Thirty in Thirty Day 30 Violet Clouds

This started out with mostly violets and purples with a little yellow and brown for the earth... it was pareve, neither here nor there. First thought just go over it and do a different painting, but the "what if"  came in... Sometimes, almost all the time, I am a bit aggressive with my paintings, scraping or drawing over. So took my blue crayon on the side aggressively filled in the sky area.. used medium to push it all around and get that insipid violet out. Hey, where did that little house come from???

Took this photograph late in the evening... last light...original bluer than turquoise. will take another tomorrow.

Violet Clouds

Oils on canvas covered cardboard

Crayons

6 x 8 "

Thirty in Thirty Day 29 What If

Can't believe that this is almost the end of the challenge!!!! Usually, around this time I feel washed out, but now I feel that I have just got started, ready to continue.

Well, what a strange title.... What If.... well you all know that sometimes you think while painting, what if I put this color, what if I scrape [love scraping] this out etc. Well, this painting was built on what-ifs... First decided that .. what if I use my crayons instead of wet paint. What if I applied some medium... what if another layer... what if more crayon strokes etc.

I learned a lot of what the crayons could and could not do on canvas.... couldn't put more than 2 layers... couldn't crayon after the medium, have to wait for it to dry...

What If  Lonely Leaf

Caran d'Ache neocolor I

Canvas covered cardboard

6 x 8 "

Thirty in Thirty Day 28 Dancing Leaves

A group of snake plant leaves.... May put some more color... like the fresh spontaneous feeling
Used a green toned canvas brushwork and palette knife and a little scratching...

Oils on canvas wrapped cardboard

6 x 8 "

Well the real story was thatI overworked this to death... so I showed the first layer... scraped, sanded rubbed till all you could see was faint red and green leaves... worked on it today and here is the result... 

Red is a bit too bright much duller in original.. I like the greens in the first layer better... 

Second Layer

Thirty in Thirty Day 27 Snake Plant

 I love this plant, Sansevieria trifasciata,commonly called snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue.. Have some growing in my garden...think these are going to be a start of a mini series... after the challenge.  Although I did start one at workshop for collage work. Brush work plus palette knife.

Oils on canvas wrapped cardboard

8 x 6"

Thirty in Thirty Day 26 Potted Plant

First I want to tell you all about a great source for HD photos that are amazing, Unsplash.. I found this site through Chris Lally's blog when she posted Themes for Artists to Explore in Paint... They are absolutely amazing... said that before.. Chris is up to about 100 themes already..

This is a WIP... worked on it some today... but it's not quite finished and already dark and raining out.so
I photographed using my smartphone ..needs some tweaking. This was done from one of the references from Unsplash that just cried "paint me"  Used both brushes and palette knife.

Oils on canvas covered cardboard

8 x 6 "

Reference Unsplash

Thirty in Thirty Day 21 Orange Leaves

Can't believe that we are in the final stretch.  It has just flown by.

Just two simple leaves from a branch... Tried to mimic the bokeh photography effect.

Oils on canvas wrapped cardboard

8 x 6 "

Thirty in Thirty Day 18 Violet Landscape Melody

This is another painted with leftovers from my charts.  An imaginary landscape. It was all violets, purples.and pinks. Photographed it this morning and ready to post.  But then, looked it over and thought I should spark it with some yellows or oranges... don't know if I did the best thing. I am so expert at ruining a good start. Next time I'll try editing changes in Photoshop to SEE if they really work.

Final Tweak

Violet Landscape Melody

Canvas wrapped on cardboard

8 x 6 "

Heleni thought the oranges and yellows a bit too strong so I muted thm a bit...

Thirty in Thirty Day 17 Orange Melody

I am really having a lot of fun doing my charts and the colors left over have helped me with lots of inspiration. for new works, mainly sort of abstract imaginary landscapes. This was painting on a toned canvas using mainly oranges, therefore, my orange melody.  I am a happy camper with this painting.

Oils on canvas wrapped cardboard

6 x 8"

My two Red Charts

Cadmium Red top left

Mixed with other primaries and graded with white

Mixes: l-r

Prussian blue- Ultramarine blue- Alizarin Crimson-Cadmium yellow- Lemon Yellow

Alizarin Crimson

Mixes l-r

Prussian blue-Ultramarine Blue- Cadmium Red-Cadmium yellow-Lemon yellow

Please note that these colors are not perfectly represented. I am not a pro at photography but they do give the general picture. 

I have in the front yard a canopy and an old TV chair that has seen better days.  It's a good place to photograph with shade., but sometimes disturbs the favorite sleeping spot of my yard cats..

