Day?? 30 in 30 challenge

What is it??? Working on a coloured pencil course by a friend of mine ...deadline approaching! Yikes! Stay tuned for progress!  (Sort of fell off the 30 in 30 wagon - jumping back on :-)  )

Day 20 of the 30 in 30 challenge

It's a GLAD DAY!!  I've been working on this for a while. This is from a photo I took at a friend's garden on a sketchclub outing. Gladiolas were her father's favorite flowers. I made her a painting that is very similar ;-) I'm including the reference photo. You will notice I changed the colour a bit. I've done a LOT of orange paintings and I much prefer the pinky tones. Artistic license!
Not sure if it's done yet. When you take a photo of your painting you see all kinds of things you might like to change LOL!

Day 11 30 in 30 challenge

I know it's hardly fall yet, but by the time I teach this painting at ByDesign it will be late November and people will be looking forward to snow for Christmas. Don't the little cardinals just cheer up this winter scene?  This is my day 11 painting for the 30 in 30 challenge Snow scene with cardinals.

Day 10 30 in 30 challenge

Today I spent most of my day getting ready for the new class I hope to be teaching at ByDesign Academy. There's so much preparation to do to teach a class. There are price lists to figure out and instructions to write. And after that's all done I painted another two beginner paintings for the teens to do. Day 10's painting is a still life with sunflowers in a blue jar.

Day 9 30 in 30 challenge

So this weekend has been quite full! We were with our grandkids on Saturday and Sunday has just flown by. I have been working on two different paintings, but neither of them have been going as planned. This happens at times... One is a coloured pencil iris that is very overworked right now and I intend to start it over again - I just ordered a new set of Polychromos Coloured pencils and I can't wait to use them for my flowers! I also will be using a different kind of paper for the iris painting because the paper I used isn't as good for building up layers - which you have to do in order to blend the colours together well.

The other painting I have been working on is of some hydrangea petals in watercolour. It was fun because Hudson (3 years old) pulled up a stool beside Grandma to watch me paint. He was fascinated watching me put on the initial wash. Maybe he'll take painting lessons from Grandma in the future!

I just love the varied shades of blue and purple and cream and pink. But alas, I tried it on a new type of watercolour paper and it's not taking the paint as well as what I normally use - so I will be starting that one over again this week as well.

Good news is that Paul will be away tomorrow so I will be able to spend most of my time painting without distraction except from my doggie who likes to play a LOT! And Tuesday I will have quite a bit of time on my hands as Paul will be having a surgery in the morning and likely sleeping off anaesthetic in the afternoon and evening. Painting really helps me to keep occupied when life doesn't always go the way you hoped! It's great therapy for what ails 'ya.

I decided to post a photo of a watercolour painting that I have done recently. This one is of Chinese Lanterns - these are very interesting flowers - the pods dry to a vibrant orange colour around this time of year and you often can find them as dried flowers at the market. I haven't seen any in gardens lately. I understand they are quite invasive and they spread all over. I painted this (adding my own touches) from a step by step article in an art magazine a number of years back - the Leisure Painter. I love this magazine. It's truly one for beginners and has so many step by step tutorials. It's on my "have to buy" list every month. I have QUITE a stack saved up!

Day 8 30 in 30 challenge

Nuthatch

Colored Pencil

Look at this!! I'm actually posting a finished painting on the proper day :-) This is a coloured pencil painting that I did in an online course. Actually the background is done with pan pastel so it's officially a mixed media painting. The design is by Patsy Deal. I love doing birds and wildlife so I enjoyed this piece. 

Day 7 30 in 30 challenge

Three amigos

Acrylics

6x6

personal collection

So a lot of my paintings take more than a day to paint so I'm posting one I painted a while ago. I found these cute baby swans on one of our regular jaunts to the beautiful park in Stratford Ontario. I think I have more swan pictures than any other kind of photos - including the cute squirrels and birds in my back yard!! 

Day 6 30 in 30 challenge

Sooo... pressing on today with getting samples ready for my upcoming ByDesign painting class for teens... I painted this simple canvas art bag for them to carry their stuff back and forth to classes. They will learn the basics of painting on fabric as well as mixing paints to learn the colour wheel. I love creating lessons where the object painted on is useful!

Day 5 of 30 Old Roses still life

In the fall I will be teaching a teen art class for ByDesign Academy in Bloomingdale. This will be one of the projects in the 8 week course to be held on Tuesday nights. If you know of a teenager who loves art and who wants to learn to paint with acrylics, please let them know about my classes.

Stay tuned to see more painting projects I'm working on for this course.

Day 4 of 30 in 30 challenge

This old barn is falling down more and more every time I go by it. It was the perfect subject for a pen and ink drawing. I did some oil rouging on it to add in the colour. 

Day two 30 in 30 challenge

This is the second painting in the 30 in 30 painting challenge put on by Leslie Saeta.

I painted from an actual plant in my studio and I added a china bird that I have. I looked for it but couldn't find it when I wanted it, so I drew it into the painting.

I thought I'd include step by step photos this time. I don't think it's quite finished but almost :-)

30 in 30 Challenge

This is my first painting in September. I have decided to enter Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 challenge - which means I will be trying to paint 30 paintings in 30 days...In reality it may be fewer than that but I'm going to try to keep it up this year.


Some of my paintings will be quick and easy paintings and others will be ones I have worked on already for quite some time and I will try to finish them up this month. Some of the participants have a theme but I don't think I will have one. I just want to get more paintings added to my own personal original body of work.

As a Decorative Painter I often paint designs that other artists have created - using their line drawing (with permission) and loosely following their instructions. I usually have a pattern packet or I'm taking an online course from the artist, or I'm using their design packets or published books. It's a great way to learn new techniques and skills. Then I apply what I have learned to my own designs.

This painting is my own original - painted from a still life set up in my studio.

What I'm working on this summer...

This summer is flying by and there is SO much to do to get painting classes ready for this fall, I've been painting quite a bit to get ready for you and your friends! I'm also starting to teach some Art Parties for adults and kids in the Kitchener Waterloo area. Check out my website and my newsletter to find out all the details!

Last Friday I did an art party for a Bachelorette party at a local restaurant. There were 16 guests. It was so much fun. The bride chose a cute picture of an owl and everyone had a hoot!!

My hubby came along to help out - he was the official paint squirter and water changer. He has said several times how much he enjoyed the evening. Since the group was made up of close friends and family there was one man in the group and he seemed to enjoy the project. He admitted that he hadn't done any art since high school. Maybe this will inspire him to pick up a pencil or paintbrush and get back into a wonderfully relaxing hobby.

These days there is so much stress in life, and so many things pulling at us competing for our time and attention. Painting is a wonderful way to beat that stress and escape for a couple of hours or true enjoyment. When you have a brush in your hand and you're doing something creative you will find that you can leave all those problems and demands behind as you concentrate on enjoying some ME time.

Start with a painting party or a beginner class (starting in September) and see how easy it is to learn to paint. Step-by-step! It's easier than it looks!

Try it, I promise you'll like it!

Making your day artfully beautiful!
Deb E