2 Weeks - 14 Paintings

This past fall as a way to capture the beauty of my gardens, I decided to give myself a challenge: a painting a day for two weeks.

The challenge was this: to do a painting each day, to paint quickly and not to fuss over details. Sometimes a person tends to over work a painting, which often leads to undesirable results (or as we say, mud). 

When painting quickly, you must make fast decisions, and execute them faithfully.
Here are the results of my two week challenge.

2 weeks - 14 paintings	Sunflower
Brown Eyed Susan	Pears from our Tree
Mr. Pepper	Hibiscus in Vase
So Gladiola	Bloomin' Calendula
Fall Cololurs	Apple Pie Anyone
Grape Vine	Maple Leaf
Bella Dona	Cosmos
Hibiscus	Each Painting Acrylic on  Canvas Board 8 x 10" $99.

I encourage you to try this exercise, even if only for a week.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Bird on a Wire

As I sort through some of my earlier work on the computer, I thought it would be fun to paint the same subject, using a different medium. The original "Bird on a Wire" was painted using watercolour paints, as you can see from the texture of the paper.

I've always liked this painting, so this past week I decided to paint it again, but this time using acrylic paints.

I started out, as I usually do, scrubbing a warm colour on the canvas, followed by a quick sketch.

Then I started adding light glazes of colour, blocking in the fence post and the prairie grasses. Next I painted in the sky.

The barbed wire was fun to do, twisting it around and dropping in highlights where the light would reflect. On my sketch (above) I had a bottom row of wire, but decided to omit that, as I thought it would block the viewer from entering the piece. Plus it didn't really do anything for the painting.

I changed the bird from a blue bird to a blue jay, with a little bit of attitude, his feathers ruffled from the prairie winds.

The remake of "Bird on a Wire", 12 x 14"
This one and other "Prairie Whispers" can be viewed in my gallery.

Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan

Elevating Experience

It all started when I was asked to do a commission painting of the elevator in Kelliher, a small community in south east Saskatchewan.

I was thrilled and gladly took on the challenge. I completed the piece in November and sent it off to the clients. They both loved it. I found that painting it also brought me much pleasure, as I recall fond memories of riding with my dad in our rickety old truck, back and forth to the elevators to drop off loads of grain.

I went out and bought three more canvases, 12 x 16" and started another, and then another and then another. They are great little paintings, each with a character of it's own and each a familiar location for me. For ordering and purchasing information, please visit my online gallery.

If you have a photo of an elevator that you think would make an interesting painting, I'd love to hear from you, as I continue on this elevating path.


Till Next Time ...

From the Prairies, to the West Coast and Beyond...

Susan