Painting 30 - I made it!!!

5x7  $145.00 Framed size 8x10

Well, I can't believe it is the last day. It's been a challenge but I made it. As I was working on my painting today, it made me a bit reflective. It seems I've always had a fight in my work between form and expressionism. In college I doubled in sculpture and painting.  But when it came down to it,
I had to work it out in a two dimensional plane.  There is just nothing like it. So, my work comes down to that fight, the beauty and strength of color and form. I look forward to what tomorrow brings.
Until then, Dawn

Painting 29 - Apple Boogie

5x7 Apple Boogie Oil on canvas

 We were lucky today, with all the bad weather in the area, I just had flooding.

The studio is swamped. Good thing I have a slotted floor that allows the water to pass through the floor and drain. Still - what a mess!

Another great addition to the house. We put a roof over the back doors. Now I have a workspace when the weather is bad. Today I had to build frames for my show this weekend.

 

Even better, while the other half of the house is without a tenet, I can use that space as well. Overall I think I fared pretty well for such a stormy day!

Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 28

Almost to the finished with the 30 days painting challenge. It was a busy day today with classes and other work. Here is what kept most of my day busy.  This is a collaboration piece with St Anne's Preschool and will be auctioned off next month. The  turning fours'  painted the flowers on the wooden blocks. Now it my turn! I've got their painting on and now I need to finish the words, and then antique it. Hope it turn out as I've imaged.

 Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 27

5x7 oil on canvas "Footloose and Fancy Free"

 Made it to day 27 of 30 paintings in 30 days. Today was a tough one. Just worn out from the drive yesterday - then all finishing the taxes. So, todays painting is just free and easy!

Painting 25 - Still in Defuniak

 

This is the Pansy Cottage. What a great name for a cool house on the lake.

I have had such a great time painting at the Chautauqua Plein Air Event. It such a pretty, laid back area, but the best part has been meeting the other artists. Such a great group of people.

Check out all of the artists painting for the 30 paintings in 30 Days Event.  Just 5 more days to go!

http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 24!!

"Got the Spirit in Me"

 9x12 oil on canvas  Framed - black floater frame  $300

 I decided to keep with the white building theme. This church has such cool shapes.

This composition is pretty simple. I began by blocking in the sun and shadow.

 Loosely building in the shapes, still thinking about value and temperature.  I love the way reflected light warms up areas in a cool shadow!
Yesterday I had a hard time dealing with the foliage in the foreground, so today, I'm really going to try not to let the unimportant  parts of the painting get in the way.

Starting to pull the composition together.

Once I had the bulk of the work completed, I started having fun with texture and the colors in the shadows.

Until tomorrow!

Dawn

Painting 23 and Day 1 of the Chautauqua paint out

9x12 oil on wood

 

 

Today is the first day for the Chatauqua  paint out.
I decided to spend more time on my composition. So I thought using this as a color theory study would interesting.

Until tomorrow,

Dawn

Painting 22 - Hello Florida!

11x14 oil on wood

  Yay, I'm in Florida. Drove in today to get ready for the Chautauqua Plein air paint out, this Thurs - Sun.  Today's painting is warm up. I look forward to tomorrow!

Day 21 and a Little Teaching Feed Back!

Alright, getting ready for my SCAD Class tonight. Always a good time.
Here's my painting for the day. Oil on wood. combination palette knife and bristle brush.

11"x14" Oil on wood

I had a great painting workshop this weekend. 10 Students came out to Callanwolde for a landscape class. This was the first time I had taught this one. Everyone did a great job. I enjoyed working with everyone and seeing the progress. Great group!!

Happy painting and have a great week,

Dawn

Links for painting demos

http://dawnart.blogspot.com/2013/01/painting-16-mixing-work-and-teaching.html

http://dawnart.blogspot.com/2012/10/using-your-values-to-building.html

http://dawnart.blogspot.com/2012/03/palette-knife-workshop-landscapes.html

Painting 20 - just 10 more days!

20"x30"

Today I painting a companion piece for the "Sun and Wind" painting yesterday. It's fun to work on a series and explore taking the same subject in different directions.

Day 19 of 30 paintings in 30 days.

30"x20" Sunshine and Wind

It was a beautiful day in Atlanta today. We went down to the park for a little exercise, worked on the house a bit, then started up the grill to get ready for the Falcons Game.

Well the Falcons didn't work out as we had hoped - Rat's! But the grill was good. So I finally had to hit the studio and create my painting for the day.

Until tomorrow, Dawn

Making it to day 18!

Wow, what an accomplishment, 18 days. I think I'm going to make it.

12x12 "Two Amigos" oil on canvas

After teaching an all day workshop, I was ready to have a little fun in the studio.

This is a palette knife piece, I worked all at once. It was fun to be loose and fun.

Until tomorrow!!

Dawn

PS  Falcons - Rise up!!!

Day 17 - Cherry Berry!

5x7 Cherry Berry

Just a small one for today. 

See you tomorrow!

Painting 16 - Mixing work and teaching

Today I needed to work on a commission and I also have to get ready for painting workshop  I'm teaching this Sat. I decided to combine the two and try break down my studio process and see if I could share it with my class. It is so easy to work on automatic pilot and not pay attention to what you are really doing

First composition sketch

 I think this is helpful to set up the space on your canvas. Get control of your composition right off the bat. Make sure you don't have center of focus going in the wrong direction.

