Day 30

'Daddy Cool'
Ink on Archival Foot

Mrs Saeta told us to paint something fun for the last day so I am blaming her! This is a collaborative piece incorporating my husbandos foot, ball point pen and a very cheap pair of petrol station sunglasses - this piece is not for sale :)

Day 29

'Life'
1100mm x 800mm
Oil and Ink on stretched canvas

This is the big one that has occupied me for the last couple of weeks. I couldn't get a proper shot of it as it is a bit wet still. It isn't quite finished but its nearly there. I have signed it and put it aside before I go completely mad, but it will be my day 29 post :) In the background you can see part of my dishevelled (thats a big word) studio with various unfinished projects :) It is going to need a big cleanout after the last 30 days!

Day 28

'One Blue One Brown'
30cm x 30cm pastel on reclaimed colourfix

This doggy nearly drove me nuts today - her uneven markings and different coloured eyes made it so difficult to get her nose, ears and eyes spaced properly...so I gave up. Near enough I decided and had fun with the colours in her scruffy coat instead.

Day 27

'Brumbies'
30cm x 40cm reclaimed colourfix

Brumby is the name we give to our feral horses here in Australia. They are such a part of our history now they are actually protected in some places.

Day 26

"Happy Australia Day"
25cm x 15cm primed matboard

Wow, this one was really tricky, but I did say I would paint it for Australia Day so here he/she is :)
I think I will call her Matilda (Waltzing). Not sure I did this Bobtail Goanna justice but it was fun anyway. I am so annoyed at myself for missing another day (25th) but I am hoping to catch up at the end of this challenge with the two big pieces I am working on. If nothing else, this challenge has pointed me in the direction of some awesome art blogs and artists who I am thoroughly enjoying following :)

Day 24

'Bad Hair Day'
25cm x 15cm dark green colourfix

This is just sillyness :)) Alpaca, Llama I don't know...I think I will save the goanna for Australia Day which is on Sunday...I just liked the crazy look in this ones eyes :)

Day 23

"Untouched"
20cm x 15cm reclaimed colourfix

Didn't think it would get done today but here is no.23! Tomorrow I think it will be the Goanna...

Day 22

"Moovie Star Looks"
25cm x 15cm Pastel on Aubergine Colourfix

Ok, bad pun but its no. 21 (I missed one) :) This Zebu is obviously in touch with its inner goddess, a bit of pink eye shadow and some eyelash curling...

Day 21

'Wake Up Call'
25cm x 15cm Sand Colourfix Paper

The final countdown - 10, 9, 8........ Got up early as usual, but this morning I got straight to work on my daily. I am so fortunate to have a fantastic view, we are in the hills,  facing West. This view is looking out from my studio. We get amazing sunsets, but I love the mornings, the sun is just up and the street lights are still on, and the houses where there are people up and about  have their lights on. You can't hear the hustle and bustle down below, so you can just appreciate the display :) This is the little guy I found sun baking outside this morning, I nearly stepped on him! He (or she) is a what we call a bobtail goanna, but they are also known as shingle back lizards. They are a quite large type of skink and when they are defensive they open their mouths and hiss, showing their huge blue tongues (yes, some people also call them blue tongues).
They actually make good pets but I prefer to leave them in my garden to eat the snails :)

Day 20

'Bull Study'
7cm x 7cm Terracotta colourfix

I am having a bit of a play with leaving parts of the final piece unfinished. I love the colour of this paper and painting this small does't seem to lend itself to detail so its another interesting exercise, and a different direction to pursue...:)

Day 19

'Rolled Sunshine'
15cm x 25cm Sand Colourfix paper

Yep, I missed a day, I feel like a bit of a failure :( Too many other commitments (not to say they weren't fun though). Maybe I will try to catch up by doing two tomorrow (maybe). Anyway, when in doubt go with what you know, and rolls of hay are an old fav of mine :) Thanks for looking :)

Day 17

'Night Visitor'
pastel pencil and ink on sandpaper 8cm x 8cm

OK I know its not much but its all I could fit in today :)

Day 16

'Road to Nowhere'
8cm x 16cm
primed matboard

Past the halfway point! Today I did a mini :) It was all I had time for as I am fighting with my oil at the moment...aaah well, at least I did fit in time to adjust the pastel from yesterdays post and I feel it is more resolved now (see below). Let me know what you think :)

Day 15

'Shabby Chic'
50cm x 70cm pastel on soft umber Colourfix

I really shouldn't be calling this finished, but I wanted to leave it alone for a little while as it was in serious danger of being overworked and I wanted something to post for today. I think ALL of the foliage needs fixing at least. Backstory - this little house around the corner from us has developed a lovely patina from years of rampant neglect, the sort of Shabby Chic look that people pay money for!  :)

Day 14

'Koi Polloi'

8cm x 10cm  Ink, Texture medium, Pitt Pens, Gold leaf and Opal Dust

Day 14 and I am starting to feel a little low on ideas! I was a couple of paintings in front for a while there and the pressure was off :) Now I have shifted gears on my larger pieces and I have to really do some creative squeezing to get my daily done. Today I managed to start the second layer of my oil painting, do my little koi painting, mow the lawn, do 3 loads of washing, sweep the paths, move ten barrow loads of mulch and pick up parts for my broken car (not necessarily in that order) and now all I have to do is cook dinner and walk the dogs...phew. Below is a progress shot of my large landscape...thanks again everyone for all the lovely comments, I am really enjoying looking at everyones blogs, there is some talented people out there that for sure :)

Day 13

'Boobook Feather'
coloured pencil, soft pastel and charcoal on terracotta colourfix

I haven't actually used much coloured pencil (my daughter is the pencil artist in the family) and I was surprised at how quickly it filled up the tooth of the sandpaper, so I had to use soft pastel for some of the lighter colour. It was very relaxing not standing at an easel, just sitting in my kitchen :) (in the aircon)...below are some shots of the big canvases I also have in the works at the moment. I am hoping to finish these by the end of the month too, so wish me luck! The square is a large mixed media piece and the one on the easel is the block in stage of an oil landscape piece. we shall see...

