Day 48

Almost HALFWAY! Yikes - still a LOT of painting exploration that I want to do. Gotta get back to larger hours tomorrow. A busy week this week so it will be a challenge, but I'm excited to get back to it. xo

Day 47

Played some with acrylics today instead of oils. And pastels earlier this week. Using different media shakes things up a bit, and gets one out of a rut. MORE FUN. xo

Day 46

It's been a REALLY good week of painting. Thanks be to God for this amazing and gratefully accepted gift in my life. xo

Day 45

And after a painting blitz, comes the mess left in its path. I spent two hours tonight cleaning paint tubes, putting order to the clutter. A fresh space in which to paint again tomorrow. I LIKE this. A lot. xo

Day 44

Almost halfway. LOTS of painting happening this week - which also means that the rest of "life" isn't getting much attention. Balance... balance. Anyway... finished the BIG Nobska lighthouse painting today. Very fun, and different for me to paint on such a large scale. I enjoyed it so much that I went to the lumber yard and had a 4' x 8' piece of masonite cut into four 2' x 4' pieces, for future paintings. More fun. xo

Day 43

Wow - LOTS of painting time today! I have already put in more time this week than I did all of last week... and it's only Tuesday night! GREAT energy flows from more quantity, too. xo

Day 42

One hour last night and four today means 5 hours in already this week. A good start! xo

Day 41

Art supply store = toy store = GREAT FUN and NEW INSPIRATION! Dabbled in pastels today - did the sketch shown here, from the same source photo as the painting/print with which some of you are familiar - "The Real Me" that I use as my logo piece.

Day 40

A fun artist's date sort of day to day... off to the north shore of Boston for lots of inspiration and photos for future painting, AND a detour through the city to the big art supply store on the way!!!!! fun!!!!!!! xo

Day 39

100 days painting commitment. GOOD. Quality time at the easel. GOOD. Quantity time at the easel. AWESOME. Playing with color and brushes and canvases. MESSY. Messy painting time - WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 38

Had fun today finishing a "pet portrait" started quite a while ago, of our dear beloved Bert. Many of you knew him. Spending time on the painting put me back in touch with him, and his memory. What a gift to do a portrait for someone of their pet, either still living, or passed - as it helps to capture the essence of the animal in a timeless way. We all miss you, Bert.

Day37

Pastel sketches of the new commission today. Sitting lakeside on a stool observing the light and colors. Such a peaceful part of my day. Such a lovely gift to be able to pay attention to the world of nature, and attempt to capture it on paper. xo

Day 36

Wow - painting outside IS so fun! Two little guys on location... one at the north end of Chappy Beach, and the other at the Bourne Farm. Quick little studies. 4" squares. xo

Day 35

Started work today on a potential new commission piece. Outdoors on location. Reminded me how very much I love doing this sort of work. To seek to understand a vision someone else has, and put it to canvas for them... that, I think, would be the ideal "art business" for me. Nothing to show here yet... but know that Mimi feels content tonight in considering the potential for this direction. xoxo

Day 34

Monday tomorrow - and a chance to tackle a 20 hour week again. Here we go!!!!!!! xo

Day 33

Not feeling terribly inspired about writing OR painting today (ok, being honest - too honest?) Did do some painting, though not much today. Gallery open several hours in the afternoon. Went on a morning run with the puppy that was awesome. I guess today was more "real life other" than artist production. 20 hours didn't happen. HOWEVER, a new week starts tomorrow... a NEW commitment to spend 20 hours painting. Fresh start. Grateful for that. xo

Day 32

Still a good way to go to complete 20 hours this week... if I extend it to include Sunday I MIGHT get it done! Painting feeling REALLY good today, though it took me way too long to get to it. More work on the house portrait that I started back on day 17. Take a look - both here, and there. xo

Day 31

Well, I don't like to admit defeat, but it's looking less and less likely that the 20 hours is going to happen. I'm NOT giving up, though. A rainy windy day tomorrow means not a lot of foot traffic through the gallery so I will throw a massive effort at the canvas and see what happens! xo

Day 30

So, even as I continue to paint daily, and the volume of my work increases, my mind wanders to the idea of this "business" of art, and wonders what it takes to turn the corner to becoming truly successful, if success is defined as one's art paying one's monthly expenses, and then some... anybody out there with answers to that question?! xo

Day 29

Wow. FIVE HOURS spent painting today! I want and need to say that again - FIVE HOURS! And it wasn't tedious - it was glorious! Amazing flow, and interesting to see how much gets produced in that time. Started two new paintings (too new to share at this point) and finished another (see here - though the color and texture are not good in this photo. Refer to Day 20 and Day 16 for earlier photos of this painting.) Now... onward to 20 for the week! Thanks be to God. xo

Day 28

Short entries on a long weekend. My goal is to paint 20 hours between now and next week at this time. Aspirational given my current time spent, but I figure that if I tell you (those of you reading this blog - oh who are you?!) then I am going to need to be more accountable to it! Here goes...

xo

Day 27

And some days, there is, quite simply, more paint than others. xo

Day 26

I find myself quiet this evening. In a good way. Feeling blessed to have this opportunity to spend time painting. And even more blessed by the love of so very many beautiful, generous friends in my life. I wonder... is painting more regularly... feeling the flow... bringing me to a more serene place in my life that I do not have as much need for the external chatter? xo

Day 25

The more that I paint, the more that I want to paint. Enough said. xo

Day 24

Lighthouses everywhere! Nobska light now has a top on it! (see image here). And several other much smaller ones just begun (too early to show). I'm feeling this thing in wonderful new ways... more on that another time. xo

Day 23

Time marches on. Almost a quarter of the way to 100, and so VERY many other painting ideas not even yet begun! But I am starting to really FEEL this effort, in all very good and positive ways. Worked some more on the large Nobska lighthouse piece today. Fun! xo

day 22

Got caught up in some paperwork that has been on my guilt laden to-do list. Not a whole lot of painting today. But will make up for it tomorrow! xo

Day 21

A really lovely painting morning. Spent several hours - completed a small lighthouse painting (6" x 12" - shown here), worked some on the house portrait started last week, and also finished the long overdue commission piece. Here's to time spent at the easel! messy and sloppy and WONDERFUL. Thanks be to God. x

Day 20

1/5 of the way to 100. That's truly amazing. Just completed a GREAT evening of painting. And a little proof that the daily commitment makes all the difference.

It's a quiet Sunday evening after a very social day. My plan was to work on organizing what I am now referring to as "the messy room" - a room with a door that closes it off to the public, so I have allowed myself to toss stuff in there without worrying about it having a "right place". But I needed to put in a little bit of painting time, so stopped by the easel for what I thought would be "briefly." Then the thought ran through my head of "if I am truly committed to being a successful artist, what is the best use of my time right now?!" Well, I'm happy to say that I just completed TWO HOURS of painting, straight through. To that, I simply say... YES (and thank you, God.) Here is what I did... more work on the NH stream. LOTS of dots of foliage. Please refer back to day 16 if you want to see an earlier stage of this same painting. So fun!!!!!!!! xo

Day19

So VERY good to be back at the easel for REAL painting time today. Feeling inspired and enjoying what I am working on. Also took the time for a long walk on the beach with my puppy... good for the soul for both of us! Here she is - Rosie (yes, this is a photo, not painting - at least not yet!) - looking VERY happy! (as is her Mommy). xo

Day 18

(written Saturday morning about Friday). Not a day for quantity in painting. Hosted a big reception in the evening in the gallery, so most of the day was spent in preparing for that. Ready to get back to it - really much preferred the output of several hours a day.