Well, I finally finished the #indexcardartproject!  It’s about a month late, but that’s okay.  It really didn’t need to be completed in a set time and I found I didn’t want to rush through it.  I was enjoying these little studies and I didn’t want to miss the lessons along the way, simply because I was hurrying. One reason it’s taken me so long is that I’ve already been using these studies as inspiration for larger paintings, which was the whole idea in the first place. I really enjoyed the freedom I felt from painting on a “disposable” surface.  I was looser with my brushstrokes and more experimental with my colors.  I learned a lot about composition, value, and the magic of impressionist-style painting.  Seemingly random strokes look like a scene when you take a step back. For the last one, I did a study of a James Kroner painting.

Through the month of March, I’ve been working on the #indexcardartproject with two of my Instagram friends – @mishwooderson and @openfieldmercantile .  It’s been such a great exercise for me in a lot of ways and I thought I would share my thoughts and takeaways so far. First off, if you want to get into art in any capacity, a project like this is a great way to do it.  It’s a commitment to consistency, not to creating anything great or frame-worthy.  It’s about learning through putting pencil-to-paper so to speak.  And, with just 17 cards done, I have already learned a lot.   Here are five of the areas where I feel like I’ve grown the most. one | shapes I’m learning to focus on the larger shapes of a subject.  I seem to be able to do this with certain things, but I get bogged down with the details

My whole oil painting journey started with a challenge.  Michelle Wooderson, a watercolor artist I took a class from through Jeanne Oliver’s artist network, started the #100meadowsproject as a way to dive into oil painting.  I really wanted to learn and I figured the best way was to put paint to canvas, so I joined her. Another Instagram friend, Page Ellis, took on the challenge as well and the three of us encouraged each other and shared our research, trials, and victories.  I sent them so many pictures of bad paintings and they always found something nice to say!  Anyway, I learned a lot during that project…  everything from the discipline of creating daily to how to handle the paint better. I followed it with the #100oilstills challenge I set for myself.  And I learned even more from my mistakes and successes, as well as from online classes and art books. Lately,

In case you don’t follow me on Instagram (or you missed it), I wanted to share that I finished number 100 of my #100oilstills series!  It’s pretty amazing to think that I have painted over 200 oil paintings in the last year, especially since it’s just a side hobby. And, I was so pleased that number 100 turned out as well as it did and I could clearly see how all of the hours put in at the easel between numbers 1 and 100 have paid off. One of my followers on my art Instagram account said it was like a bouquet of yellow fireworks, celebrating the achievement.  I loved that description of it. As a comparison, here is number 1 and number 100 side by side. Since progress is my goal, I would say that goal has been met. I have continued doing still life paintings since I have

I really wanted to write this post on the one-year anniversary, but I was in Italy on that date and have been posting mostly about my trip, so I missed the boat.  I really didn’t want to let this milestone pass without a post about it, so better late than never.   After about a year of dabbling with watercolors and sketches, I started oil painting in earnest last September.  I had purchased most of the materials a few months earlier and they had been languishing in a drawer, mostly because I felt intimidated by using oils.  I didn’t know how to use them or even how to clean up after using them.  It is something I dreamed of doing, though.  I wanted to be an oil painter and it’s impossible to be an oil painter without painting with oils! An instructor I took a watercolor class from, Michelle Wooderson, wanted to

The last couple of days have been busy with birthday parties, Mayo Clinic visits, house keeping, and back to school shopping, so I haven’t had much time for home projects or for posting here on the blog!  I thought I would pop in, though, just to give an update on my oil painting. I started oil painting last September and the journey has been such a gift to my creative soul.  I don’t paint with any grand aspirations.  I paint because I love it and I’m thoroughly enjoying the progress I am seeing in my work.  The excitement at the visible progress keeps me coming back for more.  I still have so far to go, but I am “getting it” more and more with each painting and book and tutorial. I decided a few months ago that I would like to further nurture this new love and take an art