30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge - Day 24

Oh boy I am so tired. It's been a long week and we're only at Wednesday. I made an effort to get in the studio. I worked on one of my earlier paintings and, again, it was not successful. I tried to figure it out and I think I've got it. The lighting of the subject has to be right. Also, when using photography there needs to be an understanding that photographs will flatten and skew angles and edges so it's so important to keep that in mind when using photos as reference material. I should probably be working directly from models but I am not. This is the route I'm taking right now and I'm seeing how far I can push myself. 

I've worked on a total of 9 paintings since the beginning of this month. Only 6 of those do I consider successful. I've also completed 10 drawings. I'm learning a lot about what elements of painting work and which ones don't work. And then there's those moments when you stand right in front of the canvas and say "I can't remember what colors to mix today." 

There are only 6 days left in the month. I am hoping that I can manage to paint with some success at least two more. That's a stretch considering I have to go and paint a house - a real house - this weekend. That takes out 3 days from my next 6. 

So, for today, I am posting the drawing of this cutie pie. I asked him if he would smile for the camera and his reply was simply "no".