"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Collage & Wrap-up

The challenge is finally over. Although I enjoy doing the challenge by mid-month I have a love/hate relationship with doing the paintings. I generally start off the month by being one or two paintings ahead just in case a day comes along when I don't get to paint, but eventually I am back to that feeling of needing to get one done for the next day. It does help that I make sure my painting for the following day is always ready...just in case I still have that day to paint it. lol I picked doing flowers for the challenge because I always feel that I haven't handled the shading on them as well as I should. I do feel a little more comfortable now. Anyway, to all of you who have stopped by to see some or all of my paintings, my sincere thanks. I always enjoy seeing comments by everyone. Another good part about the challenge is that I usually find a few participating artists whose work calls to me for some reason and after the challenge I will continue to follow their work.

My finale is a collage of images of all the paintings I did for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge.

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My thanks to Leslie Saeta for hosting the challenge and getting so many artists all over the world to create so many paintings in so short of a time.

You can see the other collages created by the artist here:

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

And back in my normal sketching/painting world...this week Barry modeled for my morning sketch group. I did one portrait and one sketch of him.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 30 - Daisies

Today is the final day of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge." Yes, January does have 31 days but the challenge is just for 30. Today I am posting my favorite flower. It has a simple beauty to it. This is 5 x 5.

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This house was painted while sitting in my car after the snowstorm. It is 5 x 7.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 29 - White Orchid

Today's painting for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge is a white orchid from a photo reference I took at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I can't believe this challenge is nearly over...although I am running out of flowers in my photo collection and am glad I don't have to search for more. This is 5 x 5.

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This is another digital sketch I did at a local Starbucks using ArtRage.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 28 - Stargazer Lily

Today for my day 28 painting for "30 Paintings in 30 Days" I used a photo I had of a stargazer lily. I think they are beautiful but I find their fragrance is a bit overwhelming. Can you believe I only have 2 more paintings to do for the challenge? I can't.

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The sketch below was done at the Hidden Oak Cafe at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. The cafe is in their historic manor house. On occasion they have given artists a hard time in the past about painting in there. I did sketch inside there once before and nobody said anything then either, so I felt pretty safe. I sat myself down in a corner so I could work on my lap with the table blocking me from view. Watercolors don't make a mess anyway. lol This is 5 x 7.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 27 - Hollyhocks II

We are winding down in "30 Paintings in 30 Days"...just a few more days to go. "Hollyhocks II" was done from a reference photo I took at Old Westbury Gardens. This is 5 x 5 inches.

This was from the same visit that I painted this earlier in the challenge.

Last week at my portrait group, Seamus posed for us.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 26 - Dahlia

The Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Oakdale has a wonderful dahlia garden that I usually paint in every fall. One flower is more striking than the next, so I used one of my photos from there for my day 26 painting for "30 Paintings in 30 Days." If you would like to see some of the work by the other artists participating you can follow this link.

http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

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As promised, here are the sketches I did yesterday while walking around after the blizzard was over. For the first two I used my Elegant Writer pen that bleeds so nicely. I needed something quick because it was too cold out to stand in one place for long.

This one was a double page in my small moleskin sketchbook. I used watercolor pencils as well as the pen. By that point I couldn't sketch without my gloves on and they were really getting in the way.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 25 - Magnolia

After all our snow I'm thinking spring, so my 25th painting for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" is a magnolia blossom. I hope you are feeling the lightness of spring wherever you are. This was done from a section of a plein air painting I had done last year.

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If you would like to see some of the work by the other participating artist you can follow this link.
http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Saturday was the 50th World Wide SketchCrawl and with our blizzard the NYC Urban Sketchers cancelled our meeting. I wanted to sketch for it anyway. You can participate anywhere and I've done it from home before. I started while I was waiting for my coffee to brew.

I moved on and made my healthy breakfast...a clementine and a egg white omelette with spinach and cheese.

Of course I had to sketch the snow too. I pulled up the blinds in my living room and had to stand to see the view over all the snow that was on my patio railing. 

All my windows face the same side of the building, so in order to get a different snowy view I went into my garage (which is on the other side of my building) and opened the garage door. I used my car to rest my sketchbook and painted some of the cars buried under the snow. There wasn't a soul outside at that point since the wind was so strong and it was still blizzard conditions.

That was the end of my sketch crawl.

Yesterday I did get out of the house and walked around my development to take a few photos and sketch. I'll post the sketches tomorrow. Here are a few more snow photos. This is the view looking at my apartment.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 24 - Calla Lily

Today starts the last week of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. For day 24 I have painted a calla lily from one of my own reference photos. I think they are so dramatic looking.

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Here is my second journal page about my amaryllis.

Yesterday NYC had a blizzard. Here we had at least 18-20 inches...or that is what seems to be piled on my patio railing. I haven't been out to measure it. Here is what it looked like here in the middle of the day. It stopped snowing about 1 am this morning. I'm hoping to put on my boots later and take a walk around the area. Hope you are warm and snuggly wherever you are.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 23 - Pink Poppy

Poppies are such pretty flowers but they are here and gone so quickly it seems. For day 23 of Leslie Saeta's "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge I used one of my reference photos to do a pink poppy.

