On the off chance you’re here to find out about the third January painting I teased in the last post, “Phoebe in the Aisle of Eyes”, I am sorry to report that painting was a dud. However, I finished my favorite painting to date over a number of days. This one:
Patience, 16″ x 20″ acrylics. He was told they would sleep the whole time. They did not.
Here are the rest of my results from Paint Every Day, January 1-30, 2023.
11″ x 14″ (and one 12″ x 12″) acrylic on canvas paintings, January 2023 Top Left: Louise, After the Recital
Results: The first painting (blue critter, above), and the last painting (at the top of this post), were the only ones I managed to finish. I had hoped to finish a painting a day but it turns out that goal might not work for me.
I have some paintings to finish for February. We’ll see how that goes.
Today is January 7, 2023. I finished a painting on January 1. The painting is titled Louise, After the Recital, and here she is:
11 x 14 acrylics on wrapped canvas. Louise, After the Recital, by Cindy Dauer.
I hoped to do a painting every day, but the next one took three days, including many false starts. I didn’t give this one a name. Someone who saw it pointed out that the main character looks a bit like the Grinch, which is true.
11×14 acrylics on wrapped canvas, by Cindy Dauer
I am on day three of the next painting, which got a name early on: Phoebe in the Aisle of Eyes. You’ll just have to come back and see. :-)
This video slideshow represents about 85% of my paintings from 2014 to March 2022, with a handful from earlier. Many are unfinished studies, many are quite dreadful! But I thought it would be interesting to see them all together, to see the process of progress.
Progress is not linear. And there were a lot of long stretches of months with no painting at all. I’m pretty sure a live, local community is very helpful for that sort of thing and then we had a pandemic.
I may do another version with a voiceover, but I haven’t done one of those so I’ll have to look into it.
Most of these paintings are currently stacked in my living room. Maybe I’ll list some for sale. I have started to paint over some of them, especially unfinished ones. It’s a strange feeling, to do that.
Acrylic Portrait Studies, February 202216×20 Acrylics, An Unusual Man16×20 Acrylics, unfinished landscape
I missed a couple days so far in February. I am worried because this is what happens yearly – I paint every day in January and then the rest of the year whooshes by with much less productivity.
I think I need an actual project, like a series. I feel like I’ve been practicing to get better for several years now, but for what purpose? So, I’m trying to decide on an idea for a series. Imaginary Animals? Rescued Farm Animals? Not sure yet.
And at the same time, I think I may be close to trying oil painting with some of the non-toxic materials options like walnut oil and walnut alkyd.
Or maybe that is the problem. Too many plans, not enough action. I am currently taking a composition drawing class with Ian Roberts. He is mostly a landscape painter, and with a terrific YouTube channel. After the class is over I will start thinking more about the series.
Reader, it goes poorly. The goal of the class is to produce a finished 11×14 acrylic painting on a wood panel. And this is the no good very bad condition my painting is in right now. In fact, I started a second one (also poorly) in case I throw this one in a fire.
Not. Going. Well. The face has been repainted about a dozen times. You can see how I got mad and scrubbed it with sandpaper (and then had to redo a bunch of the pencil lines). I am not used to this painting style and so far have adapted poorly. I am pretty sure this style demands a level of patience I do not possess! But it’s not over yet.
We do have two weeks left. This is the middle The middle is the hardest, right? And then I figured I would write a blog post and share the misery with the few lost souls who find it. I tell you what, I am NOT saying don’t take this class. Everyone has a different experience, is my guess. I am doing more art than I normally would and that was worth the price of admission. Oh yeah, it’s kind of pricey. I used some stimulus check on it and I consider it well-spent.
I will also say this class has a large variety of peers, many much more skilled than me, and some maybe with fewer skills. But the ones who are posting their updates are all KILLING IT with their painting progress. On the other hand, many people are not posting any updates at all, and I am worried about them.
Below is most of what I’ve done for the class. We started with sketches and ideas and then worked toward a final character and image, transfer that to a wood panel and get to painting.
I believe it started going wrong when I wasn’t really happy with my final image, but went with it anyway. The bottom left with the bird is not resolved and needs another or a different creature. The dog character looks too much like a malformed dog and not like an imaginary creature as he should have. Then I didn’t decide my colors ahead of time. THEN I could not get the hang of painting smoothly and being patient. Which is where I am today, as I write this blog post.
Here is my timeline of progress.
So there it is. I hope my next update is much more chipper!
Most recent – this window poster, on poster board. I need to make a stand or something because our window is just a tad too far from the sidewalk and street.
Look, my next poster will be uplifting and shit but this is the first one.
I have been very slowly learning acrylic painting over the past couple years. These most recent three are a good indication of current events and also of learning to paint.
8×10 acrylics on canvas board, March 3, 202011″ x 14″ acrylics on canvas, March 10, 2020 12″ x 16″ acrylics in progress, March 11, 2020
Apparently I’ve been on an orange kick. Thanks for visiting!
It’s hard to see progress in your day-to-day life, but after enough years go by, a timeline emerges. Self-taught post-40 via Youtube and many trials and errors, some help from Sarah Kaiser at Studio 215 and lots of drawing practice.
Below are a selection from the past five and something years, These first two in orange are the earliest vs. the latest in this series. Hard to believe the same person did those.
Still orange! 2014 acrylic painting vs 2020 acrylic painting
The first 30-day painting challenge I did was in January 2014. I did a bit more in February but not much for the rest of the year.
I could not find much for 2015-2017. I was practicing art but mainly with ink and pencils.
In 2018 and 2019 I painted every day in January along with some of the internet, and then with sporadic practice the rest of those years.
In 2020, January went up in a puff of smoke but I did paint every day in February and I have finally been finishing paintings, which I did not manage to do much before.
Looking forward to another five and something years of progress, particularly since it’s become *slightly less difficult to get to practicing once a little progress is made.
It’s 2020. Already February, in fact. I’ve actually had about a week trying to get my blog working, probably due to a problem with an update or something. I’m not sure what fixed it, to be honest!
The world is crazy but I am going to try to do lots of painting this year. I have started the last 3 years or so with lots of painting in January, and not much after. This time, I didn’t do any in January, but plan to do much more for the rest of the year.
How about you, got plans for 2020? Thanks for stopping by!
Attitude, 9″ x 12″ acrylics on canvas www.theslumberingherd.com9×12 acrylics in progress, 1-3 www.theslumberingherd.com9×12 acrylics in progress, 4-6 www.theslumberingherd.com
No Apologies Online Only Art Auction
Starting this weekend and running September 8-15, 2019, I am co-hosting an online art auction in support of abortion rights. Most of the art was made by the organizers, though a few of our friends have donated some pieces. Looking is free! More information here: https://noapologiesartauction.org/
(The Dolores Huerta – right side, flower background, and the tiny houses in the middle (plus the painting at the top of this post) are mine. The other pieces are from other artists!)
Here’s a couple flyers I made for the online art auction in support of abortion rights that I am organizing with my friend Ann D’Angelo. Most of the art is ours but we are accepting donations and have gotten many amazing pieces.
The world is pretty ugly right now and there are many issues that deserve our attention. This art auction is one way some of us are trying to help out.
