Ahh, a new year. For the second time, I chose to do another daily month- long challenge to draw and/or paint from life, put on by Strada Easel. I was first told about this by some of the great folks over at the Plein Air Painters of Idaho (PAPI) in early 2021. I did my first one in September of 2022, to largely positive results. It has been hard to stay motivated to paint through the winter months. This is largely due to my own shortcomings, but I'll pretend it's simply the cold weather. After all, doing Plein air in these temps means the water and paint freeze. This challenge was to help me get back into the daily effort of painting. Even when the finished product isn't perfect, painting is always good!
Some reflection on the first 15-ish days (samples posted above). I was trying to play with color and subjects more intentionally. I found myself particularly challenged by using my typical plein air palette. A lot of the colors were looking muddy and kind of weird. Further, I found a problem with some of the Strathmore watercolor booklets. I had only learned from Colleen in Carson City that there is a front/back to watercolor paper and it's kind of a big deal. Some of the pages in the booklet has the back facing out. I emailed the company, and they even responded. Turns out, several of their products may have these qualities, and I'm left wondering if maybe I'm the one who doesn't know what I'm talking about. Shrug
I started to get bored! For the latter half of the month, I switched my color palette to a basic three colors and only three colors. A red, blue, and yellow. This was much more challenging and fun. I decided to start #playingwithmyfood by dressing up pickles, pomegranates, pumpkins, and apples. Peg legged pickle pirate makes their debut! I had a lot of fun on this leg of the challenge and will go back to paint in more details and deeper colors and shadows. Overall, the challenge was a lot of fun and I learned much. Best part? I got back to the basics and was making art for fun!
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