A Painting

I was at a beautiful little show at Coquina Beach (on Anna Maria Island) this past weekend and brought my paints and a few canvases with me.  As I was working on this little blue boat behind my tent, unbeknownst to me, someone was watching me.  She came around to the front and said - how much?  I want that one.  I wasn't finished with it.  She and her friends had looked around the show, eyed a few things they wanted, and were now going to go to the beach (just a few steps away) for a while and think and talk about them.  She said I could finish it while she was gone.  Pressure was on now.  I did finish it, she did come back, and she did purchase it.  It was a really gorgeous weekend here in FLA - the beaches were pretty full since it was around 80 degrees during the day.   (And this is part of my 30 in 30, although I've lost count as to how far behind I am - I doubt anyone is counting!) 

THREE & FOUR/THIRTY

Trying to catch up, and unfortunately - NOT keeping with my goal of doing only knife paintings.  Oh well - the story of my painting career.  Once I think I know something. . . . I don't.  I overworked these boats - and it shows.  I'll try again of course, after the frustration subsides some.  These pears were a complete re-do.  They hung in my booth the last two shows and I was never happy with them.  I took them down and painted over them last Sunday while at the show.  Then - yesterday I tried them with a knife and came "this close" to putting the knife right through the canvas.  Instead, I went outside to the water hose and hosed and scrubbed all the paint off.  I put them in front of the dehumidifier to dry and started over yesterday afternoon.  I guess I had calmed down by then, because I was much happier with this one.  I guess you have to know me to know about some of my meltdowns. . . . Luckily - I snap back pretty quickly. . . Hope to have numbers 5 and 6 by the end of the day.

TWO/THIRTY

TWO/THIRTY

Well I'm 2/30 of the way there.  I am frustrated and struggling - but not necessarily with my painting - it's a long story for another day.  All in all, I am enjoying this 30 paintings in 30 days challenge and am really enjoying all of the other paintings being posted, most of which are nothing short of awesome. 

One/Thirty

ONE/THIRTY

I committed to do this challenge, and I'm going to do it if it kills me.  After a bit of thought and changes of my mind, I decided a couple of days ago (or was it yesterday???) that I would do nothing but knife paintings for this challenge.  I have several reasons for this decision, and I will save those reasons for later posts, so I will continue to have something to talk about as time goes on!  haha - like I ever am at a loss of something to say.  Sooo, anyway, here is #1.  I'm not particularly pleased with it - it was an experiment basically, but since my power was out yesterday, and I was not home all day today, and I don't want to get behind (which is bound to happen), I wanted to post something.  This is mighty child-like if you ask me, but at the very least it gave me practice with the knife.

I realized that I posted this assuming everyone reading my blog would know what I was talking about.  This is part of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  It's not a contest and the rules are flexible.  About 250 artists have signed up, and we are all basically challenging ourselves to paint more.