![Day[9]TV](/images/header-logo.png){kind=logo}
30 day paint-a-thon!
pip-mille Visual Art DK30 Fall 2019 2 2
Description
Paint a picture every day for 30 days. Any medium, any size.
Recent Updates
I didn’t finish the fourth week, but I still paint occasionally, so I’ll say it’s a success anyway! Hopefully I’ll do better with the next project
I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather today, so I thought I would do a simple painting of mountains. Then I could have small breaks in between layers while it dried. But of course I couldn’t not do some happy little evergreens in the foreground - so it ended up taking considerably longer and more of my time than anticipated. I think it’s worth it though, it turned out pretty nice! Now: To bed so I can sleep this cold away!
Today I wanted to do something a bit different, so I made this cute card for my niece who’s turning four in a few weeks - I hope she likes elephants as much as I do!
Day 19:
I’m soooo happy I can paint nature in this weeks challenge, it’s so easy to find pretty objects to paint, easy to find inspiration! I love the colors of autumn and this orangey-brown is a personal favorite - I even colored my hair this hue for a while a few years back.
I tried painting life-like bubbles in subdued colors. I think they look great, though not entirely convincing. I do like the rainbow colors and that I could make them sort of round without sketching them in pencil first.
It’s starting to get a little hard for me to find motivation to paint every day. I think I need to tell myself that it’s okay not to do a large or 100% complete picture. Since I don’t see todays painting as finished, I might continue working on it in the weekend and see if my bubbles improve with more practice.
This is todays painting, and I’m late for bed 'cause I couldn’t stop painting… wups!
Halfway through the 30 day challenge - whaaaaat! And thereby the first day of the third week with its unique challenge: Paint life-like. I did a poppy - my favorite flower - since flowers should be rather easy. Well, I can see what it is, though there’s definitely room for improvement.
I spent most of todays painting time on a different piece. I got distracted I guess and since I missed a painting day last week and I’m at the halfway point, an extra picture today is quite fitting. Here it comes:
People, we’ve done it! This was soooo hard, but there are some pretty nice things in this painting and I’ve got a lot more experience in handling the good ol’ knife! I’m gonna paint so many mountains from now on! A pity I live in a country with a highest peak record of a breathtakingly 170 meters – so, no mountains whatsoever. How many times have I quoted Bilbo: I wanna see mountains again! Too often.
Anyway, I think the knife did a fine job – the sky was troublesome but it does sort of look like a sky. also, I had never anticipated to be able to paint evergreen trees with a knife but most of them turned out pretty neat!
This will conclude week two of the paint-a-thon challenge! Almost half-way, that’s incredible! I think we’re doing alright, right? So next up is the week of life-like painting, which is much more free – I can use any medium – maybe even a mix! – and paint any object; I might start out with something easy and work my way up to something quite difficult – can’t wait! See you soon – as in tomorrow. Hopefully ; )
Day 13!
Wait… What? Where did day 12 go??
‘Aight, here’s the thing: I skipped a day – Gasp!
Yesterday, no painting was produced – I had a busy day, okay?
I know it’s fine to miss a deadline and not perform perfectly according to your challenge goals. Deep down, I know this is just fine. Even so, I feel a little demoralized; it was hard pulling myself together to paint today even though I’ve had plenty of time and energy. It’s so easy to get out of the rythm again!
Luckily, I did pull myself together this evening, and the above painting is one that’s been on my mind for some time now. I took inspiration in the tale of ‘The Little Prince’. The picture was originally supposed to be much simpler, but I couldn’t stop myself going into details – I have to work on that.
Anyway, challenge was: use just one brush, I did – challenge completed. I will do a painting with just a knife as promised – but apparently I need to summon some confidence and courage to do so. Hopefully before Wednesday when I’m supposed to change challenge. We’ll try real hard!
https://30daysofpainting.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/day-13/
Did a tiny painting in acrylic today. I’m pretty pleased at the details that came out of the brush (seen on the picture below.) Tomorrow I have to do watercolor, because I have very limited time, but hopefully I will be able to practice some knife skills on sunday! https://30daysofpainting.wordpress.com/2019/09/20/day-11/
I painted with my partner Oli today. It was fun, but I don’t think I paint my best when I’m with other people. I need to do my own thing, so I shall not be ‘painting with friends’ as I promised myself I would. First non-successful part of the project, so I keep my head up, and hopefully you’ll get to see the next painting - which is all about them brush skills!
