Century Plant: 30 in 30 day one

This is my first attempt at a 1/2 sheet painting so it’s 15″ wide by 22″ tall.  my largest so far have been 1/4 sheet paintings, 11″ x 15″.  And no, I didn’t paint all of this today!  I started it last week and worked on it more today, so it’s a work in progress.  The greens aren’t as sickly yellow as it looks on my screen now, but it’s late and tomorrow’s another day to get a better in progress photo!

century plant in progress

Here’s my reference photo cropped from tons of photos I’ve taken of this plant.  I like the lines that move through the photo and the blending of the darks of the spines.  I’m quite excited to paint this, but I know I will paint at least another version of this because I”m not happy with my brushstrokes. I realize that because my paper is bigger, I need to use bigger brushes and make bigger puddles of pigment if  I want smooth color mingling washes which I do.  But at least this one is practice and reaffirming the color values that i need.

The 30 in 30 painting challenge is one that I’ve participated in twice yearly for several years and it is always a fun, challenging and productive month when I do it. Click on the link to see other people’s works that they’ve done today.  there are about 1000 artists all over the world participating this time.