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!

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!

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.

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.

I have 43 paintings done and 60 days left in the challenge. I really need to make an effort to paint at least one painting a day until New Years Eve. Gotta, gotta, gotta.

Submitted five paintings to the Riverside Art Alliances fund raiser, “Off The Wall.” they say they make 50,000 for the museum each year. That is impressive. So I submitted five of my earlier works, By earlier, I mean last month. I put in 3 “Dwellings” pieces and 2 “Abstracts.”

the are cheap too. If you liked those, you should probably go down and check them out. They are framed and going for $200. Half of that goes to the museum. One of the dwellings is going for $100. That is the deal. If you submit more than three paintings, one of them has to be for $100.

The “Artists Reception” is next week. That will be fun to go to.

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!

The Mission Inn in Riverside. Photo courtesy www.simplycreate.files.wordpress.com

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 0
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 38

After a week off, I am back to work. I am excited to paint. But of course, I spent the morning online paying bills and looking for local art organizations.

I am on to step 2 of my master plan. I have built a small body of work over the past several weeks and now it is time to tell people about what I am doing. I plan to write press releases and join organizations for artists.

We have a local artists group, the “Mountain Artists Network” that I will probably join, mainly to support the local art scene. There are several artists that are listed on their site that I think it would be beneficial to get to know. Like minded artists anywhere are an asset.
http://www.mountainartsnetwork.org/

Then there is an art association in Redlands, a nice city down the hill from here. It is a classy city and is doing a good job to support the local artists. I visited the web site and they have a “hanging-day” for members every six weeks. You bring your art and can hang two pieces and then you work for 8 hours in exchange. Sounds like a fair deal. I will probably drop by tomorrow and sign up for that group and start exhibiting.
http://www.redlandsartassociation.org

Then I found the web site for the Riverside Art Alliance. http://www.riversideartalliance.org/index.htm

Riverside is the biggest town around here with any kind of art scene. They are working hard to develop the arts in this area and I would love to support that. I read something on the web site that I can’t find now, that said  major cities are judged by their support of the arts. I think they are doing good things, so I am excited about joining them too.

They are having an “Off the Wall” fundraiser. Artists can submit up to 5 pieces of art. Everything is priced below $300 and it is a 50/50 split with the association. They are raising money for the Riverside Museum. They have done it for 6 years, so I guess it is successful. The entries are at the end of this month and you don’t even need to be a member to participate!

Talk about good timing. I usually hear about great opportunities right after they happen and then I have to wait for a year for it to come around again. Not this time. I will let you know how it goes, but right now it looks like I may join 3 art associations. Talk about busy!!

Halloween Mashup of the Ellsworth Family October, 2009 - Click to watch ours and then make your own!

I have never done one of these before. It is really fun to do and share. Check it out and make your own! This only took me about 10 minutes.

Send me a copy of what you make to shaun[at]oneartistsjourney[dot]com.

Check out ours and make your own at: http://www.monstermashup.com/d35534