Last 10 Daily paintings

Finished off a few Dailies yesterday from before my hand operation. Stitches out next week. I felt hesitant in the paint. That's just because I have had a break in the Dailies. You loose your confidence in the paint . Strange ! I didn't really like them but posted them on pinterest with the thought that I could paint over them . I have had this feeling throughout the Dailies and rationalise it with the thought that if I waited until I painted the perfect painting then there would be none posted.

When I pinned the Dailies from yesterday , they were re pinned by others. That made me feel so much better about them. Made me re-evaluate them in a way. Interesting.

Only 10 left now then new project ...... 

Back on 52 cm sq.Hesitant in the paint. Often, I feel that the muse might have run off when I come to paint.felt that majorly today. Get over yourself. What if you make a crap painting today, it doesn't matter does it ?

What I liked about this painting.

Loved the complex colours that come with mixing on the painting.

Liked the gentle , pastoral feel

A little romantic ? Perhaps....

Loved the scratching of the trees, the under painting was dark browns and greens.

We will see........

Fed up with flower studies , Etsy shop ideas

Ok so I have done 9 more studies this morning but am completely fed up with painting flowers ! I really want to do the Dailies but cannot because of the operation on my hand. Be patient !

One of my ideas was to make a round the 1,000 small, card sized images in different series to prepare for retail. Either an etsy shop or in the gallery shops. Series I thought I would like to do

Landscape
Contemporary landscapes
Abstracted landscapes
Evening series ( 81 on 4/4/15)
Morning series
Flower studies ( 45 )
Graphite landscapes
Reworked prints
Collage
Stitched landscapes
Textile pieces

Thought though I should keep them to the Fine art, painterly feel. Not in Anyway craft.
Lots to go on........

So in this mornings paintings I used various techniques;
Big brush with two different colours on.
Overlaying colours
Using the acrylics as watercolours ( no 29 )
Adding on words
Putting words on separate card and sticking on the image
Using pen to decorate
Pressing off the colour with kitchen roll ( no 33 )
Using an etching tool to scrape lines in ( no 31 )
Washing off the paint ( no 35 )


I did them on shiny card which doesn't allow the paint to soak in. Interesting.

Last lot of flower studies for today ......and maybe for a while ......well fed up......but that all gets turned around in the paint. If I can't do the Dailies tomorrow will have to paint something else .....anything else but flowers......

Flower series, Saturday after finger op

So glad to get back into a little painting after an operation on my finger. Still got stitches though for another 10 days so not back to full speed yet ! It's my painting hand too so it has made me draw and paint with my other hand and the results are interesting....

Anyway not yet back up to the Dailies so continuing with series of smaller, card sized images. Daffodils this morning....

These were the daffodil ones from last Monday, I have lost the first one taking out to the Art group.... And it's always the one you like best that you lose, isn't it.

First one Excuse for this one is that the flower head didn't much look like a daffodil before I started !
I liked the duck egg blue but I could try greys too. I liked the pen but try it without too.

Below are the first 9 of the flower series. I have replaced the one I did't like. If I think of these as paintings , they don't pass the test, they are studies.

The second set , mainly done this morning , of course with stitches and a bandaged left hand ( I am left handed .) the last three were done without any drawing and the very last one I did completely with my right hand.

Above is the second batch today. No 20 had a black under painting so scratching into it produced this black, kind of etched line, I like the writing on some of them, shades of botanical illustrations ( but not in the actual images ) , some felt pretty, maybe the last one felt edgier or more contemporary. The iris is opening before my very eyes so I need to put them somewhere cool for tomorrow.

Daily painting suspended until 29/3/15

No painting for me for ax while. I am having an operation on my finger on my left hand ( I am left handed ) tomorrow. Should be back painting at the weekend.

Evening series / flower series

As always it's the start of any project that is exiting, so I am loving the idea of the cards for my Etsy shop ( she says ) So , have loved painting the Evening series and have done more series of 9 this morning. Wallowed in paint !

It's interesting yo use the ipad to look at the images in batches of 9. Lots of ice cream colours, lots of mixing, lots of filled up images and by that I mean if I do card sized images I do tend to cover the whole of the pieces of card ..... there is no space left for just space.....

As I have progressed with the numbers I am aware of using the sprays less, no concious decision there though. Lots of round subs this time, maybe so you get a clue that there is a sky here rather than an abstract image.love the colours ....and with colours there are infinite possibilities. At Uni though I did get addicted to certain colours ... Had a period in orange and a period in blue so learned how to manage that addiction. colours do have a big psychological effect on me.

Well the Dalies have just been sidelined. There are a few half done so will return to them, but for the moment , interested in the Evening series and I need to prep flowers for the Art group.

To critique this batch of 9......

I can see I have tried with the space thing ..... Try again.

They are hot compositions, try introducing some coolness.

Try introducing some darker tones..... Look back at the first ones or look at my Dailies.....need to try flowers for the Art group......

Flower from my Mother's Day flowers. Often the dried up ones make a better painting !

Drawing of flower mmmmmmmm

Painting of flower ..... Needs to go in the bin !