Meet Lady, she had to investigate what is going on!!!

Lady

Thirty in Thirty Day 16 Tulip

This may be a WIP. Started this and scraped several times, even cleaning with paper towels and wet wipes. I am going to try to finish and maybe just work on the background and not the flowers with some impasto paint. At this stage, it looks more like a watercolor except for some areas of impasto that I left. This is usually where I make a mess of things. Heleni says I have great beginnings but somehow tend to over work... so is everything to be just a start?

Worked on this in class today... Worked on the background and intensified the tulip... having fun with wet on wet.

Oils on canvas covered cardboard

8 x 6"

Worked with brush and palette knife

Thirty in Thirty Day 14 Green Melody

Here is the green abstract. Green were mixed from Prussian Bue with Cadmium Yellow and Lemon Yellow graded down with white. See chart.  I did, in the end, add some more yellows to the mixes. The photo is a bit brighter  than the original... tried several times .. so it is with digital and monitors.

Oils on canvas covered cardboard

6 x 8"

Thirty in Thirty Day 13 Blue Melody

Painting or exercise, that is the question? I am trying out a split primary palette, warm and cool blues, reds and yellows.  Decided to make some color charts to see how these colors mix.

The top row of the color chart shows the master color top left and the mixes with the other primaries.
Then I made graduations with white of each mix.  This first chart the master color was Prussian blue a cool blue with a very strong tinting power, which overpowered the other colors or I used too much of it in the mix...

Decided to use the leftover paints for a some small abstracts one in with the blues and one with greens. Some of the reasons of the challenge is to learn new things and have fun doing it.

Oils on canvas covered cardboard

6 x 8 "

Prussian Blue Chart

Top L- R Prussian Blue

Mixes with Ultramirine/ Alizarin Crimson//Cadmuim Red

Cadmium Yellow/ Lemon Yellow

Thirty in Thirty Day 9 Cutout Landcape

This is another of the cutouts that I made while cutting a previous collage painting on cardboard. As you can see the paper was fraying in several spots.  

Like the idea of painting over paper and now looking over the process, I think I will continue investigating the process. Meanwhile, I was interested in reusing the cardboard for the 30 in 30.   Some of the sections being used as startups.

This turned into some kind of mountain scene. Tore away pieces of frayed paper and continued to color using my Caran d'Ache neocolor I crayons.  I did add a few highlights in oil and cold wax. Found that oils with wax would work nicely on these cutout sections.

Crayon on cardboard collage section

6 x 8 "

Thirty in Thirty Day 6 Pink Fungi

The other day I saw some interesting fungi growing on a log in the yard.  Took several shots. This is a closeup.  Worked wet on wet using impasto paints. Oils straight from the tube with no medium.

Oils on canvas on cardboard

8 x 6 "

Thirty in Thirty Day 5 Leaf

Poor poor leaf.... thought this one would be much easier.  Every time I looked at the reference I saw more and more colors and was overwhelmed. Scraped it off several times and decided in the end to work without  the reference. Worked wet on wet with impasto paints.

Oils on canvas on cardboard

6 x 8 " 

Thirty in Thirty Day 4 Looking Up

The season I miss the most is autumn with all its lush colors painting the trees. So many shades of browns, reds, yellows and purples. One could get drunk with all that color it is so overwhelming.

Here I am back with impasto, paint straight from the tube. Used a rather large brush and palette knife. Everyone seems to tells you to choose a brush bigger than the what you would usually pick. Very difficult to handle wet oil paint on a small format with a large brush.  With paint thick, it's hard to fuss around  and not make a mess.

Oils on wrapped canvas on cardboard

6 x 8"

Thirty Paintings --Thirty Days #1 Through the Branches

Here it is January 2016 and I have joined Leslie and many, many other artists in the new Thirty in thirty challenge.

This will be my fifth challenge, my first January 2014, September 2014, January 2015, September 2015, and now January 2016. Still a feeling of anticipation, and a bit of stress but hoping that I will gain valuable lessons, habits, meet great artists and have a lot of FUN.

I will be working in a relatively small format. Canvas wrapped  on cardboard 6 x 8 inches. Thanks to Traudi , she gave me many trimmings from her rolls of canvas.  This time, I will be working in oils wet on wet and impasto technique straight from the tube. My theme will be foliage but flowers may drop in. I will be using a split primary palette, cool and warm blues, reds and yellows but some earth colors may seep in.

So here we go!!!

Through the Branches

Canvas on Cardboard

8 x 6 Inches

Oils