30 in 30 Challenge: Day 13

©2013 R.L. Delight, By a Jade Green Sea, 6"x8", oil on linen panel

A quick painting for a short post. I said this would be a short one! I painted this in 2 hours, which is all the time I have today. This is my last painting from one of my wave studies for a while. I decided that it would be just fine to count my plein air wave studies for the challenge. Hope the weather improves, either way, I will be getting out to paint.
I am off!

30 in 30 Challenge: Day 12

Here we are at Day 12! Not quite half way and, at the moment, it seems like I have been doing this challenge forever. I got an earlier start today and painted the following from one of my wave studies, #9 I believe:

© 2013 R. L. Delight, Incoming Storm, 6"x8", oil on linen panel

I am taking particular pleasure in painting from these studies. I am keeping pretty close to the original but not making an exact copy. I am playing with technique and colors. I also gently tweak the composition, although I haven't radically departed from it, yet. While I haven't been down recently to paint more waves, I do go to look at the ocean daily, even if only briefly. It gives me a chance to take a closer look at some of the details I am working on. I am ever so slowly making the foam look a bit more realistic. Not quite there yet but I am confident I will eventually get it to my satisfaction.
I will have to retake this picture in a day or two as I didn't quite get it at the correct angle and it is slightly distorted. I will retake it and then put it up for sale.
There is another painting I haven't yet put up for sale and it is the plein air painting from Day 8 of the challenge called "Minus the Tide". It will be going up soon but I have set it aside to study it. I am not quite happy with the sand area. It is painted rather thinly and the canvas shows through, which bothers me. I may gently add a bit more to that area before calling it good. I don't plan on making any other tweaks as I want to keep it as close to the original as possible.
Tomorrow will be a challenging day. I plan to be in the studio by 8 am to paint and finish by 11:00. I need to head north to do the shopping. I will be making a hasty dinner upon arriving home and then we will be off to our band rehearsal. It was while trying to figure out how to make the things that need to be done in my life work that I realized that painting everyday, day-in and day-out will not really work for me. I want to paint a good solid 5 days a week, take a day to do errands and chores and another day for rest.
My lifestyle includes making music and good healthy food from scratch. That takes time and nourishes mind and body.
Yet another realization to thank this challenge for.
Well, deep breath before tomorrow. The post may be very short but I will get it done.

30 in 30 Challenge: Day 11

© 2013 R.L. Delight, "Over Blown", 6"x8', oil on linen panel

I must admit, this challenge is very challenging in more than one way. For example we are on Day 11 and sometimes I really have to stretch a bit to...come up with a title. The thought that I will have to come up with 19 more is a bit daunting. I may have to ask all of you who read this blog and my Facebook friends too for the occasional title.
One of the wonderful things about using this challenge to make waves is that it is getting easier. I am starting to understand a bit more of the complexity. Not that it always comes out in the painting but the understanding and the seeing more is getting better.
This painting was created from one of my studies. I wasn't happy with the study because when I got back home, the sand looked way too green. It was nice to be able to correct that. I struggled a bit with the globs of foam that the wind blew off the scud line. I remember being amused that they landed in fat blobs and proceeded to be slowly blown diagonally in these straight lines along the thin film of invisible water. They looked like fat white slugs going to a party. I still don't quite have it but hopefully the next time I see it happen, I will get it down.
Speaking of seeing things happen, it has been a while since I have been able to get out to the beach. The weather has been very cold and with a bit of wind, specially with the moist winds we get, it becomes bitterly cold. I don't have the gear for that.
I could paint in my car but it is challenging for me to sit for long. My back was just starting to recover from the long unexpected trip in the car we had to make when I slipped and fell the other day, rather hard. My back is not happy. It will heal. On the positive side, I got the new canvas I plan to use for my wave studies instead of the homemade hemp ones I was using. It is thicker and smoother. I will have plenty for quite a while.
I am hoping the bitter cold will leave us soon and we will be back to our usual cold gray weather. I definitely need to get out. I only have about two more wave studies that I feel worthwhile to make into finished paintings! I am thinking I would like to expand my wave studies now to begin to include a bit of the rock formations around here. They are quite spectacular and some are even iconic. I will continue to improve my waves even so.

On to the next day's challenge!

30 in 30: Day 10

Woohoo! One third of the way done. Of course, I might just keep on going, particularly after listening to the latest Artists Helping Artists podcast featuring Lisa Daria Kennedy who just completed her 1324th consecutive painting day and is still going strong. I enjoyed the podcast tremendously.
Now to business. Here is the painting for today, day 10:

© 2013 R.L. Delight, Gray-Green Fall, 6"x8", oil on linen panel

Today was a bright sunny day but bitterly cold so I took it easy and painted this in the studio from one of my earlier plein air wave studies. I will admit, I am feeling a bit tired and battered today due to the physical demands of the past week. I needed an easier day today. I enjoyed painting this one very much.
I actually sat down and did nothing while listening to the AHA podcast. I usually listen while cleaning or cooking. Thank goodness for AHA! My house wouldn't be as clean without them.
I am looking forward to getting back out to paint. I wouldn't mind getting to another spot for a nice change. I could spend a lifetime painting the coastal Pacific Northwest!
I also want to thank everyone for their previous comments. They are always appreciated. My blog reading has fallen way behind this month due to this challenge and a few other projects I have taken on. I will catch up as soon as I can. I love learning and am enjoying myself in spite of the trials, and triumphs too of course!

