01/31/16 21 Paintings Completed in 30 Days!

01/30/16 About Ken Auster

Today I learned that Ken Auster has died. I don't know why yet, but whatever it was from, he went as a young man. Probably early to mid 60 in age. Young in spirit too. I had the awesome pleasure of meeting him. Lanier and I were is Southern California a couple of years ago for me to attend a Heart Failure seminar. After class each day we would get in our rental car and ride around all over to see the area. I was able to hop out of the car to see art galleries while he would circle a few blocks and come back and pick me up. We did this for hours each day that we were there.

One day while riding around I saw a small sign that said "Auster Studio". I made Lanier stop in the middle of the road and let me out. I had followed Ken on Facebook and loved his painting style. I found his studio and walked in to discover Ken there at his desk working on his computer. He told me to come in and look around and I did. I was mesmerized. He had lots of  his "famous paintings" I had been seeing online hanging up and some laying on the floor against walls and stuff. We talked about them and he invited me to go upstairs into his actual studio and look around while he processed an order on his computer. I felt like I was in a sanctuary. His painting area was this large square surface piled with layers and layers of paint separated by wax paper. He had large caulking tubes for paint. His easel had a painting on it. He had started a painting of a street scene. He had a couch full of books and papers and sketches and stuff and covered with paint. There were surf boards in there. Posters on the wall. The place was packed with neat stuff. Ken's personal stuff. And there I was in the middle of all that all by myself and he was just downstairs. No one else was there. I was in Heaven. I looked at his books in the shelf rack on my way out. I felt like I better get out of there, like I had overstayed my welcome and started coming coming down the stairs. He met me at the bottom and we started talking about his work, how he started out with t-shirt designs and what he's doing now. He talked about his wife.  He talked a lot and I listened. He told me about online classes he was setting up, and took my name down. I bought his book and he signed it. I bought his DVD Intellect and Passion. He had run out of his other DVD or I would have bought it too. I thought about buying a painting but was too intimidated to ask his price. I wish I had bought one. He told me about The Pageant of The Masters and invited Lanier and I to come. The actual show had sold out, but he said we could go see all the art and artists and that he would be there. We went and it was the best art show I have ever attended. Lanier enjoyed it tremendously. We saw Ken there again and he remembered me and was so kind. He said he would keep in touch about his online class.

As soon as I got home, I watched his DVD. It was incredible! 

He taught me so much. "You paint what you know and use what you see as reference!"

You paint like a passion sandwich. First (the bread) you think about what you want to paint, you do your design, establish a focal, solve problems with composition, mix colors, all the intellectual stuff. Once all this is complete you move out of your head and paint with passion from your heart. (Meat of sandwich) Lastly (other slice of bread) you tweek your edges, add highlights, make corrections. 

When you think, you are rendering. When you paint, you are not thinking. Thanks for this Ken!

And now he is gone. So sad. So tragic. RIP Ken Auster. 

Day Twenty-Nine 01/29/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I love everything about pears! I love their shapes, their colors and the way they taste. They have so much variety to offer. I could paint these over and over again and never have two paintings alike! Sounds like a plan!

Day Thirty 01/30/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Well today is the last day of our 30 day painting challenge. I was going strong until I ruptured two discs in my neck with subsequent emergency surgery. I had to take about 10 days off, but then I got back at it. I have learned so much this month. I have gotten to know my brushes, my knives, my paints and different painting surfaces. I am trying to be more consistent in knowing my tools, my paint and my touch!

Today I did a quick fun painting, a rooster! He is Strutting, a great way to end! 

Day Twenty-eight 01/28/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days

I am recovering from neck surgery and was only able to hold out to paint 15 to 20 minutes. I know this is not very good, but it is my attempt today. 

Day Eighteen 01/18/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

My daughter Lindsey and her two precious children spent the day with me. Her nickname is LuLu. I painted this her in mind. She is so very special and I am blessed beyond measure to have her as my daughter. Now she is a mother and is doing a remarkable job loving and nurturing her two little ones!

I love you LuLu!

Day Seventeen 01/17/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is a floral I did with some abstraction. I wanted to paint something to cheer me up. I got some unfavorable test results back and I am facing urgent cervical spine surgery. Again! I had three levels done in 2010, now need three more. I was sure hoping to complete my 30 day challenge, but it is looking doubtful. My hope and pray is that I can get back to painting real soon.

Day Sixteen 01/16/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting are two ceramic pots. I found these in a magazine and fell in love with their shape and size. I wanted to order them for my art collection but they were too expensive. So I decided to paint them! This way I could place the painting on my shelf where I would have displayed the pots and in a round about way have the pots after all. My husband was thrilled with this logic especially since it saved our budget $700.00.

Day Fifteen 01/15/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

My all time favorite flowers are geraniums. Mostly because I can keep them alive no matter how much neglect they receive. They almost never fail me. I love the red ones the best. I even like the shape and colors of their leaves. I love to put them in all different kind of pots so that it looks like I have a variety of flowers on my porches, but mostly I end up with only my geraniums. The other flowers just don't last.
On this 30 day challenge, I am painting all kinds of new subjects. I attempted to paint geraniums once before, but ended up throwing away ( and burning) the canvas. I will try again and promise to share my results no matter how they turn out.
Of course I may come back and tweek some of these paintings next month. I may bring them into my Art class and have my instructor critique them. Or not.

