Day 10 30 Paintings in 30 days

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Day 10 30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2017

Some days it's all about slinging paint around for the fun of it.

 Alice Edwards 1949 --
The Loner
8" x 6"
oil on canvas boardc

Days like that are for invention pure or otherwise. Imagination running amok covered with colours. 
Days without turning it all into a job of work but playtime pure and simple. So today I invented a tree just for the h*** of it.

My only concession to reality today is snow because I love it and there's a lot of it falling from the sky at the moment. I'm cool with that.

So did ya sling any paint about with great abandon today?

I did.

Reminder 30 Paintings in 30 Days

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30 Paintings in 30 Days in Jan
 
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Day 9 30 Paintings in 30 days Jan 2017

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Day 9 30 Paintings in 30 Days - available pm me

Teddy bears are sacred. Most kids have one of some kind or other. Some adults sleep with one or keep them in plain sight in the bedroom feeling just a little safer knowing 'Teddy' (or fill in the Blank) is still watching over them.

The comfort offered by these creatures, (which sometimes doesn't actually look much like a bear anymore, that's when they are in disguise you see) is universal.

Alice Edwards 1949 --
Teddy
8" x 6"
oil on canvas board

Most times when a new baby comes into the world the first gift is a teddy bear.

Some people collect them, There are whole teddy bear communities out there and some very serious collectors. There are shows too. 

There's a teddy bear, exactly the right teddy bear, for everyone out there somewhere.

When I was a little girl I was given a record of ''The Teddy Bear's Picnic'. I loved that song. I still know all the words, " If you go... " I can heard the song in my mind as I type these words.

I didn't have a teddy bear I had other things but my daughter got me one. So did my son. I still have them both.

When I go see a brand new baby you better believe I bring one as my first offering to the new life that baby is, has and represents.

Do you know where your Teddy Bear is?

Day 8 30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2017

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Day 8 30 Paintings in 30 Days

A good book is my great escape. Always has been. I've read a lot of books in my time both good and bad.

The truth is I'm a word junkie. In moments of desperation I've read the labels on cans and bottles.

Just words anywhere anytime pretty much but in a good book with a terrific story is as good as it gets. In fact better than most vacations I've been on.

AAlice Edwards --1949
A Good Book
8" x 6"
oil on canvas board

Books have helped me keep my mind when my world turns up side down. They've kept me company in times of loneliness and sorrow.

Books have educated me about the world I Iive in. The world that surrounds me has endless mysteries and stories, both plant and animal, human or stone.

People who like to read are intensely interested in life and are innately curious about everything.

So give us a good book that covers all the bases and we won't come out into this world until we understand the one between the book covers we're holding in our hands.

Day 7 30 Paintings in 30 days

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Day 7 30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2017

My Camera is My Friend

I've come to depend on my nifty trusty phone camera as a handy dandy pocket sized tool for my painting trade.

In the good old days you held the painting up to a mirror to see it things were working together well.

You did it to break the mindset that had you married to doing things a certain way, as though that was the only way which is a kind of blindness for a painter.

Alice Edwards 1949 --
Time for Tea
5" x 7"
oil on canvas board

You did it to rest your mind and to get a fresh take on the blankety blank painting. You did it help catch flaws in design, composition colour, values. You did it to find the problem areas and so on.

Occasionally, if the Painting Gods were in your corner you could see the good things too.

That last is a really tough thing for an artist. We're notoriously hard on ourselves and our work.

You're always looking to fix things and you can wind up fixing the thing to death. I know because I've done it. We all have especially in the beginning of our learning curve for painting and drawing.

So where does the camera come into things?

When I photograph a painting and it's reduced to phone size. I immediately see if it works, if it reads well. I see the oddities in composition, design, colour, value and various size relationships. Things jump right out at me.

Then I have it, the HaHa moment, right before my very eyes.

When I know what the problem is I can do something about and it'll all look better.

Saves me a lot of angst.

Day 6 30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2017

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Day 6  30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2016
  Imagination
Studio life can involve a great deal of imagination. Or more accurately imagination can save the day. My day at least.

I innocently got busy setting up a still life. That seems to be my thing the past few days. Found a wine glass I liked, found something smoothish for the background in a basic very dark burgundy I knew would be easy to adjust if the painting called for it.

Chased the dog off my drawing chair. He was looking mightily offended when he left the room but sacrifices must be made for art. (I'm just glad it wasn't me making the sacrifice today)

Sat down thinking I might do a few thumbnails ( tiny drawings where the painter makes decisions about he painting before beginning to paint ) for a change when I realized I'd left the grapes at the store.

Alice Edwards 1949 --
Study: Glass and Grape
8" x 6"
oil on canvas board

This is where imagination saved me mixed with some painting experience.

No grapes. Wanted grapes to go with the wineglass. So ... I drew a a few thumbnails putting grapes and other glasses where I thought I might like them.

Decided on simplicity. I didn't want to go back to the store. It was getting too cold out there for this puppy. So.... I picked the thumbnail I liked and proceeded to invent a grape..

After all this series of painting exercises are not just about a studio habit it's about experimenting.

So in the end I experimented. I'm not utterly satisfied or completely dissatisfied.

But I learned something today about a truism I've heard all my life.
Necessity IS the mother of invention.

Hope you're having a good time painting!

Day 5 30 Paintings in 30 days Jan 2017

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Day 5  30 Paintings in 30 Days Jan 2107

 
Imperfect vegetables are taking over our   country.

All my life I can only remember perfectly rounded green peppers, straight carrots and non lumpy this or that in the vegetable bins at the grocery store.

Not only that, the powers that be had certainly made it known to our Mother the Earth that only perfect would do. Of course, this is only clear now.

Alice Edwards 1949 --
Wonky Veggies
8" x 6"
oil on canvas board

Those of us who grew up with vegetables growing in our home gardens knew it 't'warn't so'.

But eventually, we bought in to that idea only to discover lately imperfect vegetables have been plotting all along to push those 'hoity toity 'perfect vegetables out of the stores and off our dinner plates.

Who knew vegetables had a mind of their own? Anyone who has ever watched Mother Earth grow things knows that.

In the end, vegetables, fruits and the grasses and trees will take back the earth and keep it green and growing unless we mend our ways.