Progress and Painting Process

The Daily Painting Experiment

I spent most of January working on some tiny paintings, which were a joy. Each morning, I’d wake up way too early for my own good, sit down with my tiniest brushes, and dream up a scenario for my little imaginary fox and crow friends. I was participating in a daily painting project that is part of #12monthsof paint. You would think that a small daily painting would be easy enough to manage, but I had a difficult time balancing that with life, the part time day job, my relationship, my growing herd of dogs, and running my own business.

I didn’t quite succeed at completing one painting each day, but I did paint nearly every day. I’m glad I did it, as I ended up with some really sweet little paintings.

Wayward Whales Take Seattle

I began this painting late last year… I’d say it’s about 95% finished. I had been spending a lot of time working in mostly blue, a color that I really love), but I needed a little bit of change from that. So I decided to shift to a brighter color palette and plinked around with a glowy, yellow Seattle scene. This pod of orcas are as intrigued by the Space Needle as your average tourist in Seattle.

The painting itself needs a little bit of work still, but overall, I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s a little moody and a bit sunny.

I’m planning on showing a group of my wayward whales this September at 4th Street Fine Art in Berkeley. Stay tuned for more on that!

A Glimpse Into My Process

I just started another Wayward Whale painting of a humpback at the Golden Gate Bridge. A friend and talented photographer was kind enough to let me use on of his amazing shots of the bridge as a reference. You can see his work here.

I think people often wonder how a painting starts…I tried to do a decent job of documenting my process in getting the first layer down. I realized at one point that the whale’s eye was in the wrong place, so I corrected it. You can see the flow of things in this handy gif. I’ll keep posting similar gifs as I continue to work.

I hope you enjoy!