Day 28

9x12 oil on board

I should have drank before I painted ... ha ha ha.

Day 27

Can't say much about this one... it is still in progress may pick at it more tomorrow perhaps.

Day 26

I am working on a larger painting, so this pear was a bit of an afterthought for the daily painting.  More time and effort would be ideal, but time ran out, so here is my hasty pear

oil on panel 8x12

Day 25 - nailed it?

Didn't quite nail it... quick oil sketch of my favourite picture hanging hammer.  Lee Valley tools are awesome!

oil on cardboard panel 8x12

Day 24

I literally set the timer on this one - weekends are too busy.  60 minute quick sketch in oil paint on black gesso paper of my FAVOURITE tool - my kitchen aid mixer.  I may return to this mixer again and spend some time doing a proper oil painting of it.  It's 20 years old this year - still going strong.

Day 23

Went fast and simple with this one hour painting for Day 23.

8x8 oil on panel

Day 22 - too much

Here are some don'ts for daily painting - DO NOT choose a complex subject, do not choose a canvas much bigger than 8x10 and do not pick a day when you have several other important tasks to complete.  

Why I chose a sailboat to try to squeeze in as my painting today I am not sure.  In the 2 1/2 hrs I tackled this I felt rushed and dissatisfied fairly quickly and have called it quits.  I think I will stick to tools, fruit and simple objects and will try a better, slower paced boat when I have a couple days / week.

12x16 oil on black gesso canvas

Day 21

8x8 oil on canvas - last run

Trying to catch some more shadow colour on the snow, from a photo of a late afternoon run in Jasper.

Warming up

The weather has been rather chilly here, but when you live in a cold climate YOU MUST get out and enjoy it or you will go mad!  We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and spent it outdoors with friends and family   We had a fire and picnic - it was so cold the quinoa salad froze first as we ate it, then the bean salad soon after, potato salad stood up a bit longer.  Hot chocolate was essential, the marshmallow is just a sweet extra.

8x8 oil on canvas

Measure up

Family Day weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying with family and friends.  Tried a painting on Saturday but my mind was not on it, and it did not work out well.  I missed the daily painter post so I am tackling a couple of paintings today to make up for it.  Here is a quick one hour painting with a very limited palette.

quick tape measure 8x8 oil on canvas

#16 - The Sincerest form of flattery

A couple of weeks ago as I was waiting to pick up one of my kids, I was looking down the alley nearby and loving the light and colour on the snow.  I thought to myself  "Self, that looks like a painting".  Specifically a Kari Duke or a Mike Svob, style painting.  These are 2 of my favourite artists.

So for today's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge I decided Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and that I would turn my photo of that alley into a painting in the style of a Duke or a Svob.  Mike Svob, when I used to manage art workshops he taught at, would sometimes call these his velvet Elvis paintings, as they are done on black gesso. (Referencing the old velvet paintings of the ?70's).

Below is the finished painting, along with my progression as I painted it.

Add caption

Photo with my velvet / black gesso panel

oil colours I used

Adding some transparent warms

throwing in some lights

#15 - Portrait

Went back to my tried and true first love of portrait painting for Day 15 of the 30 day challenge.  I am still working on this but need to post before I have to run off to take care of other essential things that need doing.

8x10 oil on canvas panel

Day 14 - revisited

Painful day painting - I tried starting 3 different small paintings and wiped them all.  After yesterday's painting which came so fast and easy I thought I might have had a 'breakthrough'.  Today came back to reality.  So I dabbled some more on this landscape that is killing me as I am not getting the loose impressionistic style I wanted.  Oh well there's always tomorrow.

Day 13

Very quick oil on panel for day #13 - my rusty paint scraper.

Day 12 - Finishing up

Today's painting time was spent working on finishing up my Backyard Rink start - got rid of some trees, changed some background.  I am almost done, aside from some tweaking of values and sky.  Tried doing an extra 1 hour painting but only had 1/2 hour before running off to get kids, dinner and head for a meeting-so it got scrubbed.

12x12 - oil on canvas

Weekend rush

With the recent snowfall we managed to get away for a couple of days of skiing. Fresh powder and clear blue sky meant it was spectacular on the mountain.  Although cold to start it got to a balmy -15 by the late afternoon.  I managed to squeeze in paintings for Days 10 and 11, so I am keeping up with the 30 Day challenge.

watercolour and ink on paper - Hoodoos

sunrise and -29 outside of Jasper

Sunny and - 21 on the hill

8x10 oil on panel - Pop!

#8 - The Crime Scene

8x10 oil on wood panel

This is my 1 hour painting for Day 8 of the 30 in 30 days challenge.  I am not sure why but the title 'Crime Scene' came to mind, like these 2 tomato detectives are checking out the poor carved up tomato slice... sorry too much netflix BBC crime dramas!

#7

Today's 1 hour daily painting for day #7, a quick still life on 8x10 on wood panel.

#6 - too fast

Today, in an effort to 'whip off' a daily painting for the 30 in 30 challenge I created a monster.  I decided to choose colours I don't usually use ( or like ) pink and a harsh green.  I also tried to get it done in under an hour.  The draw up went well, the colour was a disaster.  Do not want that sucker hanging around the internet after I am gone, so I won't post it.

I am painting daily, so still feel qualified to keep up with the challenge!


Here instead was my most successful endeavour this week so far - Wobbly Apricot tart - mmmm - should have painted that!

#5 - It's a start

Working on my winter series and making them part of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge - so today's painting is in progress and will take a couple more days to fine tune, trees, skiers, etc. 

We are lucky here in that we get so many bright, sunny winter days.  They create beautiful colours and shadows in the snow. We managed to cross country ski twice a couple weekends ago and planned too this weekend but the  -29 temperatures kept us inside.

11x14 oil on canvas - in progress

Day 4 - return to beach

Today I attempted a quick one hour painting for Day 4 of 30 in 30 days challenge.  Had a major disaster and it was wiped off after a spill of turpentine, so I am posting a very recent quick painting - the beach in Hawaii instead.  

8x10 oil on panel

I got a start on the next painting in my winter series and am feeling good about it.  Once it's dry will start with some colour tomorrow.

11x14 underpainting

Day 3 - Loafing around

 My quick day 3 painting - just spent 1 hour with a bag of flour and jar of yeast.  I seriously need to use a proper camera and stop using my cell phone as the colour balance is off.

The painting was inspired by the loaf below which just came out of the oven and is my first ever attempt at sourdough bread.  This one loaf has been over a week in the making.  But now I have my sourdough starter living and breathing in the fridge, the next loaves should be quicker.  Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

Peek at today's work

Today's work was on a larger painting I am working on.  It's going well but needs some drying time before it is completed. Painting #2 for 30 in 30 days challenge.

Portion of Backyard Rink 12x12 oil

Daily painter

I am again going to attempt the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge that Leslie Saeta has each year.  First one - one hour only as I need to get after some other paintings ASAP.