Cheers

The last painting in the 31 day challenge - finally!  I have painted every day, although I didn't finish a painting every single day. Hopefully I learned some things along the way, and now I'm happy to go on to some other projects. But first,  I get a little reward ;-)

Grain Fed

The second to the last one! I bought a loaf of "take and bake" bread the other day, but I didn't read the direction that said to freeze the bread if you weren't going to bake it right away.  Four or five days later, I popped it in the oven and it smelled divine! It looked completely beautiful when it came out too. Nice and crusty - yum! But on the bottom, I noticed a big green area. So disappointing! Never one to waste, it ended up serving another purpose, and I learned a lesson. But I can't wait to go buy another one and bake it right away this time!

Legs and Hair

I rarely buy carrots with the tops intact. I don't see an advantage other than aesthetic pleasure, the feeling that it's fresher perhaps? We know why I did it now though:-) They were fun models and I'll put them to good use tomorrow, maybe in a soup. With a ton of fresh snow, that seems like a good use.

Red and White

I painted this for a friend, hoping it might be something she would enjoy. Turns out, I was right :-) Painting still lives is always an education in color and texture. This was fun, but a toughie!

It's Only Wine

I really wanted to include the little brass llama, but it got voted out. Oh well, he's been in another painting and I'm sure he'll get another turn. No hard feelings, little guy.

Tea Rose

My Aldi's bouquet is earning it keep. Every day I think that I will paint during the day, but I rarely do. Nothing wrong with being a night owl, except it allows me no wiggle room for later when I look at a painting with fresh eyes and see... something. I occasionally make changes even after I've posted something. That's a confession.

Saturday Roses

You never know what you'll find at Aldi's. We made a quick trip there today and I saw these luscious pink roses for under $4.00! The only place that can top that is Trader Joes, but that's almost two hours away. So, a quick painting today, and maybe another tomorrow. 

Are You Ticklish?

It's usually not a great idea to have an even number of objects in a composition. I was challenged this week to try it and I took the bait. Gotta use up these beets, after all. It feels OK to me and it's kind of quirky, which I like.

Fallen Rose

Hello neglected blog. I have been painting, but not posting. When I post, it's arranged that my image is picked up by DPW and I haven't felt like putting stuff out there lately. Well, suddenly I'm back in the game.

Wild Flowers

Today my husband stopped along side of the road and cut some flowers for me - WAY more than you're seeing here.  He told me he had to drive home with the windows down because there were so many bugs. It won't be long until all the bugs are frozen and the flowers are finished, so I intend to appreciate them until the end. I crammed a fraction of them into a jar and did my final painting. Every day I've at least leaned something about my materials. Today, fore instance, I had to start over after turning my first attempt into a mud pie. Thus my fantasy of wrapping this up early was smashed. Like a bug.

Water Woman

Today I took a welcome break from still lifes and painted out at a park. I got to meet up with the gals I spent last summer painting with and it was just great. The weather was pleasant and I was in good company.  And I knocked out a painting in a timely manner. 

Anniversary Flowers

I ran to the farmer's market this morning because I wanted some gladiolus. There weren't any - maybe they're done? I didn't leave empty handed though. I found this pink and orange combo, snap dragons and something else.  I predict that it won't last very long, but it's dramatic right now. This is our 39th anniversary, by the way. That seems incredible and another good reason for flowers.

Tree Tops

The first day of autumn and it was really hot and windy.  I still wanted to paint outside, rather than set up a still life. I compromised and painted out a window. looking up at the tree tops across the street. Lesson learned - there are interesting things to paint right in front of me.  This was actually fun and it went pretty fast.  It's small, but I could see painting something similar on a large scale...

Want Lemon with That?

I still feel duty bound to use my lemons. I poured some tea in this glass because I thought it looked a little ambiguous. Maybe you think it's something more adult, huh? Very hard to get a photo without glare. It's not that bad in real life. 

Lemon Bowl

For some reason, I have a tough time with lemons, more so than with peaches, oranges, grapes... So, I guess it's a good thing that I'm painting them. 

And Then there was One

My bouquet is showing it's age but I found one elegant flower that wanted to be painted. Thank you flower. ( The colors in this photo are a little off.  The background is greener and the bud is not as yellow. Hmm.)

Go Ask Alice

Every time I take on one of these challenges, there is a daily drama called, "What am I doing to paint!?" My helpful husband saw this in the yard and it seemed like a good idea.  Really hard to avoid the glare in the photo though.

Flowers from the Farmer's Market

The farmer's market is at it's peek and today was a beautiful day. I spotted this very robust bouquet that I think will give me some good practice with flowers.  It was fun be use so much bright color.  I'll put them in the garage for the night and go at it again tomorrow. Sweet dreams.

Just Add Pasta

I discovered today that my tomato plant has 1000 tomatoes. I had kind of lost interest in it, but now it will be a tomato with every meal. This is actually my second painting today. The first one was a disaster and got scraped.  Happens frequently.

Just Peachy

I wish I was a morning person, but I'm just not.  I seem to need to wait until the world has quieted down before I can  paint.  Nevertheless, I'm fairly happy with this one, and now I get to eat the peach.