Cooper was thrilled to help me with this drawing

We didn’t get as many “Twitter Art Contest” entries as I would have liked, but I decided to do the drawing anyway. Thank you all for your love, interest and support these past 100 days.

I waited for Cooper to come home so he could do the drawing for me so it would be completely impartial. I read somewhere that even if you cut the paper and fold it, your brain can keep track of what is on each piece of paper subconsciously. Go figure.

Anyway, And he drew…… “Gorillagrr’s” entry.

I am especially excited because Gorillagrr actually bought and paid for a painting during the challenge. Can you say “Karma?”

Now she can have a matching set or at least start her “collection” of Shaun Ellsworth original paintings. One isn’t quite a collection, but I think two qualifies.

Congratulations Gorillagrr!

Abstract #17 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 72

I got in the studio today and cranked out three paintings. I came up with a new favorite abstract painting. I really like this one. I attacked it with watercolor pencil after the acrylic dried and came up with something I really like.

Expressive Drawing 1.1 - 14" x 11" - House Paint on Paper - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 4
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 61

I am actually in my studio, blogging from my laptop. It is down here so I can listen to pandora, but I thought, “why don’t I blog while I am actually thinking about art, instead of trying to remember it after the fact…

So, here I am. I am going back to the “Expressive Drawing” book and I am going to go through the exercises. I think I need to loosen up a little bit. Maybe this will help. I have done 6 paintings lately, and I am not really happy with them.

I found a fantastic artist in Redlands who does abstract art. I really  like her stuff. wE have started a dialog, but won’t be able to get together until after the first of the year. She is really busy with art festivals and such.

You can see her art at: http://aidaschneider.com/

I will let you know how my expressive drawing goes.;-)

Mr. Blue Sky - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $250

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 3
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 57

Mr. Blue Sky” is a favorite Electric Light Orchestra song. This painting started as a grid on a page. I started playing with the lines and changing them here and there and this house with clouds and an asterisk shaped sun appeared.

Vessels #1 - 14" x 11" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $250

I love creating ceramics. However, I don’t have a kiln or the means to do ceramics right now. I plan to look into that as soon as I am finished with the 100 day challenge. In the meantime, I will content myself with painting pictures of ceramics. This is a composition of overlapping vessels and cups. It is currently on display at the Art Association Holiday Art Show.

Castles in my Mind - 18" x 14" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $500

I am really trying to loosen up to be able to create pure stream-of-consciousness abstracts. I started out doing this one, drawing lines and shapes as they came into my mind. I erased some lines and added more and before I knew it, I had come up with this castle. Why are my free flow drawings turning into castles? Any psychoanalysts out there? It might be interesting to look into.

I am reading a book about Modigliani right now and it focuses on the neurosis and mental instabilities of Modigliani and some of his contemporaries. When I die, will people look into my art to decide who I was and whether I was mentally unstable or not. I am sure there is something to it, but some of it is a bit of a stretch.

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.

Me teaching my first art class in a school

Today I taught an art class in my 2nd grader’s class. I had spoken with his teacher during our parent/teacher conference. I mentioned that I was an artist and could teach a class. She took me up on the offer and today I taught my first real school art class.

I did the second exercise in Steve Aimone’s “Expressive Drawing” book. We did some automatic drawing with a little “veiling.” the kids did a great job and I think I blew it when I said “OK kids you have 2 minutes left…” because they just started whiting over everything and scribbling over everything they had just done. There were a few really nice pieces.

I told them their parents just might not understand what they were doing because it wasn’t really a picture of something. So they should just tell their parents it is “Expressive drawing.”

One little girl was crying because she scratched her paper and the teacher wouldn’t let her get a new one. I asked her how she felt and then told her to draw how she felt on the paper. She started scribbling within the lines she had just drawn and it looked really cool.

One boy's "Expressive Drawing. I like the use of color to add a focal point to the drawing.

I will have to try this again if the teacher will have me back!

Dwellings Series #6 - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $350

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 2
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 40

I got to paint Original Acrylic Paintings today. This week has been soooo busy! For a guy that is unemployed, that is really saying something. I haven’t had a second to  paint.I am starting to get worried about the 100 paintings in 100days. Smaller canvasses were a snap, now I am up to 20″ x 16″ and that takes more time and paint to do Original Acrylic Paintings.

Anyway, today I cleared more space out of the studio because my panels are getting bigger. I need space to store, gesso, paint and store again, so I moved some boxes out. They are in the middle of the landing now and have to go somewhere else, but I can do that later.

Abstract #13 (Ginger) - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $350

I am returning to some of the earlier paintings I did. I re-did a “Dwellings” piece today in a larger size. It went pretty well. Original Acrylic Paintings are easy to store. I don’t know what oil artists do. Doesn’t it take days for them to dry out?

I also did an abstract that my wife says is one of her absolute favorites. That is saying something because she is very supportive of everything I do.  Thanks Babe!

If you have a favorite travel photo you would like turned into an abstract painting, similar to what I have been doing the past two weeks, I can do that for you.

Price will depend on finished size (your call) and if there are people in the photo (portrait or in the background, etc).

If you are interested, you can contact me at shaun[at]oneartistsjourney[dot]com