October 17, 2009 - Day 68

Da Vinci watercolor on Saunders Waterford cold press paper

I should have done something easier for today's painting. It was a long hard day at work and another night of commitments to others. I didn't start this painting until 10 pm and I would have rather been in bed. I was really too tired to focus on it and just wanted to get it done.

I chose to do this painting because I wanted it to be the last "western" painting that I did before moving onto other things.

October 16, 2009 - Day 67

Da Vinci watercolor on Saunders Waterford cold press paper

Was busy all day and wasn't able to start this painting until late tonight. I didn't realize that there was a flaw in the paper until after I had put in the first background wash. By then it was too late in the evening to start over and still finish before midnight. It looks like there was a cut or groove in the paper starting just below the bull's head and arching down to the bottom edge of the paper.

I realized as I was writing the above paragraph that I hadn't put the shadow in under the bull so I had to stop to do that and then re-scan the painting into the computer.

October 15, 2009 - Day 66

Da Vinci watercolor on Saunders Waterford cold press paper

Another day. Another rodeo painting. Nothing more to say.

October 14, 2009 - Day 65

Da Vinci watercolor on Saunders Waterford cold press paper

I did this painting a little bit different from yesterday's. First I masked the highlight areas on the horse, harness and cowboy. Then I put in the mid-tones using darker colors than usual. On top of that I added the shadow areas and blended them into the mid-tones with a clean brush dampened with water. Once I peeled off the masking I touched up the highlight areas and added the final details.

October 13, 2009 - Day 64

Da Vinci watercolor on Saunders Waterford cold press paper

Yesterday's painting inspired me to do more horse and rider type paintings so today I thought I would do a barrel racing painting in the same style as yesterday's thoroughbred painting. Today's painting then inspired me to do a series of rodeo paintings.

I am really finding that I have to be actively creating in order to become inspired to create. Before I started painting every day I could never decide on what I wanted to paint but now each day brings new ideas for not just one painting but for a series of paintings.

I have also noticed that I am not so hard on myself anymore because even when I have one day that my painting doesn't turn out I can look back on the last 64 days and see all the days that my paintings did turn out the way I wanted.

I realize now that even the professional artists that I admire MUST have had off days when their paintings didn't turn out. The paintings that we see in galleries are their successes. Maybe they have a closet in their studio filled with their failures.

October 12, 2009 - Day 63

Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Saunders Waterford watercolor paper

Very happy with today's painting. It turned out well and I am starting to develop a background style that I like. I really like the light beige background with a darker shadow area underneath and I can see myself using this style a lot in the future.

October 11, 2009 - Day 62

Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Saunders Waterford paper

Disappointed with this painting. My reference photo was one of my favorite pictures of a horse I owned years ago. Although the reference photo was nice it was taken too close to my horse which caused distortion. The angle and the focus of the picture wasn't great either. Just because a photograph is nice it doesn't mean that it will automatically make a good painting.