Thursday, May 14, 2015

Morning paintings #71-80

As I am writing this post I have just finished my 100th morning painting! It's so strange to me that it almost feels like some abstract number that I made up, but it actually represents a hundred pages spread over two and a half sketchbook! I always wondered how people who do this type of thing actually do it and the answer is so simple you'll want to slap me: one - day - at - a - time. ;-)

I'd like to think the reason that I keep it up says something about my amazing discipline and dedication, but I think it says more about the fun I'm having with it than anything else. They are simply worth doing for doing's sake, I have no other explanation.

On this here blog I'm a little behind on showing you the paintings, because...well...I do other stuff too and I don't have the energy to blog every day to keep up with them. However I do post every painting every morning on facebook and instagram (oh yeah, I'm back on instagram again) so if you want to keep up with them real time you can follow me there.

Anyway, here are paintings number 71 to 80:

#71 - Hearts (done in a hotel in watercolour)

#72 - Dashing Waves

#73 - Sunrise (Yes, this one got damaged at the bottom.)

#74 - Balls in Blue

#75 - Black Birds

#76 - Hand

#77 - Flower Mandala

#78 - Circles on Ochre

#79 - Scales

#80 - Eighty

All of these paintings, except #71, were done in gouache. Where there are small details and decorations I also used acrylic paint markers (UniPosca).

A fun side effect of this daily painting is that you really get to see how far a paint box will take you. So far I can tell you that a Caran d'Ache pan gouache box with 14 colours takes you far beyond a hundred paintings, haha. That's good to know, right?

With the finishing of painting #80 I also finished my second sketchbook. Here it is all filled up:


My morning painting sketchbook is actually an A5 sized photo album. I chose this format because of the protective sheets between the pages. That way the paint doesn't rub off on the opposite page, because gouache has a tendency to do that. The paper does buckle a little, but it does not bleed and it works really well with gouache, at least for my purposes.

So my third sketcbook (which is already half full) is also one of these photo-albums and the fourth one has already been purchased. Presumptuous much? Yep, definitely! ;-)

Hope you enjoyed this peek at yet another ten morning paintings and wishing you a wonderful and artsy day.