Day Fourteen 01/14/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is a still life set up I did in my home studio. The first time I ever experienced an artist painting from a set up was at a workshop several years ago in Panama City Beach, Florida with Jo Ann Williams Walker.  She had some beautiful flowers in a large vase, some fruit, a bird's nest, other vases, a blue plate and of course a light. She asked that we all bring our lights. I had to go buy one as I never knew this was one of "the supplies" I should have been using.

She took special effort to arrange "the set up" and then positioned the light and said "let's begin."  I had no idea what I was suppose "to see".  I never knew the importance of light and shadow until she showed us. 

During this workshop she took us all to her private studio.  She showed us all the books she had collected over the years and all her paintings from her favorite artists and ones she was working on for galleries. I felt like we were in a magic place. I was in awe. So inspired. Some of my favorite items were the unique vases and florals she had collected to use in her set ups.  She told us that night to start our own collection and never pass up an interesting vase.

It has taken years for me to be comfortable doing a set up. But I have now done three or four and I know what I see, I know to see the shadows, to see where the light shines, to see the shapes. I am learning. And I have taken Jo Ann's advice, I now have my own collection of vases and florals that I cherish. Thanks Jo Ann for being such an inspiration to me!

Day Thirteen 01/13/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

A friend that I work with loves birds. She saw my blog and asked me to paint a picture she had of a beautiful red Cardinal sitting on a branch in a winter snowy setting.  The picture was breathtaking. I took on the challenge.  I have decided during this 30 days of daily painting I would get out of my comfort zone and attempt new subject matter. Here is my attempt.

Day Eleven 01/11/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

This my second attempt at painting birds.  I have lots of porcelain birds at my house of all shapes, sizes and colors. I picked this little guy and put him on a tree limb. 

Day Twelve 01/12/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

My third bird painting!  Still learning. I see lots of mistakes and not happy with the background. Oh well...moving right along.

Day Ten 01/10/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

My aunt Elizabeth has these three small boxes in her kitchen each with a small bird painted on each one. They get my attention very time I go to visit her. I knew one day I would want to try to paint birds. Here's my first attempt.

Chris Groves helping me!

I am at a workshop in Montgomery, Alabama and Christopher Groves is trying to teach me about underpainting.  That was a great learning experience that I will never forget.

Day Nine 01/09/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is from a setup I started in class. I love the color red, especially during the Holidays. I wanted to paint something for my kitchen area that had lots of red in it. I chose this arrangement. It makes me happy.

Day Eight 01/08/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

My family is from the Delta of Mississippi and my grandfather was a cotton farmer. We loved playing in the cotton as children. Now I use the cotton stems as decorations. They remind me of my heritage.  

Day Seven 01/07/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is of Red Poppies, one of my favorite flowers. My Art teacher Victoria Bush and I both painted poppies at class one day and I finished mine in my home studio. Her painting is amazing, so different than mine even though we used the same reference. I learned so much watching her and painting with her. I wish we could do that more often.

Day Six 01/06/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is of our precious dog Teddy Bear who went to Heaven last year. He was a Havenese with so much personality and sweetness. So cuddly. He developed diabetes, then cataracts and later blindness and liver failure. He was our love. Miss you Teddy Bear!

Day Five 01/05/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Day Four 01/04/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today I painted a picture of a photograph I took while at Indian Pass. My sister and I were attending the 2015 Forgotten Coast Plein Air Event. It has been our tradition to go to this incredible event each year and make it our little vacation away from our hectic lives.

We were down on the beach enjoying the end of the day and reflecting on what we had experienced so far at the Event. Earlier in the day we were at Michele Byrne's demo on "How to Put People in your Paintings."  We were very interested in learning this and trying it out.

The sunset was beautiful that night. People were walking on the beach. We decided to try what we learned, so we started taking pictures. This is my attempt to put people in my paintings.

Day Three 01/03/16 Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

The painting I painted today was taken very near where I live.  My husband and I were out on our kayaks one afternoon enjoying the end of a day. He had taken off in one direction to fish and I went to this area to take some pictures. I knew as soon as I saw this spot, I wanted to paint it. I painted it first on a 12x12 canvas at a workshop a couple of months ago.   I painted it again on a much larger canvas at my art class and today in my home studio on an 8x10. All three paintings are so different. I love that I remember everything about that day.  I hope it shows in my rendering.

Day Two 01/02/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

New Year's Day 2016

I started my New Year painting. I owe this to Leslie Byrd Saeta. I accepted her challenge to paint daily for a month. Usually I would be taking down Christmas decorations, cleaning, cooking and doing other chores and I would not get to painting.
I really have not gotten into a habit of painting at home. I have a place to paint, but it has not been my  practice to paint here much. I am going to change that this year.  I spent some time last week rearranging my home studio, I cleaned it out and set it up so it will work. And now I love being there. I get that feeling. The feeling to paint! I get inspired, I get excited. I am focused, I have purpose. It's going to be a good year. I just know it.

New Year 2016

I entered Leslie Byrd Saeta's Art Challenge to try to paint everyday for 30 days. I posted my first painting. I have never uploaded a picture to a link and labeled it wrong. Oh well. Life goes on. Maybe tomorrow I will get that part right. I guess you need to put the name of your painting in the "label spot".

Anyway I am happy that I painted! 

Happy New Year! 

Day One 01/01/16. Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge