Day 15 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Midnight Celebration"

"Midnight Celebration" - 30" x 24" acrylic on 1.5" canvas

Another abstract cityscape that's kind of a hot mess but I forced myself to walk away before I overworked it.  There is a lot about this piece that I like and I knew if I didn't stop, I'd end up ruining it.  So - I'm going to set this one aside for the time being and leave it in plain sight for a few days so I can decide what, if anything, I want to do next.

I'm enjoying this challenge and am thrilled with the progress I've made in paring down my vast inventory of canvases that needed some love.  It's hard to believe we're already halfway through the challenge and halfway through the first month of the new year.  I'm excited about completing the rest of this series, and then developing a marketing plan to promote both the challenge itself and the individual pieces.   I know I should have been uploading them into my on-line shops each day, but I just haven't had the time or the energy to do it. Painting large is actually great exercise, and after a few hours of painting each day, I'm wiped out!

Day 14 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challege - "The Perfect Man"

"The Perfect Man" - Mixed media on 24" x 18" canvas

I've always been intrigued by da Vinci's Vitruvian Man - he sort of "wrote the book" on the perfect symmetry of the human body.  So - I guess you could say he's to blame for the body issues we have today??  Maybe we could have avoided all that had he done a Vitruvian Woman.....

In any event, I've always been fascinated by this particular figure.  When I saw this drawing on a royalty-free design book, I grabbed the book and made a copy.  I then enlarged it and created an image transfer.  I ran into a couple of problems making the final transfer but filled the missing spots in with my Micron fine liner pen.  Then I added some cardboard for more interest and texture along with some metallic gold acrylic paint by Golden.  A bit of burnt sienna glazing and some tinted Manganese blue set the final tones for this piece.

I'm not sure it's finished quite yet but I like the direction it's headed.  And yes indeed, Vitruvian Man is backwards.....proving once and for all there is no perfect man in today's world.  Way to go, Leonardo!

Day 13 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Lies We Tell Our Self"

"Lies We Tell Our Self" - 24" x 24" acrylic on 1.5" canvas

The original painting underneath this one was a big house from my House series of paintings, and was called "House of Lies."  It was a bit on the dark side and I never showed it to anyone or put it on-line. 

So when I decided to add this painting to my "do-over" pile of canvases, I debated whether to paint out the words and leave the house; or paint over the house and leave the words.  Underneath the two figures is the word "why?"  I intentionally left it partially visible to add more interest and give the painting a mysterious feel.

While painting the various layers over the house and rest of the painting, I somehow developed the black figure on the left side of the painting.  After looking at the piece for a long while, I decided to put the white shadow figure in, and it felt as though the black figure was telling something to the white one. 

Hence the title "Lies We Tell Our Self."  I don't think it's nearly as dark of a piece as it was before (dark as in ominous; foreboding; depressing) and I believe the figures add a spiritual, more personal feel to the piece.

Day 12 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Harbor Lights"

"Harbor Lights" - 48" x 24" acrylic on 1.5" thick canvas

Now this painting is bright.....bold and vibrant and more than likely a work-in-progress vs. a completed offering.  I really liked the movement I got with the fireworks and various "structures" that were done in a blended minty-blue color - but the indigo blue and light cad red with the cad yellow are screaming "rookie primary colors" to me and need to be toned down.

That said - I had fun making this piece.  It was large (48" x 24") so I painted the background inside on my wall (I use a big piece of stretched canvas on my wall as a backdrop and hang the piece I'm working  on with a nail).  When the background dried, I took the piece outside and placed it on top of a large plastic tarp.  Next I grabbed my bottles of Lukas acrylic paints and started squirting them across the canvas.  Then I took a credit card and started slicing in my design. 

The end result is a city that looks like it's on fire or in the midst of a celebration or perhaps both?  I'm thinking of blocking in some more colors with the buildings and toning down the blue and red. 

Definitely a far cry from the neutrals I've worked with this past year, right?  And a bit shocking for my own eyes, but truth be told, I kind of like it!

Day 11 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Snowdrift"

"Snowdrift" - 30" x 30" acrylic & cardboard on 1.5" canvas

I'm happy with the way this painting finally came together.  I covered everything from the previous painting with the exception of the small horizontal white lines at the bottom right side of the piece.  For some reason I have been wanting to paint some abstract cityscapes and at the last minute decided to add the little white "snowflakes" with some finger taps across the canvas using some gesso.  Not too many dots - just enough to give it a feeling of snow drifting over a city.....

Day 10 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Imagine the Possibilities"

"Imagine the Possibilities" - 20" x 16" on 1.5" canvas - mixed media

Wow - it's hard to believe we are 1/3 of the way through this challenge already.  It hasn't been as easy as I hoped it would be but it's infinitely more rewarding than I had expected.  I'm having a blast painting over old pieces and seeing what comes next, and I'm enjoying the process.

I knew working larger again would take more time but what I hadn't factored into the time crunch was the final finishing of the paintings.  I don't know about you, but I'm a procrastinator.  I love to do the paintings and can usually get them photographed and named - for me that's the best part of the process.  

But afterwards, the paintings sit in a "finished but not really ready to sell" state.  I let them stack up and just wait until a show comes along or someone wants to buy something.  Then I go into a panic mode because I need to install the hanging wire; finish painting the sides if they weren't already completed; sign the piece in the front and the back; and complete the piece with 2 coats of UV protective varnish (satin is my favorite finish).  For me, this set of chores is the least sexy part of painting and I dread doing it for some unknown reason.

Well - yesterday one of the art consultants I work with called to see if I had any new work she could look at for a client who needed something now.  I told her to come by this morning and I'd show her what I had.  Then last night one of my friends said she wanted to buy one of the paintings from the challenge and asked if she could stop by this afternoon to pay me for it.  And of course I said yes - but I was in a state of panic thinking about how I was going to get all of these pieces sale-ready before my meeting.  Yikes!

So I was up very late last night and got up early this morning to finish off 10 canvases.  I had an assembly line set up in my kitchen and dining room, and was freaking out thinking the varnish wouldn't be completely dry before the consultant arrived.  Thankfully it was and she loved the new pieces - now I'm keeping my fingers crossed her new client loves them too. 

What a way to learn an important lesson though - you can be sure that from now on, I'll be more diligent about completely finishing a painting before jumping into another one.  If I'm pegging myself as a professional artist, then obviously I need to act like one - and having a nice inventory of ready-to-sell work is preferable to having a studio of half-finished works.  After all - what would have happened if another consultant or designer had needed something in a hurry and I wasn't prepared? 

"Precious Moments" - SOLD

And later this afternoon I said good-bye to Day 8's offering called "Precious Moments" - which happens to be one of the highest rated paintings on my Instagram account to date and a personal favorite.  Suffice it to say, today was a very good day for this artist :-)

Once again this project is challenging me in more ways that I expected, and I would like to think that each and every challenge makes me a better artist.  So now I know I need to treat each painting like a commodity, ready to sell at a moment's notice.  Lesson learned - bigtime!

Day 9 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - "Day's End"

"Day's End" - 36" x 24" acrylic on 1.5" canvas

"Day's End" is another mysterious-looking painting from the "Reflections" series that I'm doing for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge.  The wispy white lines you see at the upper left corner are dotted in silver for a luminescent veil that covers several areas on the canvas.  Of course you can't see all those silvery lines because of my sucky photographic skills (or shall I just say non-existent photographic skills??!!).

But I'm happy with the way this piece turned out.  It's mostly neutral grays, celadon, black and white with some light pthalo-blue and red oxide washes to add some interest.  Some of the original painting still remains - the striped running down the right side and the white dots above - I didn't want them to go away but the rest of the old painting is history!