Well, today was an interesting day... full of learning about political party platforms such as they are, and trying to identify which party fits my values and ideals best. I think I have a clear winner, so that's at least one area where I can make a decision.
As for painting... yeesh! I started with an idea to do a reverse painting on a 4x5 stretched canvas with purple and blues. I started, liked the background I made, but thought it was a bit too much like a few others I've done. So, I started a painting of a flower in reverse. I hated it. Starting over... then I did a fairy in flight... but it was too high up and looked awkward... starting over again. I changed the background to make it smoother, thinking perhaps this was part of the problem... then I did two koi fish swimming in a typical Pisces pattern and called it "Twins".
I'm still not sure I love it... but the underlying colours in the fish are interesting. Tonight was tough! I wonder if my day influenced my evening of painting... or if it was partly due to starting at 9:30 after doing a lot of living room shuffling. We've done some furniture moving and redecorating to accommodate a mobile baby and a little boy who needs some more of his own space. I think it ended up quite well, but whenever I start a painting late it does tend to suffer a little.
I prepped a drawing for tomorrow night... a fairy sitting on a toadstool... hope I get to start a whole lot earlier!
Anyway... I do sincerely hope everyone in Canada votes in the upcoming federal election. I won't go pushing my values on anyone, but I do think it's very worth getting as much information as you can and voting accordingly. Good luck!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Fifteen Weeks and Going Strong
Twenty countries (France & Hong Kong too since the 9th!)... one hundred and five paintings... this is incredible! What a thrill this is to see this project growing and spreading around the world. :) In life there are always ups and downs, and this has been 100% up for me, so thank you!!
Tonight I did a painting inspired by some metal wall art I saw while shopping with my family this past week. We were filling up some spare time before heading to the airport to fly home, and I couldn't resist checking out all the patterns and leafy motifs. My grandmother was very into gardening... sadly my thumbs are not green... and so this seemed like a good tribute to a great lady.
Here are the pictures of this week's work with links to the relevant blog posts. As opposed to the usual week, some of the paintings will be linked to the same post as I had to paint ahead a fair bit. Apologies, but I just couldn't see how I'd be painting while away. Anyway, hope you like them!
Tonight I did a painting inspired by some metal wall art I saw while shopping with my family this past week. We were filling up some spare time before heading to the airport to fly home, and I couldn't resist checking out all the patterns and leafy motifs. My grandmother was very into gardening... sadly my thumbs are not green... and so this seemed like a good tribute to a great lady.
Here are the pictures of this week's work with links to the relevant blog posts. As opposed to the usual week, some of the paintings will be linked to the same post as I had to paint ahead a fair bit. Apologies, but I just couldn't see how I'd be painting while away. Anyway, hope you like them!
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| April 9 - Friendly Flags |
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| April 10 - Enchanted Garden |
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| April 11 - Blue Bayou |
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| April 12 - Bluegrass |
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| April 13 - Violet Vine |
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| April 14 - Tiny Tree |
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| April 15 - Take a Bough |
Home Again
Hello Everyone... I'm home again. The funeral was probably as good as it could be given the circumstances. It's always nice to see family, but it's better for happier reasons. However, the celebration of my grandmother's life was good and there were many shared memories. I'm very glad that I was there to say goodbye.
Now, I'm home once more and will be right back to painting. As I mentioned, I did a few paintings ahead of time to cover my absence, and tonight I will paint another one and then, it's picture day! So, I will do another post tonight with the seven paintings for this week.
Thanks to everyone who passed along kind words for me and my family.
Now, I'm home once more and will be right back to painting. As I mentioned, I did a few paintings ahead of time to cover my absence, and tonight I will paint another one and then, it's picture day! So, I will do another post tonight with the seven paintings for this week.
Thanks to everyone who passed along kind words for me and my family.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Oh So Close!
