Month: February 2025
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Good Habits
I am singing the praises of the twenty minute sketch habit today, it really has changed my days for the better. By giving me a set thing to do first thing, I don’t end up overthinking and procrastinating about what I’m going to create, I just get the sketch done and the rest of the…
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Rules and Play
My 100 Day Project continues. Alla prima painting feels intuitive to me, but it does have some general rules, guidelines, whatever you want to call them, and I am using this project to figure out what those rules mean in terms of how to put the paint down. I mean I know the rules, and…
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Back To It
I got myself a new medium from Gamblin that is solvent free. It’s supposed to be a substitute for Liquin, and it definitely doesn’t smell like Liquin, which stinks, but it’s my first try with it, so I am not sure if I like it. I switched things up today in a couple of other…
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Early Morning Motivation
Today’s big challenge was getting this done before the arrival of a dog. He belongs to my folks, and this is his first sleepover since they adopted him. I didn’t think it was feasible to do timed oil painting with a somewhat high-energy dog, so I got up early and did not procrastinate, and got…
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100 Day Project Day 2
I started the art day with a twenty minute timed sketch, and this is feeling good as a way to start the day. I’m probably going to use that practise as a first sketch for my 100 Day one hour portraits, it’s a good way to get a feel for the shapes before starting with…
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100 Day Project Day 1
Today was very odd. Yesterday I was fired up and excited about starting the new 100 Day Project, and then today I was feeling very blocked. No, not blocked, tight. I know why – I am used to sharing my art here, and I’m comfortable with that, but this project also has the social media…
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Subtle Underpainting
I had a very productive and varied day in the studio today, and feel very accomplished. Yay. I started with my habit-in-development, a timed twenty minute sketch. It wasn’t particularly good, but the sketchbook is filling up. Next up I prepped seven 6×8″ sheets ready to begin the 100 Day Challenge tomorrow. I decided having…
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Quatro
Mini portrait umber four is complete. This is for Week 4 of Let’s Face It with Laurie Johnson. Model & Photographer: Sasha Sears Source: Museum/SKTCHY app I’m in catch-up mode with the classes at the moment, but I’m not stressing about it. I’m painting every day, and that’s what I’m focused on. I really enjoyed…
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Nasally Challenged
This is a very challenging reference, and I feel I am going to have her on my table for a while, working away until I master the nose. The head tilt and the hair makes what’s happening around the nose and hidden eye very difficult to translate. I started out with a twenty minute sketch,…
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Closed Eyes Pouting
I rocked the day today. I am trying out a new app that is recommended for overcoming neurospicy Things. It’s called Habitica, and I am liking it a lot. Of course it’s a very neurospicy thing to start a new Thing and rock the first day or even ten, so I’ll see how it goes.…
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Timed Portrait Exercises
The timed sketch to start the day happened again. Since I had prepped some paper for a mini paintings exercise, I decided to use the first reference as my reference for the drawing. I gave myself twenty minutes. The painting is on 12×16″ watercolour paper that has been prepped for oil painting, and divided into…
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One Hour Oil Painting
I tried something a little different today. In fact I tried quite a lot of things a little different today. I have been in a half-slump lately, and it doesn’t manifest every day, but often I find myself struggling to start, and one of the themes is “I don’t know what I want to paint”.…