One Artist's Journey

Michel Nolan and I having a chat at the Loose Caboose in Crestline

I just got back from an interview with Michel Nolan, an old friend and a reporter at the Sun newspaper. They are going to do a story about this 100 paintings in 100 days challenge! I am stoked. The article will come out on Friday, January 1st – New Years Day. The day after the challenge is over.

Taking a picture for the newspaper article

I have about 25 paintings to do in the next 3 days. That is 8 a day!!! I have to make it. I am interested to see what happens. Will my creativity run out or will it get pushed to the edge because of the time limit? Will I discover a new side of me as the deadline gets closer? Will I produce junk or great art? I don’t know. Let’s see…

I haven’t painted for ages, it seems. I think what happened is I painted something I didn’t like and got stuck. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it, but it was very boring, even though I really liked the photo it came from.

then Christmas preparations came and I have been soooo busy.

I finally got a big sheet of Masonite and today I got around to cutting the panes. I cut 27 11 x 14 panesl from one 4′ x 8′ sheet. I am very happy with that because I have 30 paintings left to do and 10 days to do them in. I am really going to have to hustle to get them done.

I am going to sprint to the end and I really hope I make it. I never take a challenge lightly and I mean to finish this one!

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 69

Venice #2 - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $500

I finished one painting of Venice today. My brother and his wife went to Europe and took a bunch of pictures. I hijacked them – the pictures, not my brother and his wife – and plan to paint a bunch of them.

Tuscan Fields #3 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 68

This painting is my favorite of the three landscape paintings I did today. It has a very simple composition. It has large areas of color that are fun to paint. The foreground red and yellow areas aren’t too big or too small.

This is the first one I painted today, and I got a lot of painting energy out in this one. I didn’t have to think about anything and was just able to paint.

Lavender Fields - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

This one turned out well. I love the lavender fields in France. (Not that I have ever been there).

I don’t usually use this color, but I might have to get a tube of it. I don’t like to spend a lot of time mixing colors. I prefer using the color straight out of the tube.

Tuscan Fields #3 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and watercolor pencil on Masonite - $300

Today I finally got around to painting. Thanksgiving week has been BUSY!! Tuesday, I was at the dentists all afternoon.

I lead the young men’s youth group at our church. They are working to earn money for summer camp and other camping exploits. One gentleman in our congregation offered to pay a large amount of money if the young men would come and shovel mulch and spread it around his property.

I went with 7 young men and we worked for about 5 hours. It has been along time since I have done physical labor that hard and that long.  That was on Wednesday (School was out for the young men) and I was totally out of commission on Thursday. Friday I was still sore. And today, Saturday, I decided to paint. I worked on 3 Tuscan Landscapes on 3 small panels (14 x 11).

They turned out well and I like them a lot.

Venice #1 - 14" x 18" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $500

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 50

I painted my 50th painting today! I am halfway to my goal, but it has taken 9 weeks to get here and I only have seven and a half weeks to go. I need to work hard to make up time.

I didn’t count on these larger paintings taking more time. I have knocked out 3 in a day before, but it is getting more difficult. That is probably a good part of this regimen. As I get a little more comfortable, I am having to work harder just to maintain.

Once I have disciplined myself to paint regularly, maybe I will go on a diet. Imagine that!

Fields #2 - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $450

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 46

I was busy all morning, but forced myself to get downstairs to the studio after lunch. Why is it so hard to get started? Painting is fun, but it really takes effort to get into the studio. It is kind if like exercising. I live by a lake and love to walk or jog around it, but it is super hard to get out of the house and go do it. Insane.

Anyway, I did three paintings today. An acrylic landscape, an abstract painting and a painting of teacups, an old favorite. The landscape is large (16 x 20) and the other two are small (for time’s sake).

Maori Abstract - 12" x 12" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $250

I have rigged up several lights so I have enough light in the studio. I have one overhead, and then two lamps on either side of where I paint. That gives me enough light to see clearly and the lights on the sides cancel out the shadows. It is nice.

Heartland - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $400

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 2
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 42

Today I painted two pictures. I hurried through everything I had to do this morning and had a few hours in the studio. One I am really happy with. I designed it from my memories of going with my father to fix peoples’ horses on ranches in Southern California. My father was a horse vet and I used to go with him during the summer and hold the horses for him.

The other painting is an abstract, kind of based on satellite imagery. I love doing satellite searches on Google Earth an Google Maps. Streets and houses and crops. They all form a really cool pattern.

Abstract #14 (Satellite) - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $400

These were both 20 x 16 paintings. I have moved up a size because there are more frames at Michael’s for that size. The trouble with painting larger pictures is they take more materials, but more than that – they take more time. Even if I hurry and speed right through a painting, it takes a couple hours per painting. I am really thinking that if I don’t hurry and get at least one painting done a day, I may not complete 100 paintings in 100 days.

The days when I could kick back and do four paintings in a day are over I think. No makeups now. I have to work daily to make my quota.

Fields - 18" x 14" - Acrylic and colored pencil on Masonite - $300

I just realized that it has been one month since I started this experiment and I have 38 paintings finished. I think I have improved a lot in one month. A LOT. I am still not where I want to be, but I look at the earlier paintings and realize that I now know better what I am doing.

That is a fun feeling. I have been so bad about posting photos of my paintings. By the time you read this, I should have caught up and you will see the images I am talking about.

I just looked at the countdown clock at ShaunEllsworth.com and I see that I have 82 days left. I will definitely make the 100 paintings mark and I hope to make the 200 paintings mark.