30 in 30 Painting Challenge Begins Tomorrow!

In my post on January 14th,  I announced that I had accepted 

 Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Painting Challenge. 

TOMORROW IS DAY ONE! 

If you have been following my blog, you are aware that this comes on the heels of 

Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. 

In the 5-Day Challenge,  I decided to do five 5" x 7" pastels of my favorite scene 

in New Mexico, the Taos Gorge Overlook. 

I will be continuing with the same theme throughout the 30 in 30 Challenge 

but will be working in oils and slightly larger, 6" x 8". The challenge I am presenting myself is to work in a different color palette each day AND to limit each painting to ONE HOUR. 

Some will be strictly palette knife paintings, some with only brushes and some with a combination of the two. I will also be trying a variety of painting surfaces, linen, cotton, gessoed board, some will be bare, some toned and some will be previously textured. 

I am looking forward to the challenge of creating 30 different oil paintings and to what I will learn from this challenge.  At the end of the challenge, I will post a collage of all 30 paintings. 

You are more than welcome to post comments or simply follow along.

Wish me luck!

5-Day Painting Challenge Recap

Here are all five paintings done in Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. All participants had between 20-30 minutes to complete each painting. The suggested size was 5" x 7" or 6" x 8". I elected to do mine in a series of 5" x 7" pastels featuring one of my all-time favorite places on earth, the Taos Gorge Overlook.  Here are all five together. I'd love to hear if you have a favorite. Thanks again for coming along on this short but wonderful journey. 

5-Day Painting Challenge, Day Five

Well, this wraps up Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. It has been so much fun! Did you have a favorite? I'd love to hear from you!

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5"x 7", pastel

5-Day Painting Challenge, Day Four

Day Four of Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. Popping some color on this one!

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5"x 7", pastel

5-Day Painting Challenge, Day Three

Day Three of Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. So much fun!

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5"x 7", pastel

5-Day Painting Challenge, Day Two

Day Two of Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge. I am continuing with my chosen theme.  This series is being done on Clairefontaine Pastelmat. 

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5" x 7", pastel

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5-Day Painting Challenge, Day One

Today is the first day of  Mary Gilkerson's 5-Day Painting Challenge.  I am warming up for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge. Actually, I had signed up for Mary's first and decided it would be an excellent thing to carry out further so, I signed up for both. This particular challenge is to paint a small painting, 5"x7" or 6"x 8" in 20 to 30 minutes. When the timer goes off so do your hands. I have chosen to work in a series from a scene that I absolutely love, the Taos Gorge Overlook. 

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5"x 7", pastel

Challenge Accepted!

The Challenge

I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and do Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30, which is her Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge. An ambitious undertaking, I know, but I am convinced it will reap great rewards. I am a big proponent of doing studies so this challenge will be right up my alley. Participants are asked to post their first painting on February 1, so I have a lot of decisions to make before then.  Among the things to consider are the medium, the theme/subject, color palette, tools, surface and lastly, how large to work. None of these need be written in stone but I feel being consistent for these 30 days will yield the best results.  Another consideration is whether to not to set a time limit per painting and, if so, how long? Twenty minutes, an hour, three hours? It will depend on the size of the painting. I'm leaning toward an hour at the most because it will be a tremendous help in my goal of distilling a subject to its essence and will hopefully, result in something strong and beautiful in its simplicity.  It's a little scary making this announcement but I'm doing it to keep myself accountable. I'm not expecting any masterpieces but I am expecting this to be a very valuable and rewarding endeavor. I have a feeling it will reveal things that are presently hidden, which is both exciting and motivating. I plan to keep a record throughout the process and will share a recap of the experience upon completion. Along with posting on Leslie's 30 in 30 blog, I will also be posting on mine, gayesekula.blogspot.com. I invite you to subscribe if you would like to be notified as posts are made. It is a separate subscription from my newsletter. You have my word that unless I do another 30 in 30, you will never receive this many blog posts in such a short amount of time ever again! If you don't want to see them come day after day, you will be able to view them all at the end of the challenge.  Now off figure out what to paint..... Gaye