30in 30 Challenge: Day 9

Never underestimate the power of Mother Nature and when she raises her voice it is best to listen! Today was a day of choices gone wrong. I think I went from plan "A" to plan "Z" before dark. I will try to be brief but here is the back-story followed by pictures:
Last night I decided I would paint a studio painting in the morning and then head north to do the major shopping in the afternoon. We live in a fairly isolated area. The nearest large chain grocery store is a 35 minute drive up the coast. I don't shop at chain grocery stores so I go to a food co-op which is 45 or 50 minutes up the coast. I don't go too often!
The plan changes started this morning when we woke up to a light dusting of slippery snow. That meant my mate needed the sure-footed car to go to work. No problem, I would catch up on a few things and paint that studio painting and shop another day. When I went to get the mail (we don't have house delivery in our village so we pick it up at the Post Office 2 blocks away) the sun was out and though it was chilly, the sun was warming things up. Great! How could I resist that? I had a quick lunch, grabbed my painting pack and headed out to my favorite spot. The waves were doing interesting things and I quickly got started. 
Here is where my judgement really went awry! I decided to include part of  Neahkahnie Mountain in my painting as the most interesting waves were dancing around at the foot of the mountain. I don't have a lot of practice painting the mountain, yet, and realized that it would take me a little bit longer to get the proper values, details, and atmospheric perspective in. That isn't a problem UNLESS Mother Nature decides to turn the storms paralleling the shore forty five degrees to now become incoming storms. Within 5 minutes of the change, which announced itself with a shift in the wind, I was being drenched with cold stinging rain and my hands were quickly going numb. Did I mention we had snow this morning?
I made a few other bad judgements in my haste to get enough info on the painting and pack it in.
I will spare you all the extra details, as well as the details of my further mis-adventures after my return home, but when I looked at it again I sadly realized I had a mess on my hands. Too bad because I liked where the sky was going. So here is the beautiful mess, well part of it anyway:

30 in 30 challenge Day 9

The paint was thick and sticky to work with, probably due to the weather which was making my eyes stream tears when I was painting. It was hard to get a good picture with the lights due to the paint shine.
So, what does one do with a painting that didn't work out? First one realizes that lessons were learned and a brave attempt was made. That counts and is something to be proud of, a battle scar if you will. Second is to wipe the panel clean so it can be used again. So....

Clean Slate

Ta Dah!!! A subtly toned clean slate ready to go for tomorrow.
I write all of the above, not for sympathy, but hopefully to give others encouragement and to tell the story of what goes in to being an artist. It isn't all just wearing smart looking berets and twirling our mustaches, specially since I have neither! Greater artists than I have had to wipe off a painting. I am in good company!
If you have made it this far, thank you! I have a cold coming on and am in a whimsical mood from a combination of herbal cold medicine and exhaustion. Rest is the best cure for both and will be administered soon.
I will paint an easier painting tomorrow. Then again, the best laid plans...

30 in 30 Challenge: Day 8-Minus the Tide

© 2013 R.L. Delight, Minus the Tide, 6"x8", oil on linen panel

I almost whimped out. Almost. In fact, I even drove to my usual spot, due to the weather, and had turned back when I stepped out into stinging hail. Instead of continuing home, I looped around and went back. This time I got out, shrugged on my painting pack and hiked up the beach.
I painted the above painting plein air, directly onto the panel. A first for me. Time is short today so I knew I had to make that transition. I will still be doing wave studies on loose canvas but I will also paint directly.
No time for measured consideration here. I was hit with three waves of hail, battered by wind, and shivering from cold in spite of several layers of clothing. I painted fast, about 2 hours including set up and take down. I also would like to mention it was a minus tide this afternoon and the tide was way out there.
I took this picture while the painting was still in the holder so the box is shadowing the painting on the right side and the holder. I still have to sign the painting and smooth a couple of paint ridges and then I will take a proper picture.
I have been doing work on my website and planning for some changes to my blog in my spare minutes between. They will be appearing soon. I am off to post this on Leslie Saeta's blog for the challenge before making dinner. I keep nodding off mid-typing. Perhaps a quick nap in between?
Tomorrow afternoon is an errand day so painting in the morning. I will leave you with a picture of my office this afternoon and of my palette and painting in progress. Look closely at the palette, there is hail in with the paint!

My office was being a tad bit over dramatic this afternoon!

Extreme Plein Air, hail on my palette!

30 in 30 Challenge: Day 7 And Now for Something Different

© 2013 R.L. Delight, "Washed Ashore", 6"x8", oil on canvas panel.

First of all, this is not a good picture and will require a bit of explaining. I have had this still life set up and beginning stage of painting hanging around my studio for a few months now. I diligently started the still life a ways back and then realized that still life painting is not my favorite thing to do. Still life has its place but it doesn't inspire me much to paint. There are several artists whose work I admire tremendously who paint still life beautifully but it just doesn't resonate with me.
So, I had this unfinished painting hanging around, in fact I posted about it on November 18th in a post titled "Dog on the Loom...I mean Easel!" and, for today's challenge painting, I decided to bring it to as close to being finished as possible in a day. I also will be able to get it out of my studio. This painting has been hard to photograph properly from the start and is even more challenging now due to the fact that some of the layers are dry and some are not. I needed to post the picture today for the challenge but tomorrow or the next day I will do what is called oiling out which will bring the colors to where they are supposed to be. I will take another picture of the painting then. Unfortunately, this is a painting that looks much better in person.
All of the objects in the painting were found by me on the beach. One note of personal interest to me, I noticed that my skills had improved between then and now! Unfortunately, to really improve the painting I would have to start over. I worked the same amount of time on this painting today as I would have if I had been making a new painting!
I did not get out to paint waves today. The weather would have required me to paint in my car and my back is not quite up to sitting that long at this time. It is improving, just slowly. 
More adventures tomorrow!