Morning Shadows - Day 30!!!!!

8x10

Oil on Linen on Panel

Painted on location at Paramount Ranch

Day 30 of

30 Paintings in 30 Days

Taking stock of this challenge and what it has done for me

I feel that the biggest thing painting

                                                30 paintings in 30 days has given me is:

To build my confidence!

Several times I've been told that..."to get better, all you need is to just paint everyday"...And now I see, now I feel that I know from experience why they say that:)

It's a numbers game!
Not every painting is a winner and having to move on, (because I have another painting to paint
tomorrow), means:

I'm working faster.
I don't have the luxury of time to second guess my every move and get stuck on details as much.
I've had to leave good enough alone and move on.
I've put down a few more strokes and then left them alone.
I've been more willing to wipe things off, not as attached to every piece.
I've given up on "getting it right" and have followed my instincts more.
I've listened within and have gotten more in touch with what I like and what I'm drawn to paint.
I've found a few of my own personal shortcuts that work for me to get the drawing right and figure out angles etc.  (turning my reference and my painting up-side down is one of my favorites)

Simply said, if one out of 5 is a winner....I'm more likely to have 5 winners after 30, than 5 winners after 5, and hopefully improve that much faster:)

I just realized that in 2012 I had 34 blogposts the whole year and now I will have nearly as many (30) tomorrow, after only 1 month in 2013 woooohoooo!

I want to thank Leslie for getting me and all the other artists jump-started in this way.
I'm ready to tackle bigger paintings and new ideas with momentum.
I've connected with some great artists that I didn't know before, even one painting as close as 50 feet away from me!!
I now proudly have 14 followers as opposed to 3 before (little by little:)
I've gotten great feedback - and comments, - wow what's that?!!
I've even been told that I've inspired some other artists to paint more.

HAPPY PAINTING EVERYONE!

Shadow and Play - Day 16

8x10

Acrylics on linen on panel

Day 16 of 

30 Paintings in 30 Days

Hmmm....this painting was done in acrylics and I've been working on it off and on during this challenge.... 

I usually paint in oil and the other week I was so excited to get started I didn't even turn my fan on.  Well, what happened was that I developed a cough.    I believe, after inhaling too much of the mineral spirits.   So needless to say, after that I found a way to open the big windows in my studio (which is in a class room in an old elementary school).  I also have a fan blowing on me and crossing my palette to blow the fumes away from me and keeping the air ventilated.   I've been reading up on alternatives to mineral spirits because I think that even though Gamsol is safer than Turpentine, it still affects me.   

One would think that it would be so much easier if I could just work in Acrylics?  Well, one would think, yes.   

But, after sort of fighting with this painting for more than a week, which is not because I had problems with the composition or subject matter so much, but simply because I felt like I was fighting paint drying too quickly, not being able to mix the colors to get the colors I wanted and also not being able to manipulate the paint to do what I wanted it to do.   I'm giving it up:-)

Unless I can figure out a different way to work with acrylics (Golden Open Acrylics) I'm sticking to oils.

I might even try painting this painting again with oils to compare. 

Has anyone else had this experience with mineral spirits?  Or has anyone figured out a better alternative?

Happy Painting!