First 9 of the flower series.....well it felt like torture ! I am no flower painter .... but yet , I do know that I can get somewhere if I stay with it and go for the burn so to speak . I didn't want a botanical illustration ( good job ) .... I am just trying to make some flower cards.....

 Looked at the daffs. There's not much form in them but he ho , I prefer expression to accuracy. Good job ! See what the Art group does on Wednesday.

Omg Daily paintings suspended, well in fact, all painting suspended . I am having an operation on my finger tomorrow , on my left hand ( I am left handed ) so won't be blogging until weekend at the earliest.

Evening series - first 45

Lovely morning.... Is the weather on the change ? .... So hope so.......
Completed Evening series 28 to 36. Mixed a kind of duck egg blue using pthalo turquoise , white and black.... Lovely...

Words about these 9 paintings......hot, small, abstract, pleasing, fluorescent. ( I used the sprays a lot ) Colours I used; orange, pale turquoise or duck egg, white, yellow, phlourescent pink, yellow and orange.

What to do next ? Introduce more darks, introduce greens, introduce browns, try a more figurative element, enjoy them........ 

Try putting the whole 36 on the blog, to evaluate them so far.....

Keep going .........

Evening series 37 - 45 

Evening series

Evening series.
All through the Daily painting project, I had intended to work on smaller , card sized images for this potential Etsy shop that I talk about intermittently. I needed to do it then , didn't I ?

Thought about a sunset series, but sunset paintings are so old hat really. Only came to the title, ' Evening series, ' as I was writing the blog. Typical !

What did I want from this series ?
Well I wasn't so bothered about them being figurative, just wanted images that evoke the feelings that you get when you see a setting sun..........

It is interesting that I am considering the viewer in these pieces. That's quite unusual for me really.

Daily painting 21/3/15. Used the sprays on the pieces. I think they are fabric sprays !

Daily painting 22/3/15, acrylic on paper. I am really fighting the urge to go and buy more boards but to remain on paper. I only have around 10 more Daily paintings to do before i have completed a 

year.....it seems daft to go and buy more boards when I may not paint that size after 6/4/15...........

Lovely new paints ! And new plastic screw topped jars to mix paints in. Can't wait.

Piles of old 12 cm sq paintings to fe painted over. I never through them away .... Just layer them up

Drawers of old 12 cm sq paintings to be painted over.

First 9 to come out. I may reject some of these tomorrow !

Second set of 9. Shades of a Brian Ryder maybe ? Research .....

Third set of 9. Words that come to mind ....abstract, colour, tones, special.

Will I still think so tomorrow ?

Last lap on the Dailies

Still working on paper. Frustrating, annoying, puzzling. He ho.

Is there a sense that I am just making paintings without conviction ? Just to complete the numbers ?

Well I might have started out like that but it turns around in the paint. These three this morning are layers upon layers, more how I normally work rather than keeping to the strict half hour that I allowed myself for the Dailies.

Had a massive spend on paint and paper yesterday, it was one thing that I didn't factor in when I impulsively started the Dailies on 6/4/15, the sheer cost of the materials. It's cost lots !

I loved this last one - it doesn't see a s good on the blog. Interesting.

Mother's Day 2015 still in distilled landscapes

Nowhere else I would rather be on a Mother's Day morning. In my home studio, warm, absolved of all the boring stuff like cleaning etc, with the paint. Love it.

Worked on paper, liberating now I have decided to paste them onto board when they are finished. You know when you have an Artist's block, there's often a reason . Although I had wanted to exhibit just sheets of paper , the paper wrinkles and cockles so needs flattening somehow.

Had a lovely paint, lots of layers though. No way are they half hour paintings. It doesn't matter now though because I am coming to the end of the Daily painting project and moving into another phase.

Kept recording the words that came into my mind when I painted. Felt quite powerful that I could do that.

So, three paintings finished off and lots of partly done ones.

Untidy work space.need to address this.

I included the words in pencil on the front of the painting, otherwise they get lost.

Lots of paintings drying .

So, this is one reason I don't have a studio outside the house ( although I do have a space at Emmaus Mossley ) I like to have access to my work ( paints ) 24/7 , I like to be warm and I like to live with my paintings around, so really we all live in the studio and Art lounge ( back room )

I have worked on these paintings individually so have no idea whether any of them will sit beside others. I think that will be easier to see once I get them pasted to boards.......back to B and Q.

Distilled landscapes on paper.

So this week I have been trying to work solely on paper. I haven't enjoyed it and can't think how the ones on paper can be mounted or framed. Rethink needed. I have worked in and out of 6 at once so they weren't in the spirit of the half hour Dailies. Mmmmmmm

Below was the finished one, just really nudging tones up and down to make more of a contrast in tone.

Next one 

Below finished.

Next one.

Finished one.

Next one.

Finished one.

Next one .

Finished one.

Next one.

Finished one.

Hated the paper still. Try again. About 20 ish days to go on the Daily paintings and at this stage I am planning to have a painting break before doing another project. Only a break of a week though !