Day 12

"Splendid Wren Sketch"
15cm x 10cm brick Colourfix

Another stinking hot day today - 41 degrees C before 10am - yuck! Our power went out last night and of course it had to be the 'hottest night on record' yay (not). After a long sweaty evening and another hot day ahead, this was all I had in me for day 12. Having said that, it was a fun little diversion, just not terribly detailed, just quick and loose, really a sketch more than anything. Now I am going to pour a nice cold drink with extra ice before the power goes out again :)

Day 11

"7 MORE Little Frogmouths"
30cm x 60cm soft pastel on archival matboard

Sooo hot today, the mercury is set to reach 44 degrees C (111.2 Farenheit)! I am staying inside in the aironditioning, using my table easel, watching the telly and painting!

This is another repeat of a previous piece I did for youtube. I have done a few of these now as they are quite popular, sometimes three birds sometimes seven. Every one turns out quite different, different chicks are sleeping or squawking and I use a varied palette each time...they are really only intended to make you smile, they are not accurate wildlife depictions, just silliness really and fun to paint :) However, seeing is believing, so here is a picture of a real Tawny Frogmouth chick - you must agree, they are pretty weird (and cute). I hope they made you smile :)

Day 10

"Drift"
40cm x 50cm
Oil on stretched canvas

One third of the way through...this challenge has been interesting in so many ways, forcing me out of my comfort zone to try some new things. One thing I never considered though was thinking up 30 clever titles! :)

Day 9

"Going Nuts"
15cm x 15cm Oil on Canvas paper

Real Honkey Nuts

For anyone who is familiar with Australian trees they will recognise these little blighters. Anyone who has been bushwalking here or has one of these trees in their garden will have been hit in the head, had them shower down on their car or slipped on them! Redgums and Marri trees to name a couple, can drop hundreds of these things a day, pretty much year round. Don't ask me where the name comes from, no one knows :) I chose these because they are a simple shape and nice colour and I wanted to try out Julie Ford Oliver's Fracturing technique. Wow it is tricky, but a lot of fun! I definately didn't do it justice but if you want to see a master at this style check out her blog. I don't know how you do it Julie, but thankyou for sharing it with us :)

Day 8

"Darling Haze"
50cm x 80cm Oil on stretched canvas

Ok, so technically this is not a new painting altogether. It started life quite a while ago with a different background and foreground, the only saving grace was the tree. So out came the oil paints this morning and I am so glad they did. I used more of the colours and problem solving techniques that I normally use when painting in pastel, I basically asked myself "what would pastel do?" hee hee! I am really happy with this piece now, two hours of  painting turned this painting around, thanks Mrs Saeta! Without this challenge this would have sat in the forgotten stack of failed paintings :) I love it when that happens! I forgot to mention - the title comes from the name of our mountain (hills really) range, the Darling Ranges.

Day 7

"Silos"
Soft Pastel 70cm x 50cm Terracotta Colourfix

Is it only 7 days? How do you people do it? :) This is a close up view of the silos from previous paintings I have done of an old abandoned chicken farm nearby Nicky Rd Farm). I used some Colourfix Primer on the main shed to get some texture. All the straight lines were fun (not) :)

Day 6

"Woven Wisps"

Colourfix 25cm x 15cm
 

I feel a little better about todays effort. Its funny how working in different mediums changes how you think about things. When I work in oils I tend to go for more muted, natural colours but when I use pastel I go a bit nuts!

day 5

"Forest Awakens"

25cm x 50cm

reclaimed Colourfix


They don't call this a challenge for nothing! Another piece squeezed in, no masterpiece but it is a painting none-the-less :)

I am in awe of all the other artists in this challenge that post a wonderful, finished piece everyday! Mine are small and sometimes they feel a little unresolved and awkward, but I am still enjoying the ride!
 It doesn't help matters that I have also committed myself to two large scale works on canvas at the same time, but I am thinking that these small works can only help me by motivating me to go into the studio everyday (my studio has two glass walls and a glass ceiling and at this time of the year it is quite hot so I am trying to paint first thing every morning)...thankyou to everyone who is following along with me and commenting, it really is encouraging :)

The photo below is my setup for tomorrow morning, I found a little abandoned birds nest in my potted Ficus so I trimmed the branches off and  have pinned it to my easel for inspiration. Its a lovely little artwork all on its own.

tomorrow's setup (fingers crossed)

Day 4

"Mist and Solitude"
Soft pastel 25cm x 15cm dusty pink Colourfix
 

Not sure if I am that happy with this piece, but for the sake of the challenge :)

Its quite strange but I have noticed that some of these smaller pieces take almost as long as larger ones...I think it is because I have to rethink a lot of my strokes and atmospheric perspective is a lot harder to achieve. Not complaining, just musing!

Day 3

'Light Through the Reeds (large)"
70cm x 70cm sand colourfix

Ok so day three is here, I know this looks very similar to a previous piece I did but I swear it is not the same one! I did a you tube of a smaller version of this piece (which is now hanging somewhere else)  and my other half liked it so much I did a big version for our family room. It is surprisingly difficult to repeat something so abstract, and trying to remember the colours I used was tricky too...

Day 2

"Trickle of Light"
25cm x 15cm Pastel on Olive Green Colourfix

 

In the interests of completing the 30 day challenge I am keeping these small, much smaller than my usual...I think this will be an interesting learning experience and I am so glad I signed up!