Compilation of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days for 2016!!!

Out with the Old and IN With the NEW!!

This Friday, January 1, 2016,  marks the first day of this year's participation in Painting 30 Paintings in 30 Days sponsored by the California artist, Leslie Saeta.  I will celebrate this new year as having 4

years of participation among artists worldwide who have committed to painting ONE painting per day and sharing that painting on a blog or Facebook and the "30 in 30" blog for the month of January. 

I find my growth each year ~ to be worth the participation.

This year I decided to spend my 'painting time' without seriousness of having to 'get it right' on canvas and without the familiar techniques and mediums.  I plan to dive right into the mystery of mixing media that creates new possibilities and also plan to just have fun in the moment.  

Not that painting is NOT fun, but sometimes there is huge pressure to work under with commissions and painting 'likenesses' - which is often the mainstay of my artistic production.  

I am looking forward to the liberation of 'just being in the moment' at the easel and using this time to just PLAY, have fun and make some new discoveries!  Something tells me there is going to be a more abstractness or non-representation to my canvas surfaces.  I have spent a few days during this past month, preparing several different surfaces for this undertaking. I hope to share the making of each surface with each painting I do, however, some will be on plain 'ol stretched canvas, canvas board or factory made pastel surfaces without additional 'sprucing'.

Another important component to this endeavor, is there are tons of other artists doing their rendition of how and what to paint.  Part of the enjoyment is seeing what others are doing at their easels (and of course, you don't have to have an easel to paint).

If you are seeing this news for the first time...(just like me, on the first one I joined, I joined it three days in, not knowing it was going on til I stumbled on it)..the site for signing up is HERE. And BTW if you want to interact with a global view of who and where painting will be furiously flinging in January, click HERE.  Many PINS have cyber media links so you can visit artists in areas you feel are especially of interest.

So COME BACK won't you?  I love reading comments, so feel free to leave one.

Numero Uno - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Miss Priss"

6" x 6"

oil on pine veneer

NUMBER ONE!!!  Woohoo - Happy New Year!  I hit the ground runnin' today

and got this first one done in no time!  I had DH cut me down some great 

cabinet remnants I picked up a few years ago, (thanks Linda).  They are cut into

small 6" x 6" squares for this challenge.  I sanded them all, primed them with gesso,

then covered them with a colored coat of acrylic - this one is an eggplant purple underneath.

Miss Priss belongs to my cousin in Texas, Debbie.  She has LOTS of doggies, and rescues 

and advertises LOST dogs alot.  She (and her daughter and niece) are dog lovers extraordanaire.

Because of her dedication, I chose Priss to be my first painting of the new year.

Priss is sooo tiny  and a real heart stealer - she is a chihuahua.  

P.S., my focus will be 'pets' - but what I am really working on is 

big strokes of paint,

with minimal 'detail' strokes.

Day 6 Painting 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Barranca Mesa Patio"

10" x 10"

oil on canvasboard

This one was fun - I had to put a lot of paint on the canvas 

to make it come up into the light.  

It is my N.M. sister-in-law's patio that she 'hired' done.  

I love the color palette the designer used.  

Their mesa drops off the back of the yard in the rear of the house - 

you can view the Sandia Mountains from here.  

NOW - if anyone knows what the black thing on the left is, 

I will leave it alone, but if no one comments 

about WHAT they think it is

and it's what it is, then I will take it out.

Check back in a few days, to see if I changed it or not.

Artists on 'the shuffle' today:

Julian Lennon

Paul McCartney

Joni Mitchell

R.E.M.

Little River Band (always a touch of the oldies)

30 Paintings in 30 Days - Leslie Saeta blog

Day 4 of Painting 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Unparalleled Richness"

8" x 8"

oil on Raymar canvasboard

A few years ago we stayed in an RV Park in Glenn's Ferry, Idaho. This RV park was attached to a vineyard/winery called 'Carmela Vineyards'.  These grapevines were so inviting, I walked right over to the tasting house and had some 'tastes'.  

I like this size of this canvas - big enough for detailed paintings, yet doable in a day.

Check out other artists at http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

ARTISTS I listened to today:

Big Head Todd

Tommy Bolin

Black Crowes

Crash Test Dummies

Goldfrapp

Day 3 Painting of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Algo Mas"

9" x 12"

oil on canvasboard

Sorry for the glare - finished tonight and had to take photo under studio lights.