Ok... so we're at 2097... so very close to 2100! Here's hoping that tomorrow morning we'll be in a new century. :)
Tonight I did two paintings... our flights for the funeral have been changed so I'll be away part of tomorrow as well... and just in case I don't get a chance to paint, what with parenting, packing, and travel, I figured I'd do another one tonight. One of them, the first one I did tonight, I really quite like. I called it "Blue Bayou" and it's another leafy vine with stars. It turned out well, I think. The other one I'm not as sure about. I wanted to try a tree, but very simple. It's a bunch of parallel lines to look like branches. Then I added some leaves. It still didn't look like the image in my mind, so I tried to do something with the bark of the tree. Painted over that because it really didn't look right at all. Then I added more leaves in a more random pattern and a lighter colour. I think that was an improvement. After that I tried re-doing a bark pattern. Still not sure about it, but I think it's better than it was. So... there you go. I called it "Tiny Tree" and it's for tomorrow (I think).
Hello to the reader in Hong Kong as well... always lovely to see new countries showing up! I will say I'm a little disappointed that the views have slowed down again. I guess it's hard to maintain a high level of interest for a whole year. I guess I've been hoping more people will share the link on their facebook pages, or pass along an email to their friends who might be interested. Maybe they are? I have no real idea of how it works or how people are finding this. Facebook seems to be the number one feeder site so that is good. I've been regularly sharing the link to my page and posting when the new pictures are up. I'm thinking of doing up a poster of some kind, or some cards to hand out to people... or display in art stores... or something. Anything to spread the word really. Thanks so much to everyone who is reading and sharing! All of this support is incredible and wonderful and I appreciate it more than you know. So, thank you.
As usual, I'm in danger of rambling on late into the night, so I will be off. Probably won't get a chance to blog again until Thursday, so an update will come then. At least the number of paintings will be up to date. :) Good night all!
Tonight I did two paintings... our flights for the funeral have been changed so I'll be away part of tomorrow as well... and just in case I don't get a chance to paint, what with parenting, packing, and travel, I figured I'd do another one tonight. One of them, the first one I did tonight, I really quite like. I called it "Blue Bayou" and it's another leafy vine with stars. It turned out well, I think. The other one I'm not as sure about. I wanted to try a tree, but very simple. It's a bunch of parallel lines to look like branches. Then I added some leaves. It still didn't look like the image in my mind, so I tried to do something with the bark of the tree. Painted over that because it really didn't look right at all. Then I added more leaves in a more random pattern and a lighter colour. I think that was an improvement. After that I tried re-doing a bark pattern. Still not sure about it, but I think it's better than it was. So... there you go. I called it "Tiny Tree" and it's for tomorrow (I think).
Hello to the reader in Hong Kong as well... always lovely to see new countries showing up! I will say I'm a little disappointed that the views have slowed down again. I guess it's hard to maintain a high level of interest for a whole year. I guess I've been hoping more people will share the link on their facebook pages, or pass along an email to their friends who might be interested. Maybe they are? I have no real idea of how it works or how people are finding this. Facebook seems to be the number one feeder site so that is good. I've been regularly sharing the link to my page and posting when the new pictures are up. I'm thinking of doing up a poster of some kind, or some cards to hand out to people... or display in art stores... or something. Anything to spread the word really. Thanks so much to everyone who is reading and sharing! All of this support is incredible and wonderful and I appreciate it more than you know. So, thank you.
As usual, I'm in danger of rambling on late into the night, so I will be off. Probably won't get a chance to blog again until Thursday, so an update will come then. At least the number of paintings will be up to date. :) Good night all!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Day 100!
One Hundred.
Just saying that is pretty incredible. 100 days and 100 paintings. Definitely more painting than I have ever done in my life! Ok, so I'm pretty impressed with myself. :)
To be honest, I did more than one painting tonight. I did three. While out shopping this afternoon (we were early for a birthday party and the Value Village was next door... can't resist a good thrift store) and along with several frames for the boards, I saw a neat box with a vine and star design on it. I snapped a pic with my phone and used it as inspiration for three paintings. They're 4x6 boards and will likely go in the picture frames for ease in hanging. So, yay for productivity.
The reason behind the multiple painting night, which is an anomaly, is that this week I will be attending my grandmother's funeral. She died last night. So... I will be away for a few days and I decided to paint ahead to cover my absence. I won't say much more on that as I'm still, understandably, quite upset even though it wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ok... distraction time again...
