Day 10 puts me at 1/3 of the way through the 30 day challenge. I have 5 paintings and another one in the works. I "finished" painting #5 and started with the drawing of #6. I made myself stop on this painting because, as I reminded myself, this is about learning. This is about working through the process of a limited palette, working with portraits, seeing shapes, gaining a better understanding of value and warm and cool colors, improving seeing and drawing what I see. And, yes, I do have conversations with myself about my work. 

Today I was part of another conversation and that was with artist, Stanka Kordic. She is a beautiful painter. She said something that struck me as highly important for being an artist. She is an intuitive painter. She pays attention to the painting and studies the painting and works in a way that responds to what she thinks it needs or what should be done next. It's not always successful but that is her process. Most of the time it works but sometimes it doesn't. But, what I found was very important was that underlying all of that, she said first you need to have the technical skill of an artist. And that is what I'm working on. Painting everyday keeps me focused on the art, the work, the shapes, the process of an artist. And hopefully, at some point down the road, I will acquire technical skills to work in a more wholly intuitive manner.

Day 9 of the 30 day challenge is here. Yes, I know, I don't have one for 6, 7, or 8. I was traveling with my daughter this weekend. I got back yesterday. Then, lucky me, my son apparently has the flu. My dear husband had it all last week. Fingers crossed I don't get it!

So, today, which I had calendared in as a full drawing and painting day turned into a shortened half day. I started on a new drawing but was distracted (because it's been that kind of day) and so I started painting on this panel. The painting is still a work in progress. I am trying some different approaches with each painting. Not sure I'm sold on the background I laid in but I wanted it thin at this point. I also started painting on the hair first and am working my way in. I don't usually do that either, but I'm testing things out and seeing what works and doesn't work.

This photo is a terrible image of the painting thus far. (Don't judge.) I will take another photo in the morning in better lighting and change it out with this one. 

I need better focus tomorrow. I need better seeing breaks, too. 

It's Friday. 5 Days. 5 pieces of art. 5 days of tired eyes. I took so much longer on this drawing than on the 4 before this. I kept thinking "she's complicated". I'm sure any one who knows her would agree, however in this context it's that the drawing is complicated. Maybe I made it too complicated. But that's the decision I made today. I wanted to spend as much time as I needed to in order to make sure I got it as close to "right" as I could get. I am sure I can spend more time on it but right now my eyes are so very tired. If you've ever sat and worked at a computer all day long and after many hours things start to get blurry, we'll that happens when you draw or paint for an extended period of time, too. I know that I will look at it in the morning with fresh eyes and see it differently. This often happens. I can see things now as I'm posting this image that I need to change. Like I said, she's complicated!

As for the weekend, well, I might not be able to draw or paint. It's a travel weekend for me and it's up in the air whether I'll have time to do any art. One of the things I set out when planning this challenge is the time I set aside for my family. I intend to leave my weekends as no art days unless all is quiet and I get some bonus time I want to spend in the studio. 

So, by the end of the month, I may or may not have 30 finished paintings. I'm good with that.

The dimples on this boy. Too much! Each day seems to have it's own challenges. Today was the thought that I really didn't like yesterday's painting so that was weighing on my mind. Fun fact: in the reference photo he is wearing a green the color of Christmas. I obviously changed that here. Something about this blue just makes me happy. Each day is not about an exact likeness of my subject but to capture their essence. These dimples, that smile, and his beautiful squinty eyes just does it for me. 

And it was only last night that I told a friend of mine I would not paint teeth. Guess I was wrong. 

Well, Day 3 - what can I say? I loved my drawing and I hated the painting. I can see clearly why the painting was not successful. There's distraction, not taking the breaks I needed, trying to get too much information in the painting when I should have been more focused on the overall shapes and values - something that I'm trying to work on right now. And, no, you will not see it posted anywhere. I will probably revisit it at some point later in the challenge. But tomorrow, I move on to the next drawing and painting. I liked my drawing and so you can see this. Part of this challenge is to work on my drawing skills so this is all in line with my goals.

​Day 4 - here I come.

So, I made it past Day 1 and now have completed Day 2 of the challenge. So far, so good. 

I'm working through keeping these paintings simpler than I usually paint and that's already proving a challenge for me. That being said, I will start again tomorrow. I know that I need to go through all my images and think on which ones I choose to work from. I took all these reference photos myself. I had fun taking them and seeing what reactions I would get from each person as they posed. There was lots of laughter and poking fun at each other as I stood on a chair for the tall people and squatted to take photos of the short ones (like my Mom). My grand nephew wouldn't even smile for me. I asked and he said "no". He's 2. I get it.

This mug shot was one of my favorites of Patrick. I'll be honest, I didn't want to start on paintings where I had to work on the eyes just yet so the glasses on the kids was a great place to start. Maybe tomorrow I'll venture down that path. But it didn't happen today.

And if you ask me that's just one good looking boy any way you look at it. 

Today's the day I start my 30 paintings in 30 days challenge with my group called the Artists Working Group. We are all lucky to have met through a workshop last year with Antrese Wood. Antrese is the artist and brain power behind The Savvy Painter. Although that "First Things First" workshop has ended, the artists I met through this group have continued to be a powerful support group and inspirational to me.

We've challenged ourselves to paint - according to how our work habits and our own studio schedules allow  - all during the month of January. One painter is working from memory, one is working on a large painting and posting snippets each day, another is working on small studies, another is exploring black and white within a theme. I have challenged myself to work with a limited palette and, at present and am doing alla prima portraits. I suckered a few of my family members into posing for photos during our Christmas annual Forced Family Fun celebration. I am hoping for 30 paintings but I already know there will be days when I can't and I won't paint so I will shoot for 30 and hope to get somewhere close.

I hope you follow along with my posts on Instagram @NanciTheArtist and follow our hashtags of #awgday1, #awgday2, etc. each day throughout the month as well as the general one, #awg30in30. I am also posting on FB @NanciCharpentierArt.

This first painting is of .... well, I'll let you guess.  Maybe that red hat will give it away. And for you LSU fans, I didn't paint the big "A" on it. You're welcome. She's beautiful either way.

So, here's where you might get a little more info about each day's painting and I hope to see you again tomorrow.