Here Are All 30 and Done!

I am happy happy to display this finished body of work!  Thirty paintings posted in 30 days; a great thing to do during this extra wintry January.  There will be another round of 30 in 30 in September and again next January, so will be looking at doing this again.

I am trying out a program called PicMonkey and created this collage to display the 30 paintings that I posted during January.  The program has a free one week trial so it was tempting to give a whirl.  I have been on vacation so did not get to post my finished collage to the 30 in 30 site, but oh well.  This challenge was all about meeting my goals and I did.  I posted all 30 days and that feels good!  And by the way, had a great time on vacation!  

Day 30! End of the 30 in 30 Challenge

Day 30 in the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge!  The morning started with an incredible sunrise so it was only fitting to honor the last day of the Challenge with a painting of the canyon sunrise.  It is a treat each morning here as I sit and read and watch the changing light on the Snake River Canyon!  The Perrine Bridge is in the distance and the canyon walls reflect the morning light.  Different each day!

Day 29 - A Drive By

This winter scene was painted from a photo I took while riding in the truck and thus the resulting name: A Drive By.  With iphone in hand, I often snap pics of scenery for later painting consideration.  Many times the drive by photos turn out to be nothing of consequence, but sometimes they are great.  And there is that handy delete key for the dogs!  These photos give me a quick reference and a sense of the place. I see the shapes and relationships between those shapes which is the key to good composition. Having photos that I can easily crop and manipulate in the iphone editing program is a real bonus to quickly finding a composition to paint.

Day 29 of the 30 in 30 Challenge!  If you go to the Challenge site, check out the painting by Cindy Gillette, number 32.  It knocked my socks off!

Day 28! Closing in on the Finish!

This is the winter that never seems to end.  We did  a road trip to Montana and found that we have a lot more snow piled up at home than we saw in the areas around our destination in Ennis.  Great place Ennis, small town with a big heart and good restaurants!  The snow there had melted during a slight warm up, but now it is extra cold and the river is frozen over with ice jams.  The sweet waitress in the drug store/restaurant said there was not much to do since her horse didn't like to go out in the cold!  They are looking for a break in the weather there too.  Fishing is slow and not even the fly shop folks say they are going out.

This small farmstead piece above is my salute to the hardy farmers and ranchers who go through this kind of winter and take care of animals and their families under harsh winter conditions.  Rural America!  A wonderful place!

Check out the postings on the 30 in 30 Challenge page.  Getting down to last chances to see what other artists are posting.  I am having fun viewing their art and making new art friends!  

Day 27! Late Post - Better Late than Not at All!

We have been to Montana and back, but I am determined to post to make my 30 in 30 Challenge goal even though it is late and I am tired!

This little 4x4 canvas piece is a look down our lane at one of the houses in our neighborhood.  It was fun to finally do a painting of it since I see it most days and have thought about painting it for a long time.

Day 26! Closing in on 30

This piece done on a 4" x 4" canvas covered with Watercolor Ground depicts one of the amazing snowy views in the Silver Creek area.  It is a beautiful quiet place with winter covering every bit of the landscape.

Day 26 of the 30 in 30 Challenge.  It has been a good run and closing in on the finish line is showing me that posting each day is doable.  Good to know!

Day 25! Robins Clean Up

The flock of robins are gone and the tree branches have been stripped of their fruit.  Great!  So glad that we had a food source for them.  It brings the question, where are they now?

And it is Day 25 of the 30 in 30 Challenge.  Five days left!  Take a look at the site where you will see other post by Challenge participants.  I especially like the post by Kim Smith, #9.  She knows birds!  Check it out!

Tiny Apples - Winter Scene 24

Good thing I painted these tiny apples yesterday!  The apples grow on an ornamental apple tree outside my studio window and have provided me with color on otherwise grey days.  Yesterday we had snow again, and a flock of robins descended on our trees and this morning there is not an apple left.  The tree is bare!  We had great fun taking photos of the robins even though they were hard to catch sitting still for long.  I do have some reference photos and will attempt a watercolor using the birds as subjects.  A bright spot in a day of shoveling.

