What's An Artist To Do

What's an artist to do when the ideas are not flowing and the brush just isn't cooperating?

Just Paint!

One way to do that is to start a challenge of doing a painting-a-day. Yes, start - and finish one painting every day for a specific length of time.

So I decided to do just that!

But before I tell you more, I want to announce the WINNER of the encaustic painting I gave away for the launch of my website shop. I printed out all the entries from all the sources and put them in a glass vase.

I then got my hubby to mix them up really well and make the draw.

And the winner is....... drum roll please

Congratulations Sabrina Shular

Thanks to everyone who entered, sent messages of congratulations, shared my posts and followed my blog! I was humbled by the wonderful feedback I received.

Now, back to the Painting-A-Day Challenge. I decided to tackle a small painting everyday to get the ideas flowing for the big canvases. I prepped yesterday by painting a base coat on several canvases. I like to start with a colorful undercoat because I love to have bits of that color peeking through the top coat.

Look at those cute little canvases!

This morning, I picked a 5 x 7 with a base of Holbein's Marigold and set to work creating an impressionistic landscape. I always like to start off with some line work with willow charcoal and chalk pastels, then spray it with fixative to set the lines.

Next comes the fun part

Using my linework as a guide, I mixed up some neutrals using Dioxazine Purple, Green Gold and Quin Magenta and brushed it on the land making sure to leave bits of the yellow undercoat peaking through. I used some pure colors to enhance the neutrals. I mixed Cerulean Blue, White and Naples Yellow for the sky and added layers to simulate windswept clouds.