Will take a better one tomorrow.

Crazy day - didn't think a semi-annual trip to the dentist 

would take up most of the afternoon.

I see a few things to fix in this one now that I have taken a photo.

Do that tomorrow also.

This is our local Mexican eatery.  Love the colorful furniture - 

it's very inviting (along with the fact, they make great Margaritas!)

Tunes in the CD carousel today by THESE artists:

Heart

Faith Hill

Just Head

David Gray

and

Gypsy Kings 

(which is the one which really got me finished)

I have an eclectic taste in music.

Tomorrow I will choose a smaller canvas I think.

http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com (30 in 30 site)

Update - attempted a new photo, paint is just too wet, still shows the shine.

Later on that one.

Not so shiny now.

Day ONE - 30 paintings in 30 days challenge

"Book Club for ONE"

6" x 8"

oil on canvasboard

Yay - day one went smoothly!  Really enjoyed being in the studio, snowing and blowing out the north light window - great bright light - even with the grey skies.  Inspiration from my sister-in-law's photo.  Thanks T !  Now you tell me, does that look inviting?

Kittens were funny - I barricaded myself into a space - tilted my pochade, hid my brush cleaner in a bookshelf next to me..and was surprised I made it through the time without too much correcting of the cats.

  Pye, at one point, early on,  got a little irritated with me, cause she wanted to jump in that box with those paints - sooo badly.

I finally wised up and moved that stool.

  She then raced around the studio - literally tearing up things - like a frustrated little kid.

They crack me up.  There was some cleaning time...as well.

and some snuggling...

Check out the other paintings done today - there are at least 350+ artist's participating in this challenge.

http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com

Number 19 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days by Pattie Wall

"Taos Pueblo - Late Sun"

5" x 7"

oil on canvasboard

This is the one that should have been #18, but it was giving me trouble.

I decided to go with it.  Have to move on.

Might have to do a little work on the shadows...the bright blue of the windows need some attention, as well.  I will get to it later, but this is NUMBER 19 !!

#18 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Yucatan Man"

7" x 7"

oil on Arches oil paper

It was only a matter of time, I hit the wall yesterday afternoon while working on a #18 painting - not this one, but a different one.  Had to think about it today.  In the meantime, this one just off the easel and will DO! 

Painted from a little clay statue that my daughter got for me - many years ago - in Merida, Mexico.  I have always wanted to paint him.  

He wasn't as easy as I thought he would be.  

I DO like the new

(maybe not so new anymore) ARCHES oil paint paper. I like the way the brushes and paint respond to the surface.

Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 BLOG - HERE.

Number 17 in a 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

"Japanese Bantam"

6" x 6"

oil on Raymar canvasboard

NFS

This is a painting of MY (1) rooster, Queenie.  He is a Banty Rooster, very comical and quite ditzy - but I suppose a lot of roosters are.  They have only two purposes, as I see it...to give morning and/or warning crows and to help with fertilization of the eggs (we collect each day's eggs so that isn't happening) - but we get a kick out of him just the same. 

He is way smaller than my large Sussex hen 

(painting of chick, a few days back is 'she'), 

and she puts up a fight 

every time he begins his 'love' dance. 

Don't tell him - but he's a follower, not a leader....

Day 15 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"The Elevator at Bellaire - After a Snow"

9" x 12"

oil on Raymar canvasboard

(click on photo to see a larger version)

OK, I have to be honest. This canvas was sitting on a shelf - I had started to paint it about a year ago in acrylic. It was 'way colorful'..I had tried to make the sky with clouds - but HERE most days are cloudless...the bright sun shone across that terraced wheat field...and I didn't have it!  So... I canned it.

Day 9 of 30 in 30 Painting Challenge

"Bear Shadow"

9" x 12"

oil on canvasboard

This bear was such fun to paint.  I could have painted him bigger in the space, but wanted to show the shadow all the way out to near the edge...so chose this size.  He is going to look good in a reddish brown frame!

As you can see I am really into purple these days.

Day 9 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days on Leslie Saeta's Slice of Life blog.

I used a photo to paint from - courtesy and permission of 

A.R. on the Paint My Photo website.