#30 - Magnolia Blossom

I had a lot of fun with this one. I am really loving painting flowers in general. I am thinking of starting a series of them. Maybe the 50 state flowers... hmm maybe.

29th Painting - Mourning

I'm listing this as the 29th painting, but it probably is closer to the 20th.

Last fall, it was comming up on the anniversary of the day I lost my late husband, and I was thinking of him. This is the result. Kind of like an outpouring of emotions. After I finished the painting, I posted it on wetcanvas , then put in on the drying shelf in my studio, and promptly forgot about it.

Recently, someone on wetcanvas commented on the painting, which reminded me that I never posted it on the countdown. Rather than go back through and re-number everything, I've decided to just add it.

Although I don't feel it is my "greatest" painting, I do feel it is the one that shows my emotions the most so far. I miss him. Will always miss him. But I do try to go on.

The recent comment hit me as kind of funny. Not funny ha ha, but funny. You see, the painting was made for the anniversary of his dealth, and the comment was made (reminding me of the painting), on his birthday. I believe it was his way of letting me know he misses me too.

28th - 1st Floral - Peony

I found Wetcanvas' Floral / Botanical section. There are some amazing artists there. They, like most of the other groups, have a monthly challenge. The flowers were so beautiful I decided I needed to join them in the fun.

And it was fun! I loved it! I did my initial drawing, and tried something new. I did an underpainting and them went to very thin glazes of color. I am loving this technic and will definately paint this way again.

I am pretty happy with the way the flower turned out too. Although I am sure it is not technically completely correct. It is an atractive flower and has some pretty good depth. So I like it. I'll have to paint some more flowers! I've already started searching Wetcanvas' reference library for the next one.

27th Painting - Montebello Quebec

Another from the landscapes monthly challenge featuring snow. Since it didn't have another naked tree, it was much easier form me. I am pretty happy with the painting in general. And it doesnt hurt it was painted pretty quickly (for me), only taking about a week including drying time.

26th Painting - "Ghost of Trees Past"

"Ghost of Trees Past" is my first snow painting, as well as, my first naked tree (tree with no leaves). This was so much harder than I anticipated I can not tell you!

The Wetcanvas' landscape section has a monthly challenge to paint with different reference pictures. It is really interesting to see how everyone paints the same scene so differently. I finished the painting this morning... it was from the December challenge. That right there should give you a hint as to why the painting is named what it is.

25th Painting

Ok, when I finished this one, I finally hit 1/4 of the way to the 100 paintings! Yeah! It really is an accomplishment for me since #1 - I painting very slowly, #2 - I paint with oils so it takes a while to move on to the next layer since I have to wait for paint to dry, #3 - my life is just crazy lately and I seam to have even less time to paint. Really, I have been "retired" for 5 years, wouldnt you think I would have more time to myself? More than a maybe a couple of hours a week?

Grumbleings are done now.

This is the 2nd in the "light" series. I'll still do more I am sure. This one has a bit more color and the trees are better, but I still do NOT like my trees... practice makes purfect so I'll do more.

24th Painting - Frosty Boy

Frosty Boy is a local legend. The communitee counts down the days till Spring watching the sign for the "opening ..." After its opened for the season the sign of summer says " ice cream ..." The sign also heralds in the fall season when the sign changes yet again to " closing..." and on to winter with the signage posts as " closed for the season".





The teenagers go "hangout" at Frosty Boy, the adults meet up at Frosty Boy and the elderly give directions with "just past Frosty Boy" in there somewhere.





So when our plein air group decided to paint in my home town, I knew exactly what I wanted to paint! Most of the group (not from there) thought I was crazy when I insisted that although yes, there were tons of great old buildings and landmarks in New Palestine, this was the most famous, and should be painted. Mostly the group conceded and joined me in painting this wonderful place.





It was a beautiful early fall day and we painted well into the afternoon. Usually our plein air group goes virtually unnoticed, not when we were painting Frosty Boy. I think everyone who walked, biked, or drove by us stopped, looked and commented. Adding more and more stories about Frosty Boy. I believe by the end of the day the rest of the plein air group understood why I felt this one was so important to paint.

Btw, incase you noticed the background, in November, a local gallery showed all of the plein air group's paintings in a month long show. It was pretty cool my first show of sorts.