Day 11: Red, White, and Blue

Day 11 #stradaeasel

I’m now a third of the way through the challenge. Wow, it’s been a commitment! One of the reasons I took on the challenge is that I knew if I publicly committed to all of you to do this, I would be embarrassed if I didn’t complete it. Of course, if an emergency came up, that would be different. But I asked myself, “Can I really do this for 31 days?”

I think it’s said that if you want to form a habit, do it for 30 days. This is a habit that I want so I’m feeling more committed than ever to the next 20 days.

Thank you all for your support and your comments. It’s the highlight of my day connecting with all of you and I feel the love. Please know I’m sending the love back!

Today and tomorrow, I’m taking a workshop from Ken Yarus, a hardworking and accomplished young painter here in Kalispell. In the workshop are a group of wonderful ladies that I’ve gotten to know over the years through the Crown of the Continent Guitar Fest.

Another benefit of the challenge has been my dabbling in oils. Now that I have some experience with it, I’ve learned enough to know what questions to ask. I’m getting a great knowledge base from Ken about the nuts and bolts of oil painting: technique, maintaining brushes, paint and frame quality, tools, etc.

Ken is a really good instructor, articulate, and accommodating. When I told him first thing this morning that I would have to do another painting this evening for the Strada Challenge, he said, “Let’s get you a still life set up and you can do your painting for the challenge today.” Awesome! We rummaged around the studio for some interesting objects and I improvised with my blue wool scarf (thank you, Stephanie) as a backdrop.

The challenge with this painting was white on white. A canvas serves as the background which is a cool white. The white mug is a warm white. Then you have the warm and cool shadows falling on white. You have the red of the apple reflecting on the left side of the mug. It was trickier than I thought but what a great learning concept. Getting the drawing of the objects correct was also tricky. I would still like to work on this some more and I’m planning on it tomorrow. I’ll post a follow up photo of the latest version of the painting in a subsequent blog.