Saturday, March 10, 2018

What I Learned From The 30 in 30 Painting Challenge


I should begin by saying that before the 30 in 30 Challenge, I participated in the 5-Day Challenge held my Mary Gilkerson. She's an awesome teacher, by the way.  The limitation she placed on hers was to do a 20-30 minute painting for 5 days. One would think it impossible to do much of anything in a mere 20 minutes but I was very pleased with all 5 of mine.  They are all 5” x 7” pastels, in 5  different color palettes,  and all of the Taos Gorge Overlook. 
My take away from Mary’s Challenge: You can accomplish A LOT in 20 minutes!

Taos Gorge Overlook, 5" x 7" Pastel, 5-Day Challenge


While working on Mary’s challenge, Leslie Saeta announced her ninth 30 in 30 Challenge

Since I was already on a roll with Mary’s challenge I wanted to keep going.  I don't recall, Leslie stating a time limit.  I continued with the same subject but changed it up a little. I Instead of 5" x 7", I went with 6” x 8”, switched to oils and limited myself to ONE hour.  Each also in a different palette and various techniques. 


Taos Gorge Overlook, 6" x 8" Oil, 30 in 30 Challenge


The biggest takeaway from these challenges is the realization that I NEED a goal and I NEED a deadline. 

The tangible result is that I have 35 paintings, all expressing a different mood, and am able to turn my thoughts to what to do with them. They would make a pretty impressive show, if I do say so myself. That means I will have to figure out which frame would be most complimentary and then just how to display them. But the biggest work is done and some valuable lessons have been learned. 

I spent the day cleaning and reorganizing my studio in preparation of what to do next and can’t wait to get started!

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this journey. I sure enjoyed your comments and your company!


Until next time….

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