Second Foggy Morning Painting from Yesterday

                        Acrylic Plein Air (out the window view) w/palette knife, 6x6"

This is the second one from yesterday.  I did go out plein air painting this morning, but will have to wait till tomorrow to show you that one, since I don't want to put it on my scanner today (still may be slightly tacky).

I want to share some words of wisdom from Leslie Saeta, our leader in this challenge.  I think her words are wise and wonderful:

"...I think it is important to reflect on what we have learned from this challenge so far. Painting for 30 days is not about creating 30 masterpieces to sell. It's literally impossible to paint your best when you undertake a challenge like this. Rather, it's about the process we have to go through to paint a painting every day....

When faced with a Challenge we are more focused and excited about reaching our goal. What you will learn this month will help you all year. You will have an easier time painting those masterpieces."

It's a relief to know I am not expected to create "masterpieces" every day.  I think some of this work is among my best and most is....practice, brush mileage, showing up and doing the work.  Not to mention, trying new things (palette knife!).  In regards to this painting above, I can see things I could change.  However, the fog is gone, the moment is past--on to the next!



Many thanks for all the love you are sending to my sister's dog Claire.  I think it's working!  Although she is still in the hospital fighting for her life, her bloodwork levels are starting to show some hope for her survival!

Foggy Morning, Palette Knife Acrylic Painting

                                              Acrylic Plein Air with Palette Knife, 8x10"

There was a lot of fog hanging in these mountains this morning.   I am falling in love with the palette knife.  Thanks to the knife, I was able to work quickly and have a blast, too!  The scene was changing rapidly as the fog shifted, sometimes completely obscuring the view, sometimes obscuring just part of my composition.  I had to roll with it, by sticking with my original idea for a composition and wherever the mountains peeked out at any particular moment, using them for color reference only.  I actually painted two of these, but am saving the other for tomorrow's post, just in case!

Watchers, the most important thing about today's painting is the part where I had a blast.  A couple people have written to me mentioning they hadn't thought about using a palette knife with acrylics but are thinking of trying after seeing what I've been doing.  I cannot say enough times, "Try it, try it TRY it!"  You may fall in love with the palette knife, too...

Shifting gears here, I must ask for  your help with good thoughts and prayers for my sister's beloved 2 year old dog Claire, who is presently hospitalized and literally fighting for her life.

  My sister Jackie's words, in part:

"Claire update: We have a diagnosis of Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia (ITP). This is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks and destroys its own platelets. This makes it impossible for blood to clot. An animal is at risk for spontaneous hemorrhage if their platelet count is under 50,000. Claire's platelet count has been zero the last 2 days. So, she's bleeding and her blood count is dropping so she's getting weaker."

Claire is receiving the best of care, has already had a transfusion and sounds like she needs another one.  I know Claire is a beloved member of my sister's family and will be given every chance possible for recovery.  Everyone is trying to keep up the hope, and I hate seeing my sister and the family so devastated.  Their hearts are heavier than this morning's fog...

If you are so inclined, any positive thoughts, prayers and energy would be appreciated towards Claire's speedy recovery.  There is a 7 year old child involved.

Thank you so much...

Angel Mama

    Acrylic, 5x7"

(I am editing this post to say I woke up feeling I could just cry about how this image of this painting came out.  I don't want to cry at all when I look at the original painting, so I know the problem lies with the reproduction!  I wonder why the scanner does a great job of representing some paintings and abysmally at others?  It isn't just the skin tones throwing this off, as I mention below in the original post, it is kind of the whole thing is off.  I worked in Photoshop Elements doing everything I know to make it look more like the painting, but it was not meant to be.  I may try a camera shoot with this one.  I'll let you know.)

To answer my own question from the other day:  what do you really want to paint?   I really want to paint humans in motion, in relationship, in emotion.  In thinking about this question this morning, I remembered that I also want to paint birds.  Over the summer, I had intended to work on birds and flowers, but only got to the flowers.  Coincidentally, one of my artist friends posted a lovely bird painting today.   

This is another one started long ago.  After much photo-editing, still don't have the skin tones true to the painting...sorry...

I am figuring out it is sleep that is going to be suffering for my art.  How about everybody else?  It's way past my bedtime...goodnight.

Frosty Morning - 30 in January 2014

                                           Acrylic Palette Knife, "Plein Air" from window

This is the view I saw when I woke up this a.m.   I just love when the mountains are pink!  I scrambled to set up to paint, because this is the kind of lighting that doesn't wait for you to gather your supplies.  I used a palette knife and worked as fast as I could. 

