Painting 056 - 6/25

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x10"

A new surface reaches its peak of awful only when it is compared to an old standby surface. I mean, look at this: I didn't want to do this painting, I can't work with green, and it still came out well (apart from some drawing issues). I know it's not only cheap but self-defeating to attribute success or failure to a surface, but trust me. Augh.

Painting 055 - 6/24

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Oil on gessoed illustration board
8"x8"

We aren't discussing this. I know that new surfaces are always a challenge but this is inexcusably bad and we are not discussing it.

Painting 054 - 6/23

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Oil on gessoed board
8"x10"

Apart from some drawing issues, I'm actually sort of happy with this (apart from the shadow, moving on, moving on...). The colors same out nicely, and while the drawing resulted in something of a lopsided vase, the circles are pretty much correct. Also: I did this painting in under an hour. Go me!

Painting 053 - 6/22

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Oil on gessoed board
8"x10"

Once again, I have painted my hand! It is my most readily available model, and far more interesting a subject than most of the myriad cups, toys, and tchotchkes at my disposal. Unfortunately, I'm not certain this is a real improvement over its predecessors... I hobbled myself with a really weird angle and some dumbly general lighting, bah. I'm not unhappy with it, mind; I'm just not certain it's actually a month's worth of improvement.

Painting 052 - 6/21

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x10"

So, uh. I did this painting way later than I should have, and oh god. It came out better than it possibly should have, considering that I finished this painting in less than an hour, but fff. Suck it up, me.

I will be painting this doll again, though, since it's creepy and I love it.

Painting 051 - 6/20

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x10"

This is an almost-successful painting; the shadow side of the jar needed to be darker than it is, but the circles are mostly correct (?!) and I do actually like the colors. Ho hum!

Painting 050 - 6/19

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Oil on canvasboard
8"x10"

This is a card my mom sent me, haha... I thought it would be interesting to paint all of the overlap and stuff, but it turned out less than excellently, mostly because I didn't take the time to be precise in my drawing. I don't hate it; I just wish I'd done something more impressive for my fiftieth painting.

Painting 049 - 6/18

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Oil on canvasboard
8"x10"

A broken piece of pottery from China! It's a pretty meh painting, overall, though I won't lie: I love the blue. Everything else though? Not so much.

Painting 048 - 6/17

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Oil on canvasboard
8"x10"

In which I learn that in the absence of black and transparent oxide red (to mix with ultramarine blue, for to make black), one can mix burnt umber and ultramarine for the same purpose with a high degree of success.

Done at a friend's apartment. They have a very reflective black coffee table...

Painting 047 - 6/16

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x8"

Considering how simple a painting this is, I was all set and ready to beat myself up over a horribly cop-out painting - but, you know, I don't actually hate this. The color is decent, the drawing is decent (well...), and in the end... well, if this is what counts as a cop out painting for me now (as opposed to what counted as such last month), I'm going to call myself pleased.

Painting 046 - 6/15

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Oil on canvasboard
8"x10"

The saber might be the coolest letter opener, this is certainly the most elegant. So lovely! So perfectly balanced! It's a mediocre painting, in that the colors are really uninspired and the drawing's not quite there, but the swoosh! It makes everything okay.

Painting 045 - 6/14

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x10"

So, I can paint metal, but I can't paint anything red. I fell apart at the seams when I tried here D:. It goes on my list of Things to Work On... maybe I'll be able to beat it into submission in the future.

Painting 044 - 6/13

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Oil on gessoboard
8"x8"

This is my pleased face: I painted this at 5am, nearly unable to focus my eyes, and lo and behold I not only finished my painting, but I finished it decently! It isn't the best, but the little bowl has a translucence in real life that I seem to have actually managed to get.

The circle's wrong, though.

Painting 043 - 6/12

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x10"

May I introduce everyone to the coolest letter opener ever? This is my saber, and it's nifty. Also nifty is the fact that this is a decent painting executed in an hour while all I wanted to do was Not Paint. Yeah!

Painting 042 - 6/11

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

Again, I didn't actually want anything to do with painting when I sat down to paint this. It's a little terracotta ornament my aunt brought back from somewhere in Asia, and it's a lot cuter than this. I struggled with the color and the texture of the surface, though I was able to get it to a certain point of acceptability. Edges, Jenna, pay attention to the edges!

