic adventures with me for years.  When he heard I was looking for birds he sent me 75 photos! so I'd have a lot of choices to paint for the 30-in-30. They are from one of his photo safaris at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.  Bill tells me my first pick is the "Say's Phoebe."  Who knew!?!  I'll be painting a few more of Bill's birds before this month is out.  

So many great artists make painting wet into wet look so easy!  I tried to wait overnight to go back when 'Phoebe' was not so wet and add my highlights.  No matter how many times I watch artists put in their darks first and add their highlights in the end and see them come out perfect I can't seem to master it.  I swear its magic. 

Day 3 "Morning Exercise"

Day 3 | 2016 | 30 in 30

I tried to plan and be ready for the 30 in 30 this year.  While I have gathered photos for this project, I realize I don't have 30 (miscount due to a holiday sugar high!?) so I'm asking friends to email me a couple of their favorite pictures of their cats and dogs, or any birds they taken snapshots of for fun.  Its actually as much fun seeing the photos as painting them.  

I saw this photo and thought, "and a one..and two...and three..."  I'm sure I don't look this happy when I'm exercising at the gym.  Maybe the difference is having sun in your face or just being at the beach!


 

“Morning Exercise”

6x6” oil ($50)

HH4 Challenge # 12 - Looking for a Handout

As I've mentioned before, the Hilton Head Four (HH4) challenge began after I attended Karin Jurick's workshop in Hilton Head last Fall.  Maria Bennett Hock came up with the great idea of renting a beach house...lucky me... it was soooo much nicer than staying in a hotel.  Not only nicer accommodations & great view, but it gave me the opportunity to become friends with our housemates.  

We had such a good time at the workshop we wanted to do something to extend our experience. So the HH4 challenge was created to help us continue keep in touch with the added bonus to paint more.  Initially, we took turns posting a photo we took in Hilton Head as the painting challenge, but later branched out to artist's choice. 

Another great thing to come out of the workshop/challenge is Lulu invited us to visit her in Switzerland.  We have taken her up on hr invitation.  We will all meet in Switzerland next month and travel around hunting for the perfect pictures to paint!    

HH4 Challenge # 12

Here is Chris' pick:  A bird perched on the back of a chair.  

 

Lydia Jechorek

Looking for a handout, 8x8" oil on RayMar

 

 

Artist Maria Bennett Hock

 

Artist  Regula Scheifele

 

 

 

 

HH4 - "Looking for a Handout"

Artists Helping Artists (AHA) 

I was inspired to start posting again after listening yesterday to a show about blogging on an "Artists Helping Artists" podcast.  It is so easy to get out of the habit!  AHA is the brainchild of Leslie Saeta.  Every Thursday Leslie & a co-host artist pick a topic and discuss a myriad of art subjects from shows on how improve you art, the internet and it effects on selling your art, interviews with guest artists and gallerists and more. Leslie and many of her guests share their experiences and knowledge of the business side of art. Its one thing to paint, but like me, many artists aren't always good about how to sell their art. 

If you haven't listened to AHA, you are in luck because all of the last 4 years' shows are archived for you to pick and choose topics that interest you.  I download a few at a time on my phone so when I'm exercising or stuck in traffic I listen to a show.  I've even timed my walks to an hour so I can listen to an entire show.  I can't tell you how much I've learned from them.

Hilton Head Four Challenge

The HH4 cut back to 1 challenge a month over the summer.  I didn't post our June results.   Here is mine.  I'm excited to say it sold recently, especially given it is not a subject matter I normally paint, but found I really enjoyed.  I'm missing a HH4's member's painting so I'll have to request it again and post everyone's paintings tomorrow.

Looking for a Handout, 8x8" oil on RayMar (sold)

• To Challenge or not to challenge... that is the question.  

Speaking of challenges, I've had discussions with fellow artists about shared photo challenges.  Some love them and others don't like them at all.   For me the pros outweigh the cons!

Cons: For those who don't like them, its mostly because they don't like the idea of painting a painting similar to other artists.  

Pros: Its like having a free workshop. I have learned so much from this type of challenge. I believe they've made me a better painter.  I view the challenges as a learning tool, something I don't do often enough at this stage in my life.  Like most artists, I fall into the bad habit of wanting every painting to be a work of art when in reality we all have paintings that don't work for reasons sometimes beyond our comprehension.  A funny thing happens when I do a challenge.  Maybe because I enjoy them so much, I find that more times than not I have a successful painting.  

Why do a challenge?  Sometimes its really nice to not to have to think what am I going to paint today?  It fires me up when I'm in that mode. 1) They inspire me to paint.  2) I am painting subject matter that I might never paint on my own.  Its good for me to get out of my comfort zone once in a while if I want to grow.  3) It is amazing how much I learn seeing how others translate the same subject by seeing what how they've cropped, composed, used different styles, methods & color palettes.