Happy 75th, M&Ms!

Here’s a little painting that I had sketched for the January Challenge. It was just waiting patiently on its easel, crying out for me to finish it before this weekend’s Open Studio.

Happy 75th, M&Ms! by Beverly Shipko, Oil on wood panel, 5 x 7 inches

This painting turned into a commemorative painting marking M&M’s 75th birthday, and the special pack marking this milestone.

It took a few mistakes for me to internalize how much the package changed. At first, I didn’t realized that the logo color has been reversed. The M&Ms logo in the special pack is white instead of the standard brown.


Out of habit, I started painting the logo brown late last night. I was struggling and I didn’t know why. When I finally figured it out, I wiped off the brown. This morning I repaired the damage.

Happy 75th, M&M! makes me smile. I’m not exactly sure why. Do you?

Collage from 30/30 Challenge, 2017

At the end of the 30 Day Challenge, it’s traditional to make a collage of all your images. It’s an opportunity to look back and feel a sense of accomplishment for a job well done. It also brings a sense of closure.

This time around, I was determined to include all 30 paintings. Here’s what I came up with.

Assembling this collage took a lot more time than expected given I had done this before. There’s a learning curve to www.PicMonkey.com, as there is with any new software.

When I went back to previous collages (Collage of 30/30 Challenge PaintingsCollage from the 30/30 ChallengeMy January Personal Challenge Collage), I realized that none of them had 30 works in them. Either I didn’t make it to 30, or I left out a few in the interest of the overall design, as I did below with this 17 painting experiment.

 

To include all 30 paintings, I used a simple 5 x 6 grid of 30 squares, a basic format that was provided free online.

Every painting has equal weight and a square format, irregardless of the original painting format.

As I got used to the software, I came up with a collage that somewhat preserved the horizontal and square formats. Some of the images are larger at the expense of others. I thought this might be more artsy (artsy PicMonkey formats required payment so I had to build my own). Maybe it’s more cluttered. But it’s time for bed.

So I ask you: What’s your favorite version of the collage? That will give me a starting point for the future.

Thank you all for coming by, and for all your encouraging support and feedback during the Challenge. It’s much appreciated and kept me going strong throughout January. Every once in a while I got discouraged, and your reassurance helped me regain momentum – which I’ll now use to explore new avenues in 2017.

Day 29. Gina’s Oreo


Practice makes perfect. So here’s another Oreo drawing, this one bitten by Gina.

Like Margie’s Oreo, Gina’s Oreo was bitten as an entry into my Oreo Cookie Contest held during my Open Studio. I’m considering doing a painting of this too. Maybe you’re even looking at the contest winner!

I first met Gina Thorne when she walked through the door in 2015. Gina was in charge of programming for the Scarsdale Artist’s Association, and asked me to do a Just Desserts Talk and Painting Demonstration. It sticks out in my mind because I enjoyed speaking in front of a group, especially about art and niche marketing, which you can about in The Sheer Joy of Just Desserts. At moments like these, my yearning to be an artist history professor re-emerges.

This particular Oreo was chosen because of the way it split into 3 pieces, yet it still looks like a classic bite. I’m almost finished with it, but I have to put it down tonight since I’m getting up at 6am tomorrow morning. – and it’s already past midnight. I’m going to the Awakenings Fair in Manhattan.

When I come home from the city, I’ll darken the craggy edges but lighten the dark “hotspot”, put in a little shadow on the white filling, and add more contrast to the rest (aka darken it with a softer drawing pencil).  Then I’ll be all set to start my Day 30 painting.

Or maybe I’ll wait a few days so I can start my next painting before my eye doctor’s appointment on Monday.

Unfortunately my eyes will be dilated part of the day, and I won’t be able to paint. If I hadn’t waited months for the appointment, I would have re-scheduled. So my planning finally went a bit awry. I’ll just add this to my lessons learned. No eye doctor’s appointment during a painting challenge!

I have a painting in mind for Day 30 that I simply have to do for myself, and you’ll probably find it intriguing at the very least.

Have I piqued your interest? If so, come back tomorrow.

Day 23. Lighthouse at Sunset

Lighthouse at Sunset is a momento of our sunset cruise out of Portland, Maine this past summer.

This was one of many lighthouses we found in our search for the Elusive Lighthouse Photo. After painting a lighthouse during the daytime, I thought I would try a lighthouse at dusk, against the dramatic orange and purple sky. Known as Bug Light for its small size, the Portland Breakwater Light has great views of the city’s skyline.

I’m lucky I got a painting done at all yesterday. Jay and I had a lovely time at the afternoon party. Then it took me a while to settle down and recalibrate.

Before dinner I had about 90 minutes. Here’s where I stopped to eat. At this point, the lighthouse was much lighter and the paint much thinner.

I kept going and thought I was done at a reasonable hour, though I would have liked more time (and daylight!) to experiment with grayish purple in the sky. After cleaning my brushes late, I came back into the studio and took a last look. The lighter grey backlit lighthouse didn’t fit with the integrity of the painting.

Then I darkened it so it was more in shadow. While I was much happier with the overall look, the paint became very wet and the drawing more imprecise. I forgot to paint in part of the roof on the lower fenced walkway, but the painting was too wet to attempt it. I will next week.

I like this painting more in person. I mixed a purplish grey for the cloud and water, but it comes through too strong in the photos. I took way too many photos this morning to try and get it right. Sometimes paintings just don’t photograph well. Or maybe I was just kidding myself because the camera doesn’t lie.

So I starting researching colors other artists use for clouds. After reading about Old Holland Blue Grey on an artist website, I decided to order it before I start a car hood ornament painting that has grey background clouds in it. Old Holland is still my favorite brand of paint, and naturally the most expensive. The blues are stunning but subtle. Not surprising since Holland is home to striking blue Deftware. The Dutch know their blues!

On to the next painting. I have the whole day so I can try something more intricate. Wish me luck!