December 31

New Years Eve.  Fireworks seem appropriate.  I'm posting this at the last moment, but at least it is up and out there.  Tomorrow I will post a reflection this year.  For now, I'm signing off.

November 5

Exploring with fading on canvas.  It wasn't til it dried that I saw there were places that the canvas wasn't completely covered.  I still like it.  It will probably get hung up somewhere.

November 2

My aunt gave me a bunch of canvases to play with.  This is my first time using canvas that is bigger than 5 X 7.  I tried watering down the pints a little first and was frustrated to find that the canvas pretty must resisted it.  It kept beading up and just not doing what I wanted.  It was particularly fun when using a specific shade of red that made it look like the canvas was bleeding.  In some areas I wish I had blended a bit better, in others I wish I had blended a bit more.  But since the point in this one was just to play, I guess there's nothing wrong with it.

October 25

I really like this one.  Sadly on drying, the black and the blue are almost indistinguishable from each other.  At least I have the photo to remember it.

October 14

I enjoyed this one.  I liked not having to stop and think what was I going to paint and worrying that it was good enough.  This was just sitting down and playing with paint.

October 10

My first attempt at fall colors.  I wish I had added a little bit of green into it somewhere, but over all it's not bad.

August 23

Not sure what this is.  I didn't have an idea of what to paint when I sat down.  I'm really having a hard time coming up with inspiration lately.  I'm trying to fight through it, but it's really discouraging.

August 9

Painting again.  Inspiration is really low lately.  I have no idea what to paint or draw or write.  That's where things like this come from; sitting down and just trying to do something.

August 6

Feeling kind of dark and in the dumps so I guess this makes sense.  The photo didn't come out well though.

June 17

It's been too long since I've been painting.  This is the first in a long time that hasn't had a reference picture.  I'm longing for a vacation and this looks like a little slice of heaven right now.  The swing's scale is a little off, but that's OK.

May 22

Playing with paint.  Had no idea what to paint when I started and this is what came out.  Looks about as messy as I've been feeling lately.

May 14

Acrylic on a 5 X 7 canvas.  The trees didn't turn out quite how I wanted.  Shows it's been far too long since I've painted.

May 13

My first time painting on a real canvas.  It does happen to be 4 X 4, so this is is also the smallest painting I've ever made.  Not too bad.  The paint seems to take longer to dry on canvas so it creates extra problems for layering paint.  I may actually have to get patient and wait for layers to dry before continuing.  Then again I could always try a hair dryer.

April 7

This was all that was in my head today.  I ran (walked) my first race ever.  It was the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago.  I'm not sure why but I've always wanted to do it.  It was rough, but at the end all I could see was this finish line.  Big red finish line.  The park was not as idyllic as I've painted it, but like I said, all that mattered was the finish line.

March 26

Today's painting marks my filling an entire sketchbook.  I've never filled a book before.  Not a journal and certainly not a sketchbook.  Feels rather good.  More trees, but then I do seem to like them.  I think I need some warm weather and sunshine.

March 18

 

This is based off a doodle I did in a meeting today.  The black on white was a little frustrating because too much white kept being drawn up.  But I like it.  Here is the original sketch:

P.S.  My new studio is fantastic!

March 14

More fun with pouring medium.  I managed to get some squeeze bottles so I can control the pouring more than just out of the side of a plastic bowl.  It was fun.  At one point I had a bottle in each hand and was just swirling all over the place.  I felt like a kid.  After I had all these colors I got a toothpick and started swirling within the puddles.  It's a psychedelic mess, but it was fun.  I painted the background white this time because when I painted on black I learned that the medium makes the paint dry slightly transparent so the colors seemed a little dingy.  When the paint on this dried the places that hadn't been mixed were bright, but it seems as though the colors that I swirled with the toothpick continued to blend together after I was done.  Those colors still seemed to dry muddy, but the unblended ones remained very bright.  More fun to come later.

March 13

It's been a little bit since I painted.  Overall I'm happy with this.  When I was painting it I couldn't figure out what about the water/land line that was odd and not sitting right.  As I sit here I realize that there is no foreground background change in the line, it is just a solid vertical line.  I think there should be an angling off.  Time to study some more images.

March 6

Not my best work.  I was really distracted.  The biggest issue for me is that I feel like there should be a lot more background and mid-ground trees.  I know, I know, "Don't judge, just breathe".  It's bad, but i could be better.

March 1

Fun with acrylic mediums.  I discovered two of liquitex's acrylic mediums, pouring medium and string gel.  I wanted the colors to pop so I painted the background black.  The pink and blue were laid down using pouring medium while the yellow was applied with string gel.  I'm interested to see how it looks once it's all dry.  Supposedly the pouring medium will stay that glossy and raised.  I'm not sure why but it makes me think 80s.  Dayglow anyone?