I had to wait till this evening to post, because with that much paint, it took all day to be dry enough for me to feel comfortable putting the painting on my scanner.  I did the best I could in editing with Photoshop Elements (PSE) and hope I am giving you a viewing experience that fairly represents the painting.  I honestly don't know anymore.  I have been messing around with PSE for about half an hour now, which is not really how I want to be spending my time.  I am dog tired, too.

I worked for a long time on another palette knife painting that is just never going to work out.  I eventually had to play bartender (paint-tender?) to myself, "Meredith, I'm cutting you off, you've had enough paint for one day."  Do you guys ever have to do that with yourself?  I was finding myself bargaining, "Oh, just a little more yellow, I know I can get this right, how about just that little bit that is sort of already coming out of the paint tube that I didn't remember to cover, just that little bit?"

Does anybody else here know that conversation?  In my defense, I do often have the proper artist conversation going on in my mind:  "does that color need to be warmer or cooler?  darker or lighter?"  You know, the conversation the books tell you to have.   But occasionally, I need to become the paint-tender...

Thank you all for your responses to my questions from yesterday.  It was heartwarming to me to read your responses and see how much we all have in common...except for one artist I met yesterday who is THREE paintings ahead!! (see yesterday's comments)

Which reminds me of one more thing.  I'm not sure how to break this to you guys, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it.  Marc Hanson has announced he's going to do 112 paintings in February.  That's four paintings per day, Watchers!  Don't we all feel like slackers now?  You can read his blog post here.  I'm definitely going to be watching him.   By the way, I really don't want anyone reading this to feel badly.  Try to remember he's got experience upon experience... 

Have a good day painting tomorrow, everyone.  I'll be working for ten hours.  I think I could use some encouragement to come home and paint!

Almost forgot the soapbox.  Remember, you will want to skip the rest of this post if you have been here in the last few days:

One of the the very best things I have ever done for my blog readers was to figure out how to get rid of that "prove you're not a robot" thingy for when readers want to leave a comment.  I would encourage all bloggers to do the same.  The tests to see if someone is a robot are getting smaller and blurrier and harder to pass.  I did find the other day that if you fail about three times in a row, they throw one at you with larger, clearer print.  Yes, you have to REALLY want to leave a comment on someone else's blog to try to prove you're not a robot four times!
 
Bloggers, you can still have good control over the comments on your blog if you enable moderation.  That way, all comments go to your email and you have to approve them prior to their posting on your blog.  So, you use your own brain to decide if someone is a robot or not.  Actually, Blogger does a good job of catching most of the spam comments and not even sending them to your email.
 
Of course, we all have a choice how to handle comments on our own blogs....but I know the feedback I've had from my followers about not having to prove themselves not robots is..."what a relief!" 

Feel free to email me for instructions on how to make this change to your own blog, and Happy Painting!

A Long Time Coming - 30 in January 2014

                                                                               Acrylic, 6x6"

I have been dying to show you this painting for months!  I actually started it last January during the 30 in 30.  The original reference photo had some elements I needed to eliminate, which was very difficult for me to do.  I've actually had to consult with a horse expert on this one a couple times.  I really should get her final approval on it, but it will be a few days before I can see her, due to this weather.  But I have to say, unless there's something major-major, I'm quite satisfied with this one and thrilled to call it finished!

I wanted to ask my art blogger friends a few questions--if you're interested in responding, you can answer in a comment here on my blog or in a post on your own blog, if you prefer.  If I know you, I will see your blog post.  If I don't already know you, please let me know if you do a blog post on my questions, so I can be sure to see it.  The questions are:

1) Why are you doing the challenge?  What are you hoping to get out of it?

2) If on any particular day, you feel like your painting isn't going to work out, how do you feel and how do you handle it?

and most importantly...

3)  What do you REALLY want to be painting? 

My answers:

1) I am doing the challenge because I had been out of the studio for a few weeks, due to the holidays and due to needing to get set up at the Woolworth Walk gallery.  The longer I stay away from painting, the harder it is to get back into it.  Even though I love to paint, it is also hard work for me, requiring a certain level of deep concentration that I feel unprepared to give when I let too much time go by.  So, the challenge came at a perfect time for me in that it's the perfect catalyst to recommit to painting regularly.

I'm also doing the challenge because the past two that I did were wonderful in terms of seeing a lot of great art and connecting personally with other artists I enjoy.  I believe I have made some lifelong friends via prior challenges.  Painting is such a solo act, so we all need artist friends!