Second portrait, this one I actually really like; there are a few flaws, but I think the overall look and style of the picture is great!
It’s drawn with inspiration in the short film ‘I am easy to find’ and The Nationals album with the same title and this frame as album cover.
So this weeks challenge is to finish a painting with only one type and size of brush or painting knife. I was not quite done with the watercolors yet, so I did this painting with a single small round brush.
https://30daysofpainting.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/day-9/
As the final watercolor challenge I’ve made a portrait of no one in particular - I took reference in a couple of different pictures of models. I really wanted to do both a ‘naturalistic’ and a more abstract piece but, sadly, I didn’t have the time. I must say that it will be hard to put away the watercolor now that I’ve started getting the hang of it. I might practice watercoloring a few times during next weeks challenge which is: Finish an entire painting with a single brush or painting knife!
I didn’t have much time to paint today, so I just wanted to make something small and simple on this new textured paper I bought. And I love it! It’s much easier to make the color stick and make that distinguished watercolor look. It’s also harder to correct mistakes, since you can’t always rinse the paper with a damp brush as I’m used to. Good thing we don’t make mistakes!
Anyone out there in need of a birthday cupcake? This one’s for you ( ;
Today I found a watercolor picture on the internet that I really liked and decided to try painting a similar one but with a few tweaks.
The original had the surfer, board and sail in brown and beige tones, and the water in blue hues. I wanted to do the entire painting in the same hue (greenish-blue) and try to separate elements only with shadow and light. All week I’ve done paintings with many colors, which I love, but sometimes simplicity is key - it’s so easy to overdo it!
This didn’t take long to do, so maybe these sort of paintings could work well as birthday cards! I’ll try to paint a funny one soon, maybe come up with a joke to go with it - that’s what I call a challenge!
A conceptual piece of art happened today. I’m not going to over explain the picture, I just hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!
Some people say that creativity can’t be forced, that it has to ‘come to you’, but I do not believe that. When forced to be creative, you challenge your mind to come up with things, and the more you force out, the more easily ideas form in your head in a natural way. I’ve experienced this in my job as a videographer and graphic designer, and also more and more in painting. Granted; not all forced work comes out great, but trying to paint a grand idea that ‘comes to you’ will be near impossible to make as perfect as the idea itself. With that in mind I will go to bed not having a clue what to paint for the rest of the month and tell myself that’s fine!
Today we made some happy accidents! The tape wasn’t fastened correctly, so some color leaked out on the white frame of the paper. Instead of cutting it off or trying to remove the paint I helped the color along, shaping it to my liking and ultimately this little flaw gives so much personality to the picture. I love it!
Day 3 of the challenge, and I already needed someone else to feed me inspiration. Shout out to my lovely partner Oli, who always knows how to kickstart my brain when it’s gone cold! Hopefully, I will feel more creative tomorrow and come up with a motive myself.
Until then, have a look at the guitar I painted - it will make you go: ‘colooooors!’
Today I wanted to practice some texturising so I decided to paint 3 different cups. I also added some plants as a background, because the picture was really dull without it. It turned out okay, though I did have issues painting the super smooth glaze look I was going for in the middle cup. Any ideas on how to achieve this are more than welcome! Maybe some more crisp reflections and shadows might help?
I did decide to make this a ‘no nature or animals challenge’, because that is what I usually paint. But a few plants in the background was essential to the overall look of the painting, so I hope you guys will forgive me! I promise to do better from now on (;
Day 1 update:
Since I love traveling and I have no trips booked or planned just now I really spend a lot of time thinking about where I would want to go next.
This is a water color painting with inspiration in my longing for traveling - took a couple of hours. I think it turned out okay, hopefully I’ll be able to see some improvement at the end of the week!
Estimated Timeframe
Sep 10th - Oct 10th
Week 1 Goal
Experiment with water color. Try to paint something other than nature and animals - at the end of the week I will try to paint a portrait. At least once a week I will invite a friend to paint with me.
Week 2 Goal
I will work on my brush skills: Finish a painting with only one type and size of brush or knife. I will select different brushes through the week. At least once a week I will invite a friend to paint with me.
Week 3 Goal
Paint life-like: I will each day this week select an item to paint as life-like as possible. At the end of the week, I will follow a Bob Ross tutorial and make some happy accidents! At least once a week I will invite a friend to paint with me.
Week 4 Goal
Seeking inspiration: I will each day go someplace I haven’t been before, take pictures and notes and use this as an inspiration for a picture. The finished picture can be a life-like or an abstract representation of the place.
