Tag: September Skies

Posted on

30 Days of Daily Painting

Have you been following on Instagram?

If not, let me catch you up quickly.  I entered the 30 Day Strada Easel Challenge to paint or draw each day from life and post daily.  I chose to begin the month of September only using black and white.  With my Copic Sketch Markers, I used only 3 values in greyscale to sketch.  Some days I used pencil.  I even tried black and white paint! (see September news)  But, by Day 15, I was really missing color in my paintings!  That’s when I broke out the red and repainted the hummingbird study (it sold) and more paintings with color followed after that!  

What did I learn from this Challenge?
1.  Painting is my job.  I will show up every day for work.
2.  Drawing in grayscale is basic to seeing the darkness or lightness of a color in life.   Thumbnail sketches before painting are key!
3.  Drawing from life helps me work faster because the conditions change so quickly!
4.  Weather influences my art. 
5.  There are many artists posting on Instagram. Group challenges like this give opportunities to meet wonderful comrades in painting!

Time to pack these daily artworks, 11×14 and smaller, away! If you see one that you like, message me — I will send you a better uncropped photo of the painting so you can see it better, and make you a deal! …  I am ready to move on to some BIG Canvases!

Posted on

“September Skies”

melaniestokesart.com
September Skies
26×30 oil
$400

Day 21 of 30 – This was a FULL day and I never picked up a paintbrush.  But I did present a program about my paintings.  And I did observe the “September Skies” as I came and went, thinking about how I would paint them.    This, one of my favorites, was painted several years ago.   I always notice clouds in September.  There is something about the way that the shadows get longer and crisper in September, something about the billowy look of the clouds as they float by, changing shapes as quickly as one realizes that summer is gone!    The change in the clouds and atmosphere each September reminds me of a day, thirty seven years ago today, when we stood in a hot cemetery for my mother’s funeral.  It was a sad season, with beautiful clouds overhead, clouds that surrounded me with comfort.   They still do, today.