I made it guys! I completed #the100dayproject2020! 100 days of painting in gouache and watercolor since April 7th. I’m so pleased because this is the longest challenge I’ve ever done and I wasn’t sure I could manage it. Things got really tough around Day 75, but switching to working almost entirely from life either plein air (painting outside) or painting still life, rather than doing master copies really helped bring new life to the project.
I’ve wanted to go out and paint the fields near our house for years, but this time of year was always busy for me with classes and art festivals so it got put off. Well, this is finally the year for it!
This distinctive clump of trees is at the end of our road and looked stunning in the light of sunset.
View down the road with winnows of alfalfa drying, painted while listening to birds chirp and the breeze trying to rifle my sketchbook pages.
A study of cut alfalfa in various stages of drying and another sketch of the view down the road. The sketch in the lower right hand corner is watercolor, the rest is gouache.
A little less than a week after the first cutting, they started baling. The round bales are hay and the rectangles are alfalfa. The blue dots are cornflowers that grow in the ditches along around road. I love them. Each of these are done quickly so I can get out and back home before it gets too hot that I risk sunburn or heat stress. There’s no shade out there, so early morning and evening sessions are the goal and the lighting at those times is the best anyway.
My bug house from Costco. Nobody has moved in yet, but I love the red roof in all the greens of the landscape.
A single ripe plum.
A strawberry picked from Siemer’s Farm.
Probably the last pear until fall and they are in season again.
I went shopping at Art Salvage a week back (You can shop online and do curbside pick up!) and bought shells. I grew up next to the ocean and collecting shells is something I’ve done my whole life. It is something I miss a lot now that I’ve moved inland.
A whelk shell painting, already sold! By the way, almost all of my paintings from the 100 Day Project are available for sale and priced $35-70 and range in size from 3” x 5” to 5” x 7”. A great opportunity to grab a bit of original art!