We Have Power

​#30 !!!   I am so happy I did the challenge. It is so valuable to paint every day. I don't know why I ended it with another rickety house, but I was having fun doing it! Thank you all for your wonderful compliments and thank you all for the eye candy every day!This is acrylic 8x10, as is the neighbor in yesterday's painting. 

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Finally Home

#29 of the challenge. Inspired by a photo I took at the Becky Joy workshop. But a shiny object distracted me, and therefore, it looks nothing like the photo. But the meaning is simple: sometimes all we want to do is to just be home. Funny, it's a simple word. But for those of us who are so so lucky, it's a place of refuge, of comfort, of acceptance. A word to be cherished for sure! 

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Feeling Grounded

#28 of the challenge.  I set out with a few goals here: loose strokes, some palette knife, and most importantly, do it in 2 hours or less. I achieved all three! (no time for fiddling, faddling, mussing and fussing when you're timing yourself). I have to admit, though, it's easier for me in lots of cases to not have a reference. That's what allowed me to be faster and looser and just fly and enjoy. With a reference, you're required to really look, study, and be more precise. Both practices are great, but I did like not spending the whole day on it!

Wade, as always, sat at my feet the whole time. He really liked the greens in this one..

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Max and his Sax

#27 of the challenge.......I just don't know what to say at this point... Long, wonderful day. But not much painting time. Max has been on my mind, though. I just don't know how a person can possibly play that instrument! 3 more days!
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Saved By the Bell

# 26 of the challenge. This was inspired by a photo I took in Churchtown, Ireland, several years ago. There weren't any people in the photo. So I added them. It was a beautiful church, and I know I didn't capture it's true essence, as it was pretty magnificent, but I sure tried!

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Between Us

 #25 of the challenge. Thank God for good and trusted friends! 

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Is That a Shiny Object?

#24 of the challenge. Yep, I get the shiny object thing!

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Seven Strong

#23 of the challenge. I started this a while ago, and thought I would finish it for the challenge. Plus, it got me getting the oils out again, which I love! 

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Helen is Hot

#22 of the challenge......don't even ask. I think I'm getting loopy.....!

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Difference of Opinion

#21 of the challenge. I am barely on track, so a couple of goofy birds (my comfort zone) did the trick late in the day on the 21st! 

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Not Sure

#20 of the challenge. My friend Kristen Dukat is in town so I'm late in posting this, but still on time! And the lateness is well worth it. She is doing very well at the Birmingham Art fair! 

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I'm All Ears

# 19 of the challenge.  This is 16x20, and acrylic. I'm peddling as fast as I can! My friend, 

Kristen Dukat  (http://kdukat4.fineartstudioonline.com/) is in town for the Birmingham Art Fair! Her glasswork is beautiful and I'm giving her a hand with the show. Of course, there is also some fun stuff going on after hours!     

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I Know the Way

#19 of the challenge. I'm running out of time! So I decided to just play with temperature in colors. It was very fun to just have a simple goal and not worry about too much more! (my "brilliant blue" is all mixed in here, too) (See below comments under shoes)

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Barefoot

#17 of the challenge. There is nothing cuter than a child's pair of shoes. Unless it's their bare feet!

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Daisy, Daisy (Give Me Your Answer True)

#16 of the challenge. I was on a weekend getaway with my husband, and of course, my dog Wade recently. Gotta bring our Wadie! Anyways