Call your loved ones. Tell them you love them. Share a fun moment of your day with a friend. Just extend yourself outside of your immediate world and connect with someone... even if it's a stranger. All of your friends were, at one point, strangers to you. You never know what will happen if you just try.
Just saying that is pretty incredible. 100 days and 100 paintings. Definitely more painting than I have ever done in my life! Ok, so I'm pretty impressed with myself. :)
To be honest, I did more than one painting tonight. I did three. While out shopping this afternoon (we were early for a birthday party and the Value Village was next door... can't resist a good thrift store) and along with several frames for the boards, I saw a neat box with a vine and star design on it. I snapped a pic with my phone and used it as inspiration for three paintings. They're 4x6 boards and will likely go in the picture frames for ease in hanging. So, yay for productivity.
The reason behind the multiple painting night, which is an anomaly, is that this week I will be attending my grandmother's funeral. She died last night. So... I will be away for a few days and I decided to paint ahead to cover my absence. I won't say much more on that as I'm still, understandably, quite upset even though it wasn't entirely unexpected.
Ok... distraction time again...
Call your loved ones. Tell them you love them. Share a fun moment of your day with a friend. Just extend yourself outside of your immediate world and connect with someone... even if it's a stranger. All of your friends were, at one point, strangers to you. You never know what will happen if you just try.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
18 and Counting!
So far there are eighteen countries where this blog has been viewed! Wow... hello to:
Canada
China
Denmark
Germany
India
Iran
Israel
Mexico
Pakistan
Panama
Philippines
Russia
Singapore
Spain
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States of America
Tonight I wanted to thank everyone around the world who is reading this blog by doing a painting of all 18 countries' flags. I titled it "Friendly Flags" after a long time staring at it wondering what it should be called. So, on a 5x7 canvas there are 18 flags down in alphabetical order, so as to be fair. Some of the small detail work was impossible, but I'm hoping people will be able to pick out which flag is theirs and not be offended by any errors I may have made. So, a huge thank you to everyone who is reading and sharing this blog. Your efforts and support are so greatly appreciated! There are nights where I'm so tired and not in the mood to paint, but knowing that somewhere out there someone is going to read this, or peek at the pictures, well it helps give me a little boost of energy and encouragement. I also keep thinking about the wishes that are out there waiting to be granted and how, together, we are helping to make them come true.
Good night (or morning) to everyone!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Fourteen Weeks and counting!
Almost to 100 paintings... so far, 98. I swear it blows my mind every time I stop to think about it. I figure, even if I only sold them for say ten bucks a painting, that's a fair amount of money for Children's Wish. Now, obviously, I'm hoping to raise a lot more than ten dollars... must counteract the cost of the materials and it's for an amazing cause... but hey, it's pretty impressive I think. :) Here's hoping we can grant some wishes!!
This is the second week of turntable paintings, so just for fun at the bottom I'm including a picture of all fourteen canvasses plus the link to the fourth week so if you're curious you can see them in a larger picture. Personally, I think this week's are a bit more interesting, but that stands to reason since I've now had a bit of practice. :)
On a personal note: Happy Birthday to my big little brother! I'm still two spins around the sun ahead of you! :)
Ok, without any further ado... here are the pictures and links for this week!
This is the second week of turntable paintings, so just for fun at the bottom I'm including a picture of all fourteen canvasses plus the link to the fourth week so if you're curious you can see them in a larger picture. Personally, I think this week's are a bit more interesting, but that stands to reason since I've now had a bit of practice. :)
On a personal note: Happy Birthday to my big little brother! I'm still two spins around the sun ahead of you! :)
Ok, without any further ado... here are the pictures and links for this week!
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| April 2 - Beach |
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| April 3 - Supernova |
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| April 4 - Colour Wheel |
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| April 5 - Deep Purple |
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| April 6 - Coffee Swirl |
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| April 7 - Arctic Circle |
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| April 8 - Imagination |
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| Weeks Four and Fourteen |
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