Week 2 of 30 day Painting on the Same Canvas

My thoughts for this week:

Entering the second week of the challenge with a complete paint over.  I love Black gesso and it occurred to me that I could paint over everything from week 1 with Black gesso and then see what happened during the following seven days.  This could be brilliant or a disaster, but it is only paint and can be covered over.  I am trying to embrace abstract painting and it is a challenge.  I was thinking about it this morning and abstract painting reminds me of algebra (which gave me loads of problems).  I am an accounting type of person, so my natural inclination is to paint something concrete; flowers, trees, birds, etc.

Day 8
Black Gesso, Golden Interference Paint, Gold Paint and Golden Fluid Acrylic for drips

Day 9
Acrylic paint, Patti Tolley-Parrish Pod Stencil, Stencil 101 border stencil

Day 10
Added Alcohol Ink splatters to the painting, knocked back with light wash of white
Gesso.

Day 11
Gesso, Acrylic Paints, fine liners

Day 12
Addition of color blocks using Silks Acrylic Glazes

Day 13
Mark Making with black stabilo pencil and black grease pencil,
Stencil girl club flourish stencli

Day 14
More mark making and subtle changes with white gesso

Observations for the week:  This week started out with painting black gesso over the entire canvas.  The colors of last week disappeared but the delicious texture remained.  While the black was start, the introduction of color during the remaining days brought out stunning changes (if I say so myself).

I place the canvas where I can live with it all day, I find that I really enjoy looking at the changes each day, but I am not married to it meaning that I am eager to make changes an see what will happen.

I am still a little tentative in my approach.  I hope that by then end of this challenge I will be less tentative and more go for the gusto.

Week 1 of 30 days of Painting on the Same Canvas

I cannot take credit for this concept.  A wonderful Artist, Judy Wise, introduced this process I believe it was in August of this year (2015).  She worked on a large canvas for 30 days painting on it.  Some days changing the entire canvas and some days just making changes to various portions of it.

I loved the idea and decided to try it.  My plan is to paint on the same canvas for 30 days from October 14th to Nov. 14th which is my birthday.  I am posting a picture everyday on Facebook.  However, I will be posting a blog post weekly.  I have not decided if it will be a different post or an update to the same post showing the next week's work.  I will have to give that some thought.

Day 1 Oct. 14
Gesso, collage and acrylic paint applied with room key.  Love the effect

Day 2 Oct. 15
Acrylic paint applied by hand, no brushes were used.
Fluid Acrylic was applied in a line and sprayed with water to get drips
I love drips  

Day Oct 16
Covered with layer of Clear Gesso to keep colors true
Used neocolor II water soluble crayons to get deeper colors
Orange acrylic paint with stencil
Seth Apter stencil for work timeless
Sprayed watercolor to get drips and used circle stencil to wipea away color on the blue

Thinking about the artwork that I am doing.  It is not related to a class or the example of someone else, it is all me and that to me is amazing.  It is really intuitive because I do not know what I am going to do when I sit down to work on the canvas.

Day 4
Gesso and Acrylic Paint
Kept small portions from Day 3

Day 5
Acrylic paint, charcoal and SprayInk

Thoughts about day 5:  I have the canvass where I can see it all day.  I was looking at it and it occurred to me that I should turn it sideways and get another perspective.  Had thought about using circles today and I wanted give them depth.  Tried my hand at the charcoal and smoothed it with my finger, it gave the coolest shadow.  I have to remind myself that this canvas will change in someway tomorrow so do not get too attached.

Day 6
Acrylic, Pebeo Dyna Flow Acrylic, molding paste and stancil girl stencils

Still working on the side but I wanted to add some texture with Molding paste.  I wanted the circles to stay for a while so I added the texture inside of them.  I liked the effect.

Day 7

Background paint Acrylic, destress stain painted on the molding past images and sprayed with water
circles used as  border distress stain

Week 1 has come to an end.  Some observations:

1. I really like this process
2. I am painting with out a class, the format, color scheme, everything is all mine and I am so happy with that.
3. cannot wait to see what happens in week 2 although I think, I will spend this second week building on the base of day 8.

Seattle 2015 - Who am I really????

I posted these photo's a couple a weeks ago while I tried to decide what I was gong to write about them and the experience with intuitive painting.  My mind really wasn't in it and I could not figure out why.  In fact I really did not feel like doing a lot.  I had a lot of obligations that I had to keep up with and I kind of walked through them on auto-pilot.  What was the problem?

I finally figured it out.  Two days after I returned from my wonderful trip to Seattle, I had to go for my yearly Mammogram.  This mammogram is very important because it helps to tell if any tumors have surfaced since the last one.  I was completing year 4 of my journey through breast cancer.

My appointment with my Surgical Oncologist was scheduled for Oct. 7th.  So I had to wait two weeks to get the results.  Let me tell you that those two weeks are really nerve-wracking.  I felt good, but then I felt good 4 years ago so that is not a really good barometer.  I did not want to portray a lack of faith, so I pretty much waited quietly praying for positive results, and getting myself spiritually and emotionally prepared if the new was not good.

Oct. 7th finally came and the news was good.  "See you next year" my doctor said as she left the room.  I shed some happy tears, another year clear---moving toward year 5 and all of its implications.

Today, I felt drawn to comment on these paintings

Mountains of the Southwest

Do you see me now

First, I have NEVER named my paintings, but felt called to do so.  Mountains of the Southwest is painted on a 24x24 canvas is a depiction of the Mountains I see everyday.  The mountains surrounding Las Vegas do not have vegetation and yet they are majestic and beautiful.  I have never painted a scene like this before, but, I thoroughly enjoyed this process and want to do it again.

Do You See Me Now is one of those "where did that come" from paintings.  I was having so much fun with this canvas, putting on paint, spritzing with water and letting it drip.  Then I saw a face with haunting eyes,  I put gesso on the area to block out the face and body shape.  I decided to spritz some more and the black drip went onto the face.  ARGGGGH and Oops.!!!!  I wiped the black like off the forehead and added more gesso to the face.  I looked at the black drip on the cheek and it look like a tear drop, it touched me and I decided it had to stay. So I added on more black and dark paint to move the body into the background and let the face be the focal point.  As I think about it, this painting is very personal and shows the impact of the past 4 years.  The part of me I never let people see.  Most of my paints are bright and cheerful. However, there are times when I do not feel bright and cheerful, when I feel vulnerable and afraid, when tears roll down my cheeks.

I am finally beginning to understand releasing your feelings in your work.  When you are not thinking  about it, it happens.  I have this yearning, this feeling that things are about to change, that I will begin to see life through a different lens.  I do not know what this all means, but between October 8, 2015 and Oct. 7th 2016 I plan to find out.

Thanks for visiting and watch this space........pilgrim