Starting to work out a value sketch

 Before you jump right on you canvas, do a little value study. Go ahead and start thinking about your light source. What is your compositional design? What's great about this is that you can make quick decisions, change your mind, and make adjustments.

Making adjustments and feeling better with the values

After looking the my sketch, I decided to pull the tree on the right a little more forward, push the one on the left farther back, and add more shadows in the front. Added a few hills in the back and pushed the mountains back a bit. A little more light in the sky.

This is going to give me a good plan to work on my commission. I need to touch on the elements that are important to them. Now I will have a lot of freedom to create the painting, because I won't be fighting the composition and I can just paint.

Until tomorrow, Dawn

Painting 15 - I've made it to the halfway point!

12x12 Daisies

Today I tried something a little different. If you have followed my work, you know that subtlety is not my strong point. So today, I worked in washes. I wanted to see if I could get a little color and mystery going on in the shadows and not over define everything. It was tough to leave it with out a little contrast, so I splashed a little orange at the end. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Until tomorrow!!

Day 14 painting

Well, I am not sure that I am finished, but it's getting close. I worked on this during class tonight at SCAD. Maybe I was talking more than paying attention. It was fun to catch up with everyone after the long break.

12x16 acrylic on canvas

Check out the other artists taking the 30 day painting challenge @ http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

See you tomorrow, Dawn

Painting 13 - YAY!

Painting for Day 13

This is a nice and bright one for a rainy day. Still  wet - hot off the easel.

5x7 Lime with Black floater Frame $75

I was the artists in residence today at St Anne's Day School. After working with a class room of 4year olds today, maybe I was inspired by the joyful freedom in their paintings.

Well, now off for dinner, until tomorrow. 

Painting 12!

"Fall in Illinois"

I have to say, a weekend with temperatures in the 70's makes it tough to be in the studio. What a great weekend! Here is what I have for today.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Dawn

Painting Day 11

12x36 Mixed Media 

Here is another in my vintage label series "Coffee Makes You Bloom"

oil, paper, oil pastel on wood.

Day 10 Painting!

Sorry for the horrid photo. Had to do an easy on to day. I spent 10 hour in a mock trial. But, at least I'm finished for the day!!!

5x7 Still Life Acrylic on canvas

Day 9 Painting - Mixed Media

Okay, I couldn't sleep last night so I was up at 5:00 am and thought I might as well get some work done. Here is my painting for today. This is an oil on wood. The Plow Boy label is an actually vintage label I came across and thought it would be cool to add into my flower series.

12"x36" oil and paper on wood

Typically I wouldn't just whip out a painting say done. I like to give myself a few days to let all the mistakes crop up. But I guess that is part of the fun of the challenge, seeing what you can accomplish working quickly.

Until tomorrow,,,

PS - The carpet is almost installed!

Day 8 Painting

5x7 Acrylic " Make Lemonade!"

I had to do an easy one today, but these are fun to do because it just a play with color dancing around the lemon.

I am happy I was able to finish one today and all the other projects that had to be finished today.

We are getting new carpet in the morning. So I had to finish the venetian plaster( applied, sanded, white washed and sealed) and get the new ceiling fan up.

Yay, all done. This is the last of the house projects. I can't wait to get my life back!

See you tomorrow

Day 7 - Blue Flame!

Okay, I finished my painting for the day before the sun went down, but I'm still not very happy with the photo.  There is all sorts of purples going in to my dark blues and turquoises in some of the lightest blues.  This is why I am a painter and not a photographer --urrrggghhh!

10"x20" Oil on canvas - palette knife

Day 6 - Painting

Here is Day 6 Painting. The problem with finishing after dark is getting a decent photo.

My camera (or the operator) is not the best.  The dark greens and blues in the bottom come out black in the photo. Oh well, until tomorrow.

12"x24" Acrylic on canvas  $345.00 with black floater frame.

Day 5 Just in the nick of time!

With all the house projects going on today, it was hard to get one finished.

5x7 oil on canvas

See you tomorrow, Dawn

Day 4 of 30 Paintings

Whoo Hoo! I finished my painting for the day!

14x36 oil on canvas - palette knife

I have been trying to keep the energy in my paintings and not over work and over explain, so today I worked with oil and palette knife to see what I could make of it.

Until tomorrow - Dawn

PS You can see all the artists work at http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

Painting for Day 3

"Sunshine" 12x12 oil on canvas

After a couple of disasters in the studio, I was finally able to pull this one out.

Some days you soar with angels and others... not so much.

Oh, well I look forward to seeing what happens tomorrow. At least now I can work in the studio for the rest of the day and I don't have to finish anything! 

See you tomorrow, Dawn

Day 2 of 30 paintings in 30 Day

Alright, here is my painting for day 2.

"Lilies and Coy" 5x7

The color is a little off on this and I lack the photos shop skills to correct it.
That always drives me nuts. Check out all the artists work at http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

I just did a small one today. As you can see in the photo below, my studio is
a wreak with half finished paintings! 

 

See you tomorrow, 

Dawn

Day 1, 30 paintings in 30 days

Okay, here is the first one off the easel for the 30 Day Challenge.

" The Chain that Holds Me" 12x12 acrylic and paste - Sold

I have really set my intention yet for the challenge, but at least I've started and I'll have to come up with a focus soon.
Yes, I know I should have already done that!

See you tomorrow, Dawn