day 30 !!!

Did not get home until late tonight, so for my last hurrah, I am posting an ipad painting of my favorite fruit, the avacado.  What a wonderful ride these past 30 days have been. I have learned so much!  I am full of gratitude...

day 29

Since this 30 day challenge is just one day short of being over, I felt compelled to try something I have never tried before...a face.  Very difficult.  I am sure there are classes just for faces alone!  Here is my niece Meghan.  She is 23, and much more beautiful in real life.  I will have to try the rest of my nieces soon...

day 28

Another ipad painting...this one of a part of Mom's farm in Ireland, called Knockenpower. A corner of the thatched roof cottage Mom grew up in is on the left.

day 27

An ipad painting for me tonight after a busy day...these sunflowers are from the summer...good to take photos of things that bring you joy!

day 26

I surrender!  Cannot make this what I want, and going any further won't make a difference.  As Peg has said, sometimes you just have to move on to the next one.  This is one of those times...

day 25

The beauty of Saturday is that you can take the time to try to do an oil painting, instead of an ipad painting.  Today, I tried to paint turnips...

day 24

Up since 3 am today....early flight to Detroit for a client meeting and back again.

With humor, here is an ipad painting of a roadside stand in Rhinebeck, NY that serves the best burritos I have ever had!

day 23

Today was another long day of business meetings in Hartford, CT.  And tomorrow I have a 5am alarm for a 7:30 am flight to Detroit for another client meeting.  So, no oils tonight, but here is my ipad painting.

This past Spring, at Union Square Market, vendors were selling all sorts of flowers.  I bought these and took a photo to remember them.  The name of the flower was green hairy balls...no joke!

day 22

On the road again, this ipad painting was done in the back of a car while whirling down I-95.

My goal is to try to capture the essence of the thing...this is the inside of a boat house on Panther Pond, inspired by a photo I took in June.  Gosh, I wish Susan was still with us...  

day 21

This has been an interesting journey these past 21 days.  I am learning a lot.  Tonight, I stepped up to the canvas trying to do a painting like one of Peg's beautiful "painterly" paintings. I tried to be loose, and do a quick, fresh painting of a pomegranite.  I went this far and decided to stop.  I will take another look at it tomorrow to see whether I should change it or just leave it as it is.

day 20

Susan and her husband John, Peg and I went to a benefit for the Portland Museum the weekend we were in Maine...the one of my first attempt at oil painting.  There was a silent auction.  I bid, but lost, a painting of a blackbird.  It was abstract, haunting, and I wanted to try to re-create it.  The attached doesn't even come close, but I was pleased that I tried.  I will try again.  The Beatles song Blackbird is one of my favorites...

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly...all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive...Blackbird fly..."

day 19

So, Dreama said paint things that you love.  For some reason I remembered how in awe I was the first time I saw a blue heron in the wild.  I was in my late 20's and in a canoe on the Musconetcong River in Western NJ.  Having grown up in NYC, the only blue heron I had ever seen had been in a book!  I was absolutely struck by its beauty.  So, last night, when I remembered what Dreama said, I went onto the internet and found an image of a blue heron.  Here he is...

day 18

Today I took out my notebook from Leslie and Dreama's Pasadena workshop.  I re-read my notes about Dreama's approach of putting down transparent paints first, then coming back in with opaque paints on top of the transparents.  I tried to do it.  I'm afraid I ended up with a very murky painting.  I have to go back and re-take the workshop!  Well, at any rate, at least I stepped up to the canvas and tried...

day 17

Worked all day and then had dinner in Hartford, CT with a colleague and her beautiful family.   On the ride back to NYC (I was not driving), I took out the ipad and attempted to do a quick ipad painting of a woman carrying wood from a photo a friend of mine took in Africa.  It was difficult to do with all the curves in the road and the driver jamming on the breaks, but here it is...

day 16

Today was a day when I felt the weight of my job in a way that took my breath away.  I had to continue working from home this evening.  So, I am afraid that once again I am posting an ipad painting.

This is a simple line drawing of a chair I saw resting against the stucco wall at my brother's house in France.  I took the photo two years ago, thinking I would love to do a line drawing of that some day. Well, on the ipad, you cannot control the line that well, but so be it!  I am trying very hard to hang in there with this challenge...

day 15

After a long day at work, I had to take the metro north train to Tarrytown this evening to help my brother John.  I knew my only free time today would be on that train.  So, my day 14 painting is an ipad painting of a rooster!  It was challenging to do with the rocking and swaying of the train.  That's why the lines are so squiggy jiggy....

day 14

Today, I just couldn't do something realistic, so I did this abstract peony.  It was inspired by a photo taken the last time I saw my friend Susan in Maine.  Susan passed unexpectedly just months later. So, Susan, this one is for you...

day 13

A few months ago, I took a photo of a portion of the lilly pond at the NY Botanical Gardens.  I did an Ipad version of this two days ago. Today I was compelled to try to paint it.  Ipading it was a lot easier...LOL

Day 12

I would have thought it would be not so difficult to paint an apple.  Boy, was I wrong....LOL

day 11

An ipad painting today....lilly pads...

day 10

I bought this vase about six months ago and had it in the closet.  Here is its debut.

day 9

I keep trying to see what's there.  I think I am seeing more than I used to see.  i will keep trying...

day 8

So, today I tried to paint strawberries.  I learned at least two things: 1.) sometimes it is helpful to premix some paint on the palette, and 2.) when you are in the middle of a painting and you don't quite know how to ""fix" it, take a photo of it, and you can see more clearly what has to be done.  At least that's what happened to me today...I hope it works again...

day 7

ok, final dress for now....

day 6

am back to making dresses...putting down oil paint down with a palette knife and scratching away a design....

day 5

Ok, so today was slightly better.  I went to the art supply store and got some properly sized brushes that are not scratchy, and i believe I had a tiny bit better outcome.  You know, when Hally helped me set up this blog, I thought I would journal about what I learned in each painting, etc....The Creative Journey is, after all, the name of this blog.   However, it is difficult for me to even paint and once I am done, I just want to post it and call it a day!  What I hope to do is at the end of the month find time to reflect back on the month, and perhaps I will have some creative journey type thoughts then...
I guess the journey takes more than just a couple of days... :  )

Day 3

OK, so why did I possibly think I could paint a white creamer? Oh well, at least I tried...

Day 4

So, I am back to making these scratch away dresses.  I don't know why, but this is what I like...I think I prefer abstract paintings to realistic ones...

day 2

The beauty of not having been trained is that it frees me to do crazy stuff! I painted an undercolor of green, and with a palette knife, put down a dark green background and a crimson foreground. I then took a rubber tool and scratched away the detail.

day 1

Being a beginner with respect to oil painting, and having only taken 2 workshops, this was my first time stepping up to the easel by myslef, without Leslie Saeta or Dreama Tolle Perry or David Shevlino in the room, and without my dear friend Peg by my side.  You might imagine, I am not thrilled with the result.  However, I am going to try to do this 30 day challenge and see what I can learn.  My job takes a lot out of me, and I travel for a living, so I don't know how many days I will be able to paint, but even if I do 5 oil paintings in 30 days, that will be more than I've ever done!