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In addition to painting flowers, I'm trying to grow one. I bought an amaryllis bulb before Christmas. Every year I think about growing one, but my apartment doesn't get much direct sunlight, especially in the winter. By the time any sunshine comes through my windows it is very week at the end of the day. I decided to give it a try this year and see what happens. I started journaling about it on Jan. 12 when I took it out of the box. Needless to say I haven't had much to write since then. They do take a long time to get started and this one isn't getting the most ideal conditions. lol

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 22 - Lady Slipper

My reference for day 22 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" was taken at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. I think the name is fairly appropriate because it looks like a little foot could slip right into it.

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This is one of the buildings at Post Morrow in Brookhaven, part of public land that has been set aside.  The little bit of snow we had the other day added to the charm.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 21 - Pink Plumeria

My day 21 painting for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" was done from a reference photo from my trip to California last year. This is 5 x 5 inches.

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On Sunday, which was very cold and blustery, I went up to Sunken Meadow State Park. I knew there was a view that I could paint from my car. This is 5 x 7. Then I took a 2 mile walk on the boardwalk. I walked the length of it and when I turned around to walk back it had started snowing, so I had the snow blowing in my face on the whole way back. We ended up with a coating of white but not much more. This weekend they are forecasting quite a bit of snow, so we shall see. Maybe I'll get to wear my new snow boots.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 20 - Red Rosebud

I love single, closed rosebuds...they always look so romantic. I used one of my photos for this painting which is 5 x 5 inches. I used a stamp for the textured look of words in the background.

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This was sketched along the road by the ferries in Sayville. On a normal summer day this road is very busy with cars pulling into all the parking areas. In the winter the street is pretty deserted...they even let you park along the street which is not allowed "in season."

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 19 - Dance in Yellow

On this very cold NY morning, I'm hoping this sunny yellow flower will warm you up. "Dance in Yellow" is my Day 19 painting for Leslie Saeta's challenge "30 Paintings in 30 Days." This is 5 x 5 inches.

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On one of our cold, overcast days last week I headed up to Port Jefferson and painted this house along the harbor. It was at the bottom of a hill just overlooking the water. This is 5 x 7.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 18 - Hibiscus

For day 18 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" I used a photo of a hibiscus that I had taken in someone's garden. They always remind me of my sister, Fran, who had them growing in her yard. This is 5 x 5 inches. 

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The other evening my sketch group met at the Nook Cafe and Pizzaria in West Sayville. It is a new, very friendly place to have a snack or coffee. They loved the idea of having us sketch there. I'm sure we will be heading back.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 17 - Iris in Bloom

For day 17 of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" I decided to experiment with masa paper again. I think I got closer to the batik look with this one...what do you think? I may try another one. It takes a while to prep the paper before painting and it is hard to get all the little creases in such a small painting surface. It was done from one of my many iris photos and is 5 x 5.

On Tuesday I spent the day with my sister, Mickey, in NJ...it was an art day. We started with a trip to Dick Blick to buy art supplies. I had brought along a Gelli plate I had bought in the fall but hadn't had time to experiment with yet. That was our first project for the day. We played with stencils and paint making mono prints.

Mickey used the time to make a birthday card for one of her grandchildren.

Next we played with the Artrage, the digital program I've been using on my iPad. Mickey had been working with a different program but wanted a program that did a bit more. She had used Photoshop for her photos, so she had some idea already of what the layers would do. So after a little instruction of the basic mechanics of the program she started sketching like a pro. I sketched her while she was working.

The sketch of the angel on the left was done by Mickey...yes, her Christmas tree was still up too. lol

 The rose is also one of Mickey's sketches.

In addition to these art projects we worked on our paintings for the "30 Day" challenge. We did get a lot done.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 16 - Alstroemeria

Yes, I did look up the name of the flower for today's painting for "30 Paintings in 30 Days." This is a tiny flower and I did it live from a bouquet that I bought today. I did something a little different and painted this on masa paper. I guess I have to go back and research how to use the masa paper because  I should have a boutique effect and didn't really get that. It did give it a softer look so I am happy with that. This marks just over halfway through the challenge.

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The other day I did a digital sketch in Sayville using Artrage. I did it from my car and luckily nobody blocked my view while I was sketching (a rare thing in Sayville).

"30 Paintings in 30 Days" - Day 15 - Cactus Flowers

I love it when cacti have flowers on them, but for some reason I never get to see them in full bloom. The reference photo for this painting was from photos I took along the promenade in Manhattan Beach when I was there for a wedding this summer. This is 5 x 5 inches.

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If you have time and would like to check the other paintings done for Leslie Saeta's challenge you can look here: http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/blog

Just when I thought I had done my last Christmas themed painting, along came another opportunity. My friend, Gina, had a few sketchers over last week since we hadn't met at all through the holidays. We planned on ordering sushi and then sketching since her house was still totally decorated. I just couldn't resist sketching this stocking, even though it meant I was sketching in a different room from everyone else.