5-Day Challenge: Day 5

I did it! Five days of going to the table and five pieces started!

Yesterday's results were, um, interesting. I ended up painting an abstract cityscape - I think - and it's very green:

cityscape - work in progress, 16x12 on mat board

The jury's still out on this one, but I'm OK with that.

The point of this week's little experiment was not to finish five paintings, but to simply show up at the table and that I did. I even learned some lessons and gleaned insights along the way - fodder for a post to come no doubt.

Thank you for stopping by and for leaving me words of encouragement as I reported on my progress. I had a lot of fun and I intend to do it again.

Maybe next time you'll join me?

5-Day Painting Challenge: Day 4

Day 4, still painting - and LOVING it!

Yesterday I had about forty-five minutes at the table again before heading out. I tried to continue Frida's face from Day 3 but it just wasn't happening.

So I picked up a piece I started in early February but never finished (also seen here when I blogged about Art-making Mantra #2):

work in progress, 12x12 on cardboard

The piece has been sitting on my studio shelf for five weeks. I liked the movement and lines in it so I kept it out hoping I'd eventually see - perhaps in a sudden flash of inspiration - how I could transform them into something interesting.

A few weeks ago I borrowed a kid's art book from the library called Looking at Pictures. On the very last page I flipped to a photo of Cézanne's Bathers. Bing! My inspiration.

Bathers by Paul Cézanne

Fast-forward to Day 4. After a fruitless try at Frida's facial features with about a half hour left I finally pulled out my library book with Cézanne's picture, my pastels (water-soluble) and a photo of another painting, by Degas this time for good measure, called The Tub. And I played.

No perfection necessary, just fluid lines loosely transformed into a woman's shape:

still a work in progress - now inspired by Cézanne, 12x12 on cardboard

Lesson learned: Even a small half hour can make a big difference.