Cold November Rain

I had very little going on in June.  Would have been a great time for painting.  Instead, this challenge comes along now when I have more books, games and traveling to do than I have all year.

Today's dreary weather help get me in the artistic mood though.  Several of these have been in progress since the last post, but I wanted to start off with today's new piece from my backyard.  Last two pieces are Master studies of The Oxbow and Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The latter being originally painted by a long-time inspiration of mine, Albert Bierstadt.  His work is gigantic, detailed, romantic, and helped shape America's view of the West before photographs. I'm pleased it turned out so well.

They can't all be like Day 1

Had a tougher time today.  Not sure what the issue was but I'm not competely pleased with any of these or the other few that aren't even blog-worthy.  Oh well, I have a good start.  My expectations are for my paintings to improve as the month goes on and I get more into a groove.  Fingers crossed.

National Novel Writing Month

...is not for me.  I haven't done creative writing since my last English class so I don't feel comfortable trying to participate in NaNoWriMo, a writing exercise with the goal of a 50,000 word novel completed entirely within the month of November.

But a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm aiming for 50 paintings this month.  I've only allowed myself some notes and hand drawn thumbnails before today.  Really I'm just hoping I can have some fun with this and push myself a little more.  The main point is quantity so these won't be ultra refined...yet.  The good part of digital paintings is that they are never really done.

Here's my first batch.  Today was pretty fun.  I didn't expect much out of my first few days, but I'm pleased with the start. Hoping to have some themes over the course of the month.

Stayin' alive

It's been a while but that that only means that I haven't been posting.  Doing loads of art; most of it is for projects that aren't ready to show yet so they sit, awaiting their turn in the spotlight.

These are some sketches I did about a month ago to break in a new booklet.  The bottom teaser image was a quick thumbnailing session that I drew, photographed, then threw in the recycling bin.  I've already scanned them in and done a vast amount of work on them and that result will be up soon...