My third reason for doing the challenge is because we have the opportunity for increased exposure for our work, because we get to post our paintings on Leslie Saeta's blog (Leslie being the artist/art marketer extraordinaire who is our fearless leader for this challenge, and the challenges past).

2)  I have gone into every 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge knowing that even if every painting I attempted worked out, I still wouldn't be able paint 30, due to my work schedule.  In past challenges, I have often felt really left out when I didn't have a painting to post.  For some reason, during this challenge, I feel much more level about it.  I think I am doing a much better job of caring about process rather than product, i.e. my attitude is more "Today I am going to paint" ("painting" as verb) as opposed to, "Today I am going to create a painting" ("painting" as noun).  I don't know how I improved my outlook, but I am certainly grateful for it.

3)  I will answer the third question in another blog post!  Just cause if you have reached this point, you have had to read a lot from me already today.

Enjoy the challenge!

Here comes the part you will want to skip if you've been here during the past couple days:

One of the the very best things I have ever done for my blog readers was to figure out how to get rid of that "prove you're not a robot" thingy for when readers want to leave a comment.  I would encourage all bloggers to do the same.  The tests to see if someone is a robot are getting smaller and blurrier and harder to pass.  I did find the other day that if you fail about three times in a row, they throw one at you with larger, clearer print.  Yes, you have to REALLY want to leave a comment on someone else's blog to try to prove you're not a robot four times!
 
Bloggers, you can still have good control over the comments on your blog if you enable moderation.  That way, all comments go to your email and you have to approve them prior to their posting on your blog.  So, you use your own brain to decide if someone is a robot or not.  Actually, Blogger does a good job of catching most of the spam comments and not even sending them to your email.
 
Of course, we all have a choice how to handle comments on our own blogs....but I know the feedback I've had from my followers about not having to prove themselves not robots is..."what a relief!" 

Feel free to email me for instructions on how to make this change to your own blog, and Happy Painting!

More Palette Knife Play - 30 in January 2013

                                                                 Acrylic, 6x6"

Folks, I don't know who posted this painting to my blog, but I would strongly suggest that if they want to continue to use a palette knife, they consider getting some instruction!  And also, IF while they were painting they were thinking things like, "My friend Sharon paints the best chickens and will surely know what's wrong with this one," THEN the person who painted this one truly should be told they did not paint this in the spirit of our motto here--Paint Like Nobody's Watching!   Enough said.

Except I need to get back up on my soapbox...excuse my self-indulgence.  Actually, if you were here yesterday, you probably want to skip this part:

One of the the very best things I have ever done for my blog readers was to figure out how to get rid of that "prove you're not a robot" thingy for when readers want to leave a comment.  I would encourage all bloggers to do the same.  The tests to see if someone is a robot are getting smaller and blurrier and harder to pass.  I did find the other day that if you fail about three times in a row, they throw one at you with larger, clearer print.  Yes, you have to REALLY want to leave a comment on someone else's blog to try to prove you're not a robot four times!
 
Bloggers, you can still have good control over the comments on your blog if you enable moderation.  That way, all comments go to your email and you have to approve them prior to their posting on your blog.  So, you use your own brain to decide if someone is a robot or not.  Actually, Blogger does a good job of catching most of the spam comments and not even sending them to your email.
 
Of course, we all have a choice how to handle comments on our own blogs....but I know the feedback I've had from my followers about not having to prove themselves not robots is..."what a relief!" 

Feel free to email me for instructions on how to make this change to your own blog, and Happy Painting!

Crazy-Fun Artistic Frenzy - 30 in January 2014

                                                             Acrylic with Palette Knife, 9x12"

Last night I went to town with the palette knife.  Crazy fun!  It reminded me of a time my very special someone came home and found me in an "artistic frenzy" with oil pastels.  I think he was ok with the scraping and layering, but a little concerned to see the matches!

This is my Crazy-Fun Artistic Frenzied version of Autumn in the mountains.  I know it's different than my usual style, but I couldn't resist.  I was trying to take my mind off something last night, and artistic frenzies can be perfect for such occasions.  I'll tell you in about a week what I was trying to take my mind off--can't tell just yet! 

I wish I could show you what this painting really looks like.  Please bear with me as I learn to use my Photoshop Elements.  Those of you who have followed my blog know that sometimes I think the image looks better than the painting, and sometimes I think the painting looks better.  This is one of those occasions where the painting looks better.

The sun is out!  Time to walk dogs...and then paint!

