Daily Painting

I am getting a bit addicted to this daily painting business. Though, just like exercise and meditation, if I don't do it first thing, it hangs over my head and then I "get it in" before the end of the day, to check off the box. Not a good thing. I want to feel from within that I should paint - as I do exercise and meditation. Not there yet. This is from today's paint site with the SCVWS group in downtown Pleasanton. It was a grey overcast day, but the sun came out and toasted my back and lit up the building, creating lovely shadows just when I needed shadows in my painting. Thank you, Sun. Then it went away again. After painting, we all met at the Firehouse Arts Center a block away to check out the California Watercolor Association's annual exhibit. It was fantastic. Original works from some bigwigs from the watercolor world were up on the walls - Alvaro Castagnet, Michael Reardon, Thomas Schaller, Brenda Swenson.....very impressive line-up. And I discovered some...

Doing color studies helps me visualize the harmony of the colors. Surprises still happen with color mixing on the paper, but they are good surprises. I do think that the last color study had a better "fill" - the figures were larger relative to the space, and there were less interstitial spaces. One change I made from the color studies to this larger painting was the orientation of the space. In the studies, the space is oriented 45deg, resulting in an isosceles triangle in the top right, and more dizziness for the viewer [and artist :-( ]. This shows a 30-60 triangle and shapes are more irregular as a result of the 30deg orientation. I do love the grays in the sidewalk - all from three colors. In fact, the entire painting is done with three [unusual] primaries. The color harmony that results with a limited palette is just beautiful.

I took a photo inside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on New Year's Eve a few years ago when we spent the day in San Francisco, hopping around - SFMoMA, eating out, ice skating, and waiting to ring in the new year. The image - almost contre-jour and black and white as a result - with many others, lives in my INSPIRATION folder. Yesterday, I did a value study - the patterns and shadows are stunning inside the museum and outside - the inner granite stripes speak to the crosswalk outside. Then I did a few color studies - small sizes. Today I worked on a larger painting - how I love the square format! This is so right for a square.

I am painting daily, but not posting daily. Too much work to photograph in good light the same day [especially if I paint in the evening], crop, email myself, post, etc. Listen to me whine. The big work is done - the paintings. This is from a photograph of a cafe in Paris. I tried two paintings with different emphasis and cropping.

I saw this scene on the Embarcadero, leaving San Francisco after lunch at the Ferry Building. It was raining - everything was gray. It made the values easier to see. The value study is strong, but the first attempt does not heed the value study. The second painting I am pleased with - it follows the value study much better, and is loose as it should be.

My last 2018 outing with the SCVWS Thursday plein air group. I tried to be loose, light, and airy with this piece. A woman came and chatted me up - for really long - and I wanted to get back to painting. I had my brush up in the air, drying as we spoke, and the light rapidly changing...... must find a way to gently excuse myself next time.

Monochromatic study of Istanbul. This year, I will also focus on titles for my watercolors - not as an afterthought, but with much thought.

Very similar words phonetically...yet what a world of difference. I am still forcing myself to paint daily - I dream of it all day, but feel tremendous pressure actually picking up my paintbrush for that old fear of failure. But I am aware that this journey/feeling is to be enjoyed as well. When I'm past this point, it will be a different journey altogether. This is what I read on the Vipassana website: ...it is difficult to eliminate fear by first looking for results even before one invests the effort enough to see the change...just being aware that you are of this habit pattern of the mind of doubt or self-doubt can be a real strength in re-invigorating your determination to not be overpowered by it. January 2: January 3:

Happy New Year! I went looking online for a 2019 daily watercolor challenge to try and force myself to paint more, and paint more regularly. To perhaps try and live up to the name of this blog :-| I didn't find an online challenge, but have taken it upon myself to create a self-imposed daily challenge for the month of January. Without setting too many rules - I started yesterday, and enjoyed my January 1 painting of urban Chinatown so much that I decided that perhaps each week of January ought to have a theme. Week 1: Urban. Of course, it is more important to paint what inspires me ad lib rather than adhere to an ad hoc theme. I am hoping that subsequent months of (dare I say) daily painting will become easier if I paint daily in January - don't they say it takes 21 days to make a habit? Not to mention, the improvement in skill by painting daily will be a continuous loop of encouragement - at least in January for now. Ultimate goal: daily painting each of the 365 days. Wh...