One Artist's Journey

Hi Shaun,

I just happened on your site while doing a search for drawings of sailboats.

I am an artist. Several weeks ago, a co-worker saw a painting I had done and asked if I would paint him a picture of a sailboat. I was floored that he liked the painting he had seen and even more so, that he would ask me to paint something for him. I don’t know about you, but I tend to look at my art as garbage.

So, when I was on your site I gathered that this project to paint 100 paintings in 100 days was like a cathartic rediscovery of your artistic self. That really resonated with me. And I so appreciate what you have done. I know the brevity of such a commitment.

I have barely looked through everything on your site but I really look forward to exploring it some more. Thank you for the inspiration to keep on painting and discovering!

God bless you.

E. J.
Texas

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!

I am so sorry! It has been over a week since I wrote. I don’t know why I can’t stay on track. Maybe I am just human.

Now I need to do like 30 paintings in the next 3 weeks. Weeks leading up to Christmas. Yea, right. Like I am going to have time to do this.

But I have to. I wrote a press release and sent it to a friend at the Sun newspaper. He said they would look into doing a story of me. Cool. Don’t know when it will happen, but isn’t that what every artist wants? Coverage?

Now, however, I must get the 100 paintings done or die trying. How would that look? “Here is an artist challenging himself to paint 100 paintings in 100 days. That is interesting, so we are doing a story on him. Oh wait. He wimped out and didn’t paint 100 paintings after all.” Nope. That can’t happen.

I have about a dozen panels left. I have some canvas and can do works on paper too. Over the next few weeks I am going to need to get pretty creative. This has been a great experience for me. It has pushed me harder than I expected, but it has been fun and enlightening.

I really hope to make some exciting stuff over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Fontana Library

I submitted some more art to the Redlands Art Association. They are changing out the art for the Holiday show. I submitted ceramics this time so I took a lot longer than I expected.

After that, I ran over to Fontana to meet a patron and sell one of my paintings. We met at the brand new Fontana Library. (Well, it is brand new since I have been in town.) It is awesome. Tons of computers, and cool art everywhere. The whole facade is covered with a design that looks like a polynesian quilt. I don’t get the connection with Fontana, but it is beautiful.

My buyer is a good friend from High School. We haven’t seen each other for over 25 years! Thanks Facebook! We had a wonderful time talking about the library, work, art, travel and family. I had a great time. Thanks Janice!

Janice bought “Kimono #1″

Expressive Drawing 2.3 "Leaves" - Graphite, colored pencil and gesso on paper - $300

There was a variation for this one. We were supposed to start writing and doodling and let the words dictate the lines and drawings, and so on. I started writing and it didn’t suggest ANYTHING. Nothing at all.

I decided to change tactics and started just drawing my long looping landscape lines. I continued that and filled in areas and ended up again – with nothing. I sat down on the floor of the studio and couldn’t figure out what to do.

Then I looked at the negative space between the areas I had filled in. I thought, “Hey, this space looks like a leaf. Oh. This one too. I can fill in two here…” And so on.

So I filled in the spaces with leaves. I really liked how it all turned out.

Expressive Drawing 2.2 "In My Garden" - Graphite, colored pencil and gesso on paper - $300

This one grew naturally into a painting about plants, growing, roots, seeds, leaves. It was fun to work on. At least it wasn’t about castles!

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.;-)

I Will go and Do - 20" x 16" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $550

I really like Aida Schneider’s abstract artwork.

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

Her works are 98% totally abstract, but you can tell there is some type of narrative underneath it all. I tried that and created a very busy composition. Did I mention it is Very Busy?

It is OK, but I need to learn to cover up and hide and then expose an element here and there. Instead, what I did with this one was draw out the whole thing and and then fill it in like a coloring book. Not very elusive or mysterious at all. I am going to count it because I need 100 paintings, but I am going to have to work on the idea of taking a theme or story and letting it unfold the longer the viewer looks at it. I need to not give it to them in one huge chunk – all at once.

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.