Follow me on my 30-day painting challenge.

Painting or drawing from life on consecutive days poses challenges, and sometimes the need to try something new.

Hello friends,

Welcome to this latest installment of my occasional (i.e. monthly) art newsletter. My objective with this newsletter series is to show you art that I’ve made and other art that I’ve seen and am inspired by. I haven’t seen or studied much art other than my own as of late!

I hope the changing season is treating you well wherever you are. Here in New England, the summer heat lingered, and then turned to rain and thunderstorms. But one of those recent 90 degree days was surely our last of 2023.

Read on for my thoughts about my recent art selling experience, my current 30-day painting challenge, and a reminiscence on one of my very first oil paintings.

YART SALE RECAP

Back in the middle of August, I participated for the second time in the annual Somerville Arts Council Yart Sale. I set-up in my driveway with my paintings displayed on tables and hung from the porch railing and backyard fence. I practiced this set-up for the first time a year ago, and am happy with how it turned out. Unlike last year, the neighbors on both sides also participated in the Yart Sale.

Foot traffic was steady during this event, which lasted just a few hours, from noon until 6:00 pm. I estimate around 150-200 people passed by. I sold 13 pieces, which was about double what I sold at this event last year.

Neighbors on the right hand side made it a family affair, sold Martin’s (the dad) paintings, as well as Emma’s (the adult daughter) photography. And the household on our left hand side showed and sold the kids’ pour paintings:

The neighbor kids gifted us the red piece a couple of years ago, and we bought the blue piece during the recent Yart Sale.

Some pieces from the Yart Sale are still available on my website, which I updated recently to include a few new works. Please feel free to be in touch with me if you have questions about anything you see there, or on Instagram.

30-DAY PAINTING CHALLENGE

For 30 days in September, I’m painting from life (outside, still life, interior rooms, or self-portraits, for example) each day and posting to Instagram as part of the Strada Easel Challenge. Strada is a plein air easel company, and twice per year they host this online challenge in September and January. The main rule is that all painting or drawing must be from real life, and not photo, video, or Zoom. The main objective for those who meet the challenge criteria is entry into a drawing for a new Strada easel. I’m also doing this to keep up my artistic practice and make new connections with other artists online.

Check out my first few daily paints:

A few paintings from the past week or so, all painted from life either indoors or outdoors. All are available for purchase. Send me a message through my website if you have interest.

Thirty days of painting is a fairly big challenge that requires some planning (and back-up planning) in order to fit it in around everything else one does in daily life. For example, during the first week, I found myself changing plans due to the heat and then due to thunderstorms, but it pushed me to try painting interiors for the first time. The pressure of a daily commitment is good in many ways, and leads to new ways of thinking and problem solving, which I appreciate.

I also tried my hand at self-portraits one day this past week. I started by creating several drawings with a pen, and then I created several painted images with gouache (a thicker water-based paint). I’m trying to find a style that is loose but not cartoonish. I’ll keep at it. Here are my results from a recent session:

Some of my self-portrait practice. I have enjoyed and benefitted from the Monday drawing sessions hosted on Zoom by Drawing is Free. See more on Instagram @drawingisfree_org.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

I took my first oil painting class with Lauren Kent back in the summer of 2018. I was interested in learning more about oil painting materials and mediums, and Lauren’s six-week (?) course was a great starting point. Our class met in her studio at Joy Street in Somerville. One exercise that Lauren led us through was to pick an artist’s work to imitate. This is a well-known art instruction method, sometimes referred to as “paint like the masters.” I remember doing something similar as a high school student, and I’ve recently heard references to other professional artists who do this to maintain skills.

I chose my favorite contemporary Montana artist, Theodore Waddell. I have admired his work since the time I lived in Montana as a college student and young worker bee. I chose to paint a small segment from the 2014 work, Gallatin Buffalo, which is part of the collection at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming. I love this loose, contemporary style of landscape painting, and it was a fun challenge to mimic the colors and brush strokes. One quickly realizes that it is easier said than done to render the abstraction of a buffalo without creating muddy blobs. I pass by my painting regularly in my home and consider it one of my favorites.

My 2018 study of a painting by Montana artist Theodore Waddell. I appreciated this painting exercise, and it's still one of my favorite paintings many years later.

Theodore Waddell, Gallatin Buffalo, 2014. Oil on canvas, 54 x 60.

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about my work! I’ll send out another newsletter in mid-October.