Tag Archives: 30 Paintings in 30 Days

Edwin, A Curious Fellow Built with Acrylics

Edwin, Day One & Day Two
5″ x 7″ Acrylics

Spending more time on a painting almost always improves it . I know this is not true for everyone! But so far it is true for me, and my novice attempts at acrylics!

In this case, I almost stopped after the first day, mainly because I am trying to finish 30 Paintings in 30 Days, but also because I wasn’t sure this was going anywhere and I thought I’d try something else. [As for 30 Paintings, I am totally considering this two paintings (9 & 10). I do not believe I will be fined for this offense – much less prosecuted. Wait. Who is in charge of this jurisdiction?]

Edwin here could stand a bit of evening of the eye ridges, but as the only one of his kind, one could hardly tell him his eye ridges aren’t properly aligned. Perhaps there is a very good reason for him to look precisely how he looks!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy January! Hello to Paint Party Friday!

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Struggles With Acrylics Yield an Orange Rabbit Beast

Rabbit Beast, 5″ x 7″ Acrylics
Painting 8 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

I have encountered some obstacles in my return to acrylics for 30 Paintings in 30 Days! I started late, the bitter (Chicago area) cold is sapping my will to art, no internet for multiple days TWICE in two weeks (now fixed! <knock wood>), and very busy at my regular job.

It is now Day 11 and I am going to claim 8 Paintings! (Even though some aren’t quite complete.) My favorite so far, which I would prefer to work on more but can’t because it’s only #8, is the silly creature above, made in a promise to Ann D’Angelo that I would try something odd and whimsical today.

I am trying to appreciate this challenge for getting me to paint a lot, even though I mostly feel these paintings are unfinished as I race on to the next one. But that’s ok!

Alpaca, Camel, Sheep
Each 5″ x 7″ Acrylics

The previous paintings were a series of ungulates in blue on red. I ended up trashing the camel (in the middle) after becoming very frustrated with it. Which is bound to happen if you don’t paint for 10+ months! The sheep (right side) has some nice qualities. But I am moving on.

I hope your January is going nicely! I hope mine ends more nicely than it started!

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Three Series of Bird, a Return to Acrylics

Three Series of Bird, 1-3 of 30 Paintings January 2015
Each 6″ x 8″, Acrylics

Yikes, I hate to be late. I was unable to start painting until today, January 5th, for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. In order to catch up, I thought I’d try a series of three, painted at the same time and in the same colors.

These are very rough! (I think the middle one is the best one) I could certainly work on them more. But it was an interesting exercise and I suppose I must move on tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping in! Some progress pics below.

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Here and Back Again, Acrylics 2.0.

Hey, it’s a Hobbit reference. And I have not seen one of those films. Despite being slightly fanatical about the Lord of the Rings, both the books and the movies, (less than Colbert, more than your average fan).

I am embarking on a project which I thought I would chronicle here, at the art blog. I was asked about a year ago to do some Day of the Dead type faces on Patrón (tequila) corks. How we arrived at this request is probably not as interesting, but suffice it to say I agreed to this thing with the caveat that I would probably take my own sweet time. Which I have.

But I am going to be seeing this person in about a week so I thought, since I finally cleared a space to do acrylics again – for Thirty Paintings in 30 Days, in January – I decided now was the time. Here is the beginning.

Patrón Corks Project, Step One!

At the bottom left you will see an unaltered Patrón  cork. In the middle, two corks with gesso. The third thing is some other cork that looks like a doorknob, also gessoed. Stay tuned for further developments!

I also wanted to post, in advance of January’s marathon, my favorite acrylic paintings from last January (and some from February). I stopped painting after that. I think because my job got busier but I hope to continue this year.

Various Acrylics, Jan-Feb 2014

Left to rightt:  Danielle and Sinbad (6″x6″), Flower Girl (5″x7″), Josie Fuchsia (5″x7″), The Harvest Oracle (6″ x 8″). Loads of process pics for The Harvest Oracle here.

And below, Rocco and Harmony (12″ x 12″), which hung for several months at my local Dick Blick’s! Here you can see what they looked like at the end of the first day, and then the finished painting with one more day. Amazing how much difference the extra day made!

Rocco and Harmony, 12″ x 12″ Acrylics on canvas

Lots of progress pics for this one here. Thanks so much for dropping in! Hello to Paint Party Friday – and I sure hope some of you are doing 30 Paintings!

Merry Christmas and Happy all the other holidays, too!