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.

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.

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!

Tuscan Fields - 18" x 14" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $500

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 49

Today’s painting turned out well. I ran out of prepared boards, so I had to go back to the  18″ x 14″ boards that I can’t find frames for.

I found some great photos of Tuscan landscapes online and used one to compose this painting. I outlined a lot more than I have been doing. I think it works.

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.

Alley #1 - 16" x 20" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $400

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 1
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 43

I really like the painting I finished today. I think, however, that it is a little dark because of how I have started doing my paintings. I draw on the gessoed board with a woodless pencil. The I start to paint with gesso to cover up lines I dont’ want to show.

There is so much graphite on the board that it gets picked up with the gesso and paint and I think it makes the painting a little dingy.  What do you think? Is the painting clear enough to tell? I like the picture, I like the composition, I like the colors. I just don’t know if I should use fixative to lock the graphite down before I start painting.

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.

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

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.