Here I go, back on my soapbox.  The following is copied and pasted from my last year's 30 in 30 posts, so some of you may need to skip this part:

One of the the very best things I have ever done for my blog readers was to figure out how to get rid of that "prove you're not a robot" thingy for when readers want to leave a comment.  I would encourage all bloggers to do the same.  The tests to see if someone is a robot are getting smaller and blurrier and harder to pass.  I did find the other day that if you fail about three times in a row, they throw one at you with larger, clearer print.  Yes, you have to REALLY want to leave a comment on someone else's blog to try to prove you're not a robot four times!
 
Bloggers, you can still have good control over the comments on your blog if you enable moderation.  That way, all comments go to your email and you have to approve them prior to their posting on your blog.  So, you use your own brain to decide if someone is a robot or not.  Actually, Blogger does a good job of catching most of the spam comments and not even sending them to your email.
 
Of course, we all have a choice how to handle comments on our own blogs....but I know the feedback I've had from my followers about not having to prove themselves not robots is..."what a relief!" 

Feel free to email me for instructions on how to make this change to your own blog, and Happy Painting!

Let the Sunshine - 30 in January 2014

Acrylic, 9x12"

This challenge is really working well for me.   I didn't choose a theme, but so far, my theme appears to be completing near-finished paintings.  This one has been pending since around October, and how wonderful it feels to have it completed, as of last night.  The support was too large for my scanner bed, so I had to photograph it with camera and photo floods.  Let me just say, I am really liking using a scanner instead of a camera! A friend gave me a very large, old scanner.  Hopefully I will be able to get it to talk to my computer.

Thank you all so much for visiting and leaving comments here.  It means so, so much to be doing this together.   I am going to do my best with this challenge but am not expecting myself to complete 30 paintings with the schedule I follow for the other parts of my life.  But so far, I am on track! 

Winter in the Mountains - 30 in January 2014

Plein Air Acrylic Palette Knife painting, 6x8"

Yes, it's quite wintery here now, but we are taking a stroll backwards through the seasons here at Paint Like Nobody's Watching.   Painting #1 for the 30 in 30 Challenge was the Christmas season in January, now here we are in Autumn.  Why Autumn?  This is the painting I left off with when I got the call from the Woolworth Walk gallery that there was an opening there for me. 

I had gone plein air painting over two lunch hours for this one--one 40 minute session and one 20 minute session.   It needed some finishing up in the studio that I never got to, since I got so busy after that call.  Basically, I needed to get the sky holes out of the mountain!

So, if one of my themes is to finish unfinished paintings...here you go!  I actually did this last night, but it was too wet and I was too tired to scan it then.    But the good news is, I am actually on track with two paintings in two days.  I think the scan is a little blurry because of all the texture holding part of the image further from the scanner.  If any of you are more technically minded that I am, feel free to let me know if that is correct. 

Working on this last night reminded me how much I enjoyed using the palette knife with my acrylics and how I had intended to do more.  GREAT way to work plein air with limited time, as you can change colors so quickly.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the challenge, everyone...

30 Paintings in 30 Days - "Gifted"

Acrylic, 8x10"

Please allow me to be the last to wish you a Happy Holiday Season!  Yes, I just finished my holiday painting...what can I say?  I have just begun the adventure of a 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge sponsored by radio host/artist/art marketer extraodinaire, Leslie Saeta.  Over 300 artists are participating, and you can follow along at the challenge here.  So many paintings to enjoy, so little time!

Those of you who know me and have followed my blog for awhile know I have no delusions that I will actually complete 30 paintings, but I am along for the ride!  It's going to be a great way to start the New Year and to get back into a joyful painting habit after being so busy with holidays and setting up my space at the Woolworth Walk gallery.  Leslie suggests we set a theme.  I haven't really settled on a theme, but I do have some paintings in mind I want to work on and a personal challenge to myself to complete some as yet unfinished paintings.  So, I am extremely happy to have finished "Gifted" above.

"Gifted" is kind of like an Escher drawing--the pieces are never really going to come together, so you probably don't want to bother trying to figure it out...

Thank you, dear Watchers, for being among the top most important things in my 2013.  I am SO glad to have connected with you all through the wonderful world of art blogging, and I look forward to getting to know you even better and seeing all the works you create this year (those of you who are artists, too).  I know I am "Gifted" to have you in my life...

May your days be Merry and Bright, and May you Always Choose Opaque Ribbons to Paint (rather than the one above which was mostly transparent)!

Here's to enjoying a fabulous 2014 together!