Day 29 --30 In 30 Challenge

Hoola Hoop

6 x 6 oil on gessobord

Found an old photo of the 1960's in a second
hand store and finally decided to paint it.
Doing faces that are small is so hard to do,
do you leave them without eyes ect. or try
to place in suggestions of eyes, nose and
mouth. I will try this one again later for
a different approach.

Day 27 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

8 x 8 oil on gessobord

Another painting I did with a palette knife
after being frustrated with one I knew wasn't
going to turn out as a decent painting. No
reference photo was used.
Leslie Saeta challenge.

Day 26- 30 In 30 Days Challenge

8 x 10 oil on gessobord

Decided to add more color to this painting
and step it up a bit. Still posting on the
Leslie Saeta 30 paintings in 30 days.

Day 18 -30 Day Challenge

8 x 10 oil on gessobord

Dusk on the Canal

The reference photo of these boats was so dark it
was very hard to make out the shapes and colors of
the scene. I use a free photo editing site that is
called BeFunky. It is great for adding text,
fixing colors and exposure, but mostly for fixing
a photo that is a little tilted. My challenge to
myself was to paint loose and delete details. My
brain is wired to love detail. Hard to paint
loose for me. Spent a few days on this one.

Day 14- 30 In 30 Days Challenge

8 x 8 oil on gessobord

A challenge to myself to paint wave crashing on the rocks
and try to show movement in the waves.

Day 12- 30 In 30 Days Challenge

8 x 10 oil on gessobord

This challenge to myself was more about brush work
than detail, complicated composition or a verity
of colors.

Day 11 30 In 30 Days Challenge

6 x 6 oil on gessobord

Land Bridge

This painting was done mostly with palette knives.
I was so frustrated with my first attempt on a
completely different subject, scraped it off and
decided to still use the scrapped paint on a
subject I pulled out of my head from my many
travels. Mistakes can be a stepping stone.
Challenge blog: Leslie Saeta

Day 10-- 30 In 30 Day Challenge

8 x 8 oil on gessobord

"Orange Sauce"

This one was from a photo I took as we were
finishing our lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant
and the sun was streaming in through the window
and across the table. I love to paint the effects
of sunshine on objects. My challenge was to capture
the warmth and reflections.
Challenge blog: Leslie Saeta

Day 9 - 30 In 30 Day Challenge

8 x 8 oil on gessobord

Pretty In Pink

Challenge blog: Leslie Saeta

This is a painting from a free stock reference photo,
though changed by me for a better composition and values,
which was the challenge to myself to not just copy everything.

Day 8- 30 in 30 days challenge

8 x 10 oil on gessobord

Challenge blog: Leslie Saeta

My challenge to myself was painting snow with foliage.
Not always an easy task in keeping the snow white and
make it look real.

Day 7- 30 in 30 day challenge

7 x 7 oil on gessobord

Challenge participants Leslie Saeta blog

I visited Victoria, B.C., Canada this summer taking many
photos of the area. A few inspired me enough to want to
paint. A street scene looks simple to paint at first, but
there is so much detail with buildings, people, ect,
you have to edit out everything that is not important. I
need to do this even more in future ones.

Day 5- 30 In 30 Days Challenge

8 x 10 oil on gessobord

30 in 30 challenge Leslie Saeta blog.

I received a new color, bright blue, in the mail
the other day so was excited to use it in a painting.
It is full of tint, holding its brightness with white.
I use WN, Williamsburg, Utrecht, Grumbacher professional
grade and Gamblin. This new color is Utrecht.

Day 4- 30 in 30 Days Challenge

8 x 8 oil on gesso board

30 in 30 day challenge Leslie Saeta Blog

I painted this to learn how to make objects, such
as the rocks in the stream to appear underwater.
The secret is all in the shadows and lighter colors.
I scrapped more paint off this one than I usually
do and rearranged the rocks for a better composition.
This is a learning challenge, not to have
masterpieces.

Day 3- 30 in 30 Days

8 x 10 Acrylic on gessoed watercolor paper
"Meadow Hedge"

I am participating in the 30 paintings in 30 days
on Leslie Saeta's blog. I missed the first two days
but hope to post a painting each day.
This painting was from memory of my area of a beautiful
meadow in the late afternoon. I had fun applying the
layers of paint and as each dried too fast for me.