42 Crossing Over Seasons

42 Crossing Over Seasons

Day 11 of my 30 Paintings in 30 Days project (on the painting there's no sliver of cardboard in the upper left corner, I should have made a tighter crop on the photo)

6" x 6" original acrylic painting on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper - $60

I set up a still-life for today's painting, inspired by reading Carol Marine's Daily Painting book, which I highly recommend, and items I had around the house. I don't usually aim to paint from life so my scale was a bit off, but it's all good since I tried something new and learned more about painting. Teal with a touch of red go so well together. Full disclosure, I love teal with anything. And everything. So I'm a bit biased. My scrapbook paper stash came in handy here as I grabbed my favorite color paper and placed in under the plate for a pop of color. Today, I am so grateful that I haven't completely decluttered my scrapbooking supplies! 

Carol Marine was so helpful in the book mentioning that all whites are variations of grey in a painting. I have struggled to paint whites so this was a great secret to discover. I'm learning that I need to take time to SEE more. To not let my brain take over and finish things up. To squint. And blur things. Maybe my word of the year should be "see". Haha! Maybe next year.

I like the brushstrokes on the teal parts and would like to work on conservation of strokes on all the others areas... not going in and overworking things. Simplifying and loosening things up. I think this will come with practice and intention. I don't ever want to create an exact replica of a still-life or anything else for that matter (and, happily, I can say that I absolutely did not here!). That's what cameras are for. I want to be able to capture a story, an emotion, a vibrancy.