Painting 041 - 6/10

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x8"

I wanted nothing more in life than to Not Paint when I did this painting. Given that fact, I think I can be pleased that it came out within shouting distance of decent (as opposed to, say, a complete waste of paint).

Painting 040 - 6/9

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

My poor, battered old wallet. The drawing is a little off, but it's overall a perfectly decent painting. Nothing awful, nothing special: it's showing my average, which is important to know. Still'n'all, nothing much to see here, move along...

Painting 039 - 6/8

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

My circle challenge week is over, but I grabbed an object with circles in it anyway - and excuse me while I take a moment to get really excited about this painting. This painting wasn't hard - it just worked, even the circles. It's paintings like this that make the whole painting-a-day thing mean something to me: because I could not have painted this, especially with this casually, a month ago.

So yes. :D :D :D

Painting 038 - 6/7

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

So there's a list of things wrong with this painting (not enough paint used, the perspective is wrong on the circle and the screen, the colors are boring and basic), but... it's not quite a failure. I'm hoping this says something for my improvement, that my baseline is being raised. Or something.

Painting 037 - 6/6

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x10"

This is a mirror, or supposed to be, anyway. The reflection is hampered by the fact that I didn't paint the surroundings it's reflecting (some stacked rolls of tape), but the circle is, I think, pretty alright. The handle, however... nnnot so much. Bah.

Painting 036 - 6/5

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

This is how I know I'm getting better: I started this painting very late at night, wanting nothing more in life than to sleep, and still managed to make it come out decently. The circle's off, though, as is the cast shadow ):

Painting 035 - 6/4

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x8"

This plate comes from Tibet!  It's actually from the hotel we stayed in; instead of 'Shangbala Hotel', it says 'Shangbala Hotol', and for some reason this delights me. (Small things amuse small minds, as they say~) I'm really happy with how it came out - even the circle works! The value of the plate is a little dark, but if that's the most I can say about what's wrong, I think I can count this as a success.

Painting 034 - 6/3

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

This painting turned out... surprisingly well, considering how late at night I did it. The sides of the bowl and the bottom aren't really right, but the top sort of is? I don't know. I really thoroughly hate circles, and am starting to have trouble identifying correctly painted ones. Either way, the color and the quality of light came through nicely, so I'll take what I can get.

Painting 033 - 6/2

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

Everything about this painting is bad, from the color to the drawing to the circles. Everything. But! I didn't throw it against a wall, and, therefore, I call success :D

Painting 032 - 6/1

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x10"

First day of my circle challenge week, and ironically, it was the handle, not the actual circles, that gave me the most trouble - which is not to say that the circles are perfect, only that they didn't go to canvas kicking and screaming. I wound up quite pleased by the surface of the cup itself.

For those of you keeping track at home: yes, this is a different cup than the one I've painted twice before. I have two over-size mugs, because caffeine is important. (when i use this cup and steep my tea properly, I cannot see the bottom of the cup, and the spoon disappears after an inch and a half.)

Painting 031 - 5/31

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x10"

I decided, when I started this project, that each month's end would be marked with a self-portrait. And here we are - at the end of the first month! I'm very, very happy with this painting, though as soon as I finished it I saw things to improve upon (the nose, the hairline, etc). I especially like the colors of the flesh.

Painting 030 - 5/30

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x8"

I'm not sure if it's obvious from the painting, but this object is a small (3" tall) vase, which was painted on the inside. I bought it in China a few years ago, and thought it would be an interesting challenge. Though I'm not pleased with how I painted the vase's painting - in real life, it's quite delicate - and the whole thing has a bit of a lean to it, I'm overall pretty happy with how it came out.

Painting 029 - 5/29

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Oil on canvasboard

8"x8"

Apart from the fact that the scan did odd things to the colors and I forgot to correct them in Photoshop, this makes me very, very happy. While the base isn't anything special, I really do love how the head came out - and I got the circle right!! Sort of!

Painting 028 - 5/28

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x10"

This painting was done at a friend's place, where I ran into the challenge once again of having almost no soft brushes to work with. I got through it fine with what I was given to work with, but I sure did miss my lovely filberts. At least I used enough paint this time...

Painting 027 - 5/27

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Oil on gessoboard

8"x10"

I like the colors on this, but hoo boy was it a bad choice. If I wanted to paint a shoe, I have many to choose from, almost none of which deal with circles - which are, after all, the bane of my existence. I need to get better at reacting when I realize I'm in over my head, because going into a panic really doesn't help the matter.