Before I tell you about Day 8, I would like to take a moment and celebrate the end of Week 1 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. This morning I lined all the sketches on my storage area (aka piano), and I couldn’t help but feel proud!
The End of Week 1 – 30 Paintings in 30 Days.
Later, Bonnie came home and commented that she really likes having this little paintings. I know exactly what she means, although I am hard pressed to articulate it at midnight (may have to finish this post tomorrow). As a group, they are impactful (more so in real life). Thank you, Bonnie, for coming up with a solution to my easel problem for the next few day by suggesting that we move the Lion King creatures off the the music stand and use that.
Here’s the final oil painting for today. (Jay, was that you who snuck a doughnut?) Since I am posting after midnight, you may have guessed that today was difficult. This was an ambitious painting that I started painting too late in the day, and then took a long break for a visit with a fellow artist (which I needed badly).
Day 8, ” Box of Dunkin’ Donut’s” by Beverly Shipko, Oil sketch on panel, 5 x 7 inches
I almost lost the whole painting since there was just too much pink and purple. This was one case where the selection of a pink acrylic underpainting was not optimal. Things would have gone a lot easier with a yellow ochre ground for the table, and maybe part of the box too.
You can see the some of the changes I made when you compare the photo and the painting. The turning point in the whole day was at 6pm when I painted the left strip yellow (a complementary color to the purples and pinks) and the orangey cake color on the donuts. After that, I focused on just bringing as much color variety into the final piece as possible.
Of all the paintings I have completed so far, this one has the most details in it that I would want to fix. I won’t, but I do reserve the right to finish the chocolate frosting stripes on the donut, which I simply forgot to come back to (looking a little ragged), and put a little shadow in the lower right hand corner of the box (where I put a line to remind me).
As I think about tomorrow’s painting, I know that I have to choose something simpler and less complex. I will be delivering a painting for an exhibit in the morning, and then we’re going to see the Holiday Train Show at the NY Botannical Gardens in the evening. That leaves about 5 hours in the middle of the day, if I’m lucky.
One thing you can be sure of – I’m not painting doughnuts. Until then.