#8, #9 and #10 One-hour paintings

I am learning that I have a lot to learn about oil painting.


Each of these paintings are 5" x 7".
I thought my red Lamy Safari fountain pen would be a simple subject to paint, only to realize that I was concentrating on detail way too early, then when I photographed the pen I realized how important the brush strokes are in oil painting, all I see is glare because of the direction the stroke went. Anyway, I'm assuming that is the reason, because I see it when I look at the painting also.

#9 is a small wooden bird that I usually have sitting in my kitchen window. In this painting I forgot about the shaded side of the bird and didn't allow for the light that hit the birds head and part of his back. Only one of the issues with this one ... whats with the pink back ground. It was sitting on a white counter.

I was starting to be happier with #10, a fresh pear. Yet I didn't block in the shaded side like I wish I would have. And again with the brush strokes .... I eventually hope to paint in a painterly style, which has so much to do with brush storkes, yet when I'm painting I find I'm still thinking detail and color. Color mixing is not coming easy for me.

The last day of the month and I've completed 10 1-hour paintings. I think so far I'm content with working at the goals I've set out to accomplish.

I am working on my mailing list even though I've had major computer problems and had to completely start over with my address list because most were lost when the computer crashed. (I may have learned the hard way to back up everything) I should have it pretty well set up in an Outlook program before long.

New Year - New Goals

As you may have guessed by now, coming up with some artistic goals for the New Year has not been easy for me. I would go to bed thinking about them and wake up thinking about them, and every time I come up with a list of what I thought was a list of goals I'd soon realize was nothing but a task list! What do I really want from my art? How can I achieve this? And, what will keep me from giving up before I reach this goal? All questions I felt needed to be answered before I put anything down on paper that was substantial yet obtainable.

To have a goal it needed to be SMART so that I could/would stick with it. It needed to be:

SPECIFIC,

MEASURABLE,

ACTION ORIENTED,

REALISTIC, AND

TIMELY

I want to become a better painter, paint more landscapes 'en plein air, and share my work with others. So, these are (after some considerable thought) the goals I will achieve (note the positive attitude here ;-)

1. I will paint 50 one-hour paintings by July 1st. If I do more than that, great. These will be small paintings and need not be elaborate. I will set a timer and when the hour is over I will put away my paints. These need not be finished paintings. The object is to collect as much information as possible for my support (canvas or paper etc.) to help me "see" better as an artist. Each painting will be dated and numbered consecutively. At the end of these 6 months or if I complete the 50 before the July deadline, I will establish another timed and numbered goal. (I realize that this may not seem like much to some of you daily painters, but I am not a prolific painter and this will take me way out of my comfort zone.)
2. I will paint 12 plein air paintings for the year on my own. I will paint 'en plein air at least once a month on my own. Right now I belong to a “Plein Air” group that usually meets twice a month. This group doesn't always paint outside because of the weather here in the Pacific Northwest. During those times we paint inside from a still life or portraiture setting. This could be a pretty tough goal for me. If it's too wet, cold, or snowy for the group, finding a day that will be better for me on my own, may be a huge challenge.
3. I will keep and maintain a mailing list by December 2008. I will research how others are doing this and find what will best suit me. I will break this list up into different categories, so that I can send specific information to those who are on the list.
So, these are the goals I’ve come up with that think I will definitely benefit from. The first two goals will help me become a better painter, the next will help me share my work with others. I feel comfortable with the deadlines I’ve given each of my goals and I also feel these goals will be tough work for me and I will be stretched and grow as an artist, yet each is realistic and obtainable.
Yes !... I can accomplish these!