Day 16 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So I went with another portrait again. This time it is a Native American girl from the wetcanvas Reference Image Library. It is in oil pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes at 9x11 inches. Drawing her garment, headpiece and jewelry was great! Those skintones were kind of difficult but even more difficult to photograph it. My camera takes very yellow and saturated indoor pictures so I have to do some editing in Photoshop to get a decent picture. The white highlights aren't as stark in real life, that's for sure.

This one took me about 5-6 hours to complete. I'm not sure I can keep with daily paintings if they take this long, so I may just do a simpler one one day and a more complex one the next day.

Native American girl - oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes (9x11 inches)

Day 15 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So here goes another landscape in watercolors. This time it's some "Angry clouds over the River of Grass - Everglades" based on a photo in the website PMP. It is on 140 lb. Saunders Waterford watercolor paper at 15x11 inches (quarter-sheet). I had fun doing those clouds but I'm so rusty on them...got to practice more.

Angry clouds over the River of Grass - Everglades - watercolor on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 14 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

Here is day 14: A watercolor of a house in St. Augustine, Florida from a picture I took years ago when I visited the city. It is on Saunders Waterford 140 lb. watercolor paper at 15x11 inches. I really enjoyed doing the vegetation on this one. 

St. Augustine, Florida home - watercolor on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 13 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So today I went with a watercolor. I found this gorgeous scene of Maclay Gardens in Florida on PMP and knew I had to paint it. Painting that tree was a bit difficult but fun and I got to use my "Potter's Pink" paint from Daniel Smith--love it! 
 

This is a 15x11 inch watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper, which so far I'm liking better than Arches and Fabriano.

Maclay Gardens, Florida - watercolor on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 12 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So for today I worked on a sunset in oil pastels on gessoed watercolor paper (15x11 inches). It is based on a photo by a dear Facebook friend. I don't think I did it justice...but will try again in watercolors.

Sunset - oil pastels on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

Day 11 of 30 Paintings in 30 days: Everglades tree (from my own photo) - finally a landscape, which I don't do often. It is watercolors on 140 lb. Saunders Waterford watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Everglades tree - watercolor on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 10 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

Day 10 of 30 paintings in 30 days: Seascape in watercolors on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)
I went the tight route with this one and not too satisfied with it, but hey, it's my first seascape...now to summon up the courage to try a wet-in-wet seascape...yikes! There's always chinese white or gouache I guess...

Seascape - watercolor on watercolor paper (15x11 inches)

Day 9 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So today I went with a watercolor. It is the entrance of a little hotel in South Beach, from I photo I took back in 2006 or so. Those greens gave me some trouble. It's been a while since I've done any foliage in watercolors, oh, but I had fun (and stress-watercolor can be stressful).

I have no idea what I'll paint tomorrow but probably another watercolor...we'll see...

South Beach hotel - watercolor on watercolor paper (11x15 inches)

Day 8 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

So here we are on day 8 and another portrait it is. This time it's a portrait of my gorgeous daughter, Alanna, when she was one year old. This was at the Spring Festival at her daycare when she was wearing her spring hat.
I had a little trouble with this one, namely, the eyes are a little too high on the face which makes her look a little older. But overall I'm quite satisfied with it. Again it is on Canson Mi-Teintes paper (9x12 inches). If I frame it, I may crop the bottom a little.

Alanna - oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper (9x12 inches)

Day 7 of 30 Paintings in 30 days

Day 7 of 30 paintings in 30 days - Nocita from a PMP photo - oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper...Hmmm...
Not too happy with this one. I think I went too detailed with her scarf and it overpowers her...I want to thank Pat Isaac for her recommendation to tone down the whites in her scarf. I think it helped. I like it much better now ;) See before and after below.

BEFORE: Nocita - oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper (9x12 inches) 

AFTER: Nocita - oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper (9x12 inches)