30 paintings in 30 days! Day One of Seas and Skies

Day one of my “Sea and Sky” challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days.  $25.  5.5″ x 10″ watercolor. 

I am again eagerly participating in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. I did this the last time in January, and I really saw a difference in my painting skills. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so at that link.

My theme this month is “Seas and Skies” and this is my first offering. I spend a lot of my time these days watching clouds, figuring out how I would paint them, seeing where the lost edges (or soft edges where the colors blur) and the hard edges (where the division of colors is sharply defined. We were working on clouds in the painting class with Marie Siegrist over the past weeks, and one of her tips is to use a clean toothbrush in a circular motion to soften hard edges (once the paint has dried) to enhance the clouds. I’ve found that very helpful to do!

I created the texture of the mountain by scraping into wet paint with the edge of a chiseled brush handle.  You could also use a palette knife or credit card for similar effect.  The piece is only 5.5″ x 10″  because I did something I swore I wouldn’t do — Use paper left over to just play.  That’s when something turns out that you’re happy with, but is trickier to mat and frame.  Smile.

See other paintings from today’s postings and see the huge variety of work and mediums from artists around the world.

Please stay tuned for tomorrow’s painting.  They won’t all be gallery worthy work, of course, but the key is to paint every day and see your growth.  Hope you come along with me for the journey….