A lady at work asked me to do this painting from a picture (another commission piece!) Screaming, newly-birthed infant- what more can I say? (o:

Painting #18

(graphite & ink drawing + watercolor)

It is time to be honest. I have failed to complete a painting every week...In fact I'm quite a few weeks behind at the moment. The past month and a half has been very, very busy. It has been one of those busy times when there is barely time to do things like fold the laundry and clean the bathroom, let alone call friends to catch-up or paint.

That being said I have not given up on the goal of completing 52 paintings in 2010. A good motivation for me has always been to make a list, so here are the paintings that (I promise) are on the way:

1) 4-5 paintings of rainy/fuzzy Ohio landscape

>lots of mushy greens & blues

2) an impressionistic painting of the Starship Enterprise

>this is per my husband's request for cubicle decor (tee hee)

3) large, 30"x40" COMMISSIONED (WOOT WOOT) painting for my friend Chrissy

>have not decided even remotely what this will be of yet; need to do some small thumbnail paintings first

>Chrissy has given me a lot of freedom, just asking for me to incorporate green

4) paintings of lake George

>Northern Indiana Lake George, not the NY one

>to be completed while on vacation there last week in July; would like to do some open air painting instead of from pics as I usually do

>will include water, scenery & hopefully some portraits of I can get someone to sit still long enough (o:

Enough blibber blabber. Here is painting #17:

week#16

Was supposed to go to the zoo on Saturday but it was crummy out... So did a painting of some zoo animals instead (used another pic taken by my father in law as reference).

This piece was a perfect example of one of the biggest lessons I've learned from painting: If you're having trouble don't just give it up and start over but instead muscle through it! There is a point that I reach w/ most of my paintings where they look horrible and I hate them but if I just keep working at it I can usually pull it out of that ugly stage and turn it into a piece that I'm at least okay with. (o:

week #15

A portrait of my sister & brother in-law's two dogs. Olive (a chihuahua) is in the foreground & Kayne (a miniature greyhound) is in the background. I was inspired to do a dog painting by Roy, a local painter. Check out his paintings here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38189278@N02/

My friend Stacey has entered the "small cool" contest on apartment therapy!!

Check out her St. Louis apartment here:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/small-cool-2010/small-cool-2010-staceys-awesome-thrifted-finds-little-division-31-114836

week#14

My friend Kori has been helping to keep me motivated by requesting a few paintings. She grew up on Wheeling Island in West Virginia & requested that I paint a picture from a photo of her flying a kite in her childhood backyard. The result is above. The painting a few posts down (which is still missing a face) is from a photo of her parents in the 70's (note the absolutely AWESOME hippie dress).

week #13

Alright, so my track record hasn't been so good the last few weeks. This one is complete except I can't get the #%*$ face on Mrs. Edge right. AH! I have painted over it -no joke- at least 10x and have to set it aside for a week or so before I try again, fail and end up throwing the canvas out the window...and dropping a giant brick on top of it.