A Cause for Celebration

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

The last day for Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge.  I thought a celebration cupcake would be well suited for the occasion.  As well it is my birthday today so more reason for celebration.  I had a great day today and finished it off this evening by painting my cupcake.  It has been fun the past month!

Bowl of Boscs

5 " x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

Day 29 of Leslie Saeta's Painting Challenge.  The second to last day.  Another weekend with too much to do so I had to squeeze the painting time in.  I have painted this pottery bowl in pastel before and could capture the texture very well.  I found it difficult to do it with oil in one sitting because of the wetness of the oils.  I will probably go back to this one once it dries and work on the bowl a bit.

Lemon Yellow

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

Day 27 of Leslie Saeta's Painting Challenge.  Only three more to go.  I really do enjoy doing these and they have become a warm up for working on larger paintings.  When I work on small pieces I don't feel the same hesitation that I feel when working on a larger piece.  If a small painting doesn't work out, it's no big deal.  If a larger painting isn't working I feel I am wasting materials and time.  Working on a small painting before moving to a larger piece allows me to loosen up and relax.

Coffee and Kiwi

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

Day 18 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days.  I am counting down to how many are left.  I wasn't really in the mood to paint this morning but I did it.  Not really happy with it.  I think it comes across in the painting if you aren't really in the zone.

Orange Tea

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

Day 17 of Leslie Saeta's painting challenge.  I love the little teapot and I have cups to match which I will have to include in another painting.

Hide 'n Seek

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

 

 

This is painting number 10 for Leslie Saeta's daily painting challenge.  We are one third of the way there.  This is a small antique cheese box with the Avocado halves hiding from each other.

Retro Coffee and Cream

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

Day 9 of Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days.  I found this Fire King mug and creamer in some of the storage boxes I cleaned out.  When we were at the antique show on the weekend people were buying the Fire King like crazy.  The mugs styled like the one above were going for $40 each.  I think I will hold on to ours. 

Alone

 

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

 

 

This is Day 8 of Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days.  A little late in the day for this one.  We were busy with our Granddaughter all day so I fit this one in this evening.  No plans tomorrow so I am going to get ahead of the game!

Aglow

5" x 7"

Oil on Board

 

 

This is Day 6 of Leslie Saeta's Painting Challenge.  Feeling a little rushed toady so I thought I would turn to my most comfortable subject, pears.  I really enjoyed this one.  I think I may do a large version of it.

Seeing Spots

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is my first post in a little while.  I have been busy trying to update my website, www.loisshawfineart.com, and also I have started a Facebook page.  It is driving me a bit crazy.  I don't even know the address to put here to link you to it.  I have never been on Facebook (probably one of the only people) and I am finding it difficult to navigate. 

I am getting back to painting a small piece each day.  I have a few shows coming up and these are great pieces to sell at shows.

Sitting in the Bowl

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is Day 17 of Leslie Saeta's painting challenge.  My husband is having surgery next week.  We spent all day yesterday at the hospital for his pre-op appointment.  We have to go out of town for his specialist and surgery, so it is a two hour drive each way and I wasn't left with much painting time.  I painted this tomatoe quickly (I added the 'e' on tomatoe for the Canadian spelling).

On the Inside Looking Out

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

Sold

Day 10 of Leslie Saeta's painting challenge.  Another red painting.  Maybe red should have been my theme for the 30 paintings.  I do find that I am completing the paintings a bit faster each time.  I think the reason for this is the limited palette of colors, titanium white, burnt umber, cad red, cad yellow, and ultramarine blue.  Painting one each day is good practice for color mixing.

Mushrooms

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is Day 8 of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 painting challenge.  When I was looking at what I have painted so far I noticed I have been painting a lot of red and green.  So I decided to tone it down a bit with the mushrooms.  It was a lot more difficult to paint something that doesn't have a lot of color.  It does make me realize I need to work on adding color to my paintings even if the object lacks these colors.  If I were doing this in pastel I would have blocked in with all different colors but with the paint I tend to stay away from that.  I need to work on being more brave with the color.  As long as the value is right the painting will read ok.  See, I am learning something through all of this.  Maybe I will do these in pastel as a study and then post.

Peppers on a Plate

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

Sold

Day 5 of Leslie Saeta's painting challenge.  Today is a day I feel like painting!  I had a nice comment yesterday that suggested working on unfinished pieces when you weren't inspired to paint on a particular day.  What a great idea.  I am going to pull out those paintings that might just need a little work to complete and it will keep me painting each day.  It is great to have feedback from other artists!

Pomegranate Pair

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is Day 3 of 30 Paintings in 30 Days.  It is really amazing to see what the other artists can paint in one day.  Very impressive!  I think that it is great that there are so many comments on the work.  I know for me it is a real boost to receive comments and inspires me to keep up with the challenge.

Resting Baby Mallard

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

This family of Mallards were preening themselves and then napping in the sun.  I did most of this with a palette knife and then switched to a brush to put in some final details.

Canyon Road, Sante Fe

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is a one hour painting that I did from a photo of an adobe home on Canyon Road in Sante Fe.I was in New Mexico for a Pastel Artist's Convention and spent some time in Sante Fe.  What a great place to visit and Canyon Road is so inspirational for an artist with all the old buildings and art galleries.

The Huddle

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

 

This is the second day of my one hour paintings.  I wasn't completely happy with the outcome but I have to keep reminding myself to let it go.  I do think that I will learn a lot from doing a number of small time limit paintings rather than one large painting.  It takes me outside of my comfort zone.

Into the Lake

5" x 7"

Oil on Gessoboard

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This is a small plein air painting using a palette knife of the base of Burleigh Falls leading into Stoney Lake, Ontario near our cottage.