Day 24 in the 30 in 30 Challenge.  Check out the site for a look a some work by my fellow 30 in 30 painters.

Sunday - Day Twenty Two

One of my favorite places to paint is up Murdock Creek near the SNRA headquarters north of Ketchum.  Good  painting views there, winter or summer.  There is a small gurgling creek and a great hike to high mountain lakes!  Looking forward to doing that one again this summer!  Also there are nice places to camp all along here.

Day Twenty Two in the 30 in 30 Challenge!  Check out the website for the Challenge here.  I am especially enjoying the abstract pieces done by Challenge creator Leslie Saeta.  She posts each day and her theme for this challenge is to do a piece that might be a fit for one of the houses done on the Fixer Upper Show on HGTV.  Very creative!

Day 18! Still Winter

This is Day 18 of my posting to the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge.  I saw some really nice pieces on the site yesterday and recommend that you go to the site and check it out here.

I chose the theme Winter Scene for the Challenge, and it is definitely the winter for it!  More snow reportedly on the way today.  Must get out to get a few pictures before the shoveling eats up my time again. I need new material!  And I do have aspens in my yard and I see from my studio window that the light is good right now.  Gotta Go!

Another Sweet Barn - Day 17 of 30 in 30

This is another piece done at my Second Tuesday painting session.  Interesting the difference I am seeing in the color results by using my travel palette vs. my at home palette.  I am getting softer color on the canvas 4" x 4" block for who knows what reason!  Most of the colors are the same in both palettes.  Maybe it is the smaller well.  It does explain the lack of value in some of my on site sketchbook paintings!

This is my Winter Scene 17 for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge.

Day 16!

The Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge is pushing me to paint every day.  I am appreciating the discipline and frankly that January cold that keeps me in the studio.  This is another small piece I did at my 2nd Tuesday painting group the other day.  Painting ahead helps to take some of the pressure off since the painting I did yesterday still needs work or a do over!

Day 10! 30 in 30 Challenge

The record snowfall here and in the Sun Valley area has inspired me to stick with these aspen snow scenes for the present.  The 30 in 30 Challenge   is in full swing and I am happy to report that I am on track.  I recommend that you check out the website (here) to see the pieces displayed by the talented artists who have signed up for this thirty day run.  It has been fun to follow the links to blogs of artists I haven't run into before.  Some great work going on all over the country!

Monday Morning

Day 9 of the 30 in 30 Challenge and enjoying the discipline of posting each day.  I have been visiting the blogs of other artists in the Challenge, and am having a great time learning about new artists and the creative things they are doing in watercolor and other media.  Great way to start the new year.

Beginning of Week Two of the 30 in 30 Challenge

Learning a lot as I work my way through this 30 in 30 Challenge.  I do love aspens and I love painting snow from my studio view over the reality of shoveling it from our driveway!  

I am working to get the shadows to move along the dips and valleys of the snow banks and drifts.  It means direct study of the snow when those shadows appear.  Hello sun!  Where are you today, I need some help here.  Another storm on the way, and along with it, flat light!  No help!

Day 6 - Cold and Crisp

Got up to -9 degrees this morning!  Good day to stay in and paint! I am working on more pieces for the 30 in 30 Challenge and will be posting them this month.  This is Day 6 and painting!

This piece is one of the Creek Series that I am working on from places along the Big Wood River in and around Ketchum.  My husband is a fly fisherman and takes great reference photos for me while he is out.  Fortunate for me, since it is much too cold for me to set up along the stream.  I have read that vodka in the painting water helps with the cold.  Hmmm.

30 in 30 Days

I have joined the 30 in 30 Challenge offered online.  I will be posting paintings of winter scenes that I paint each day and will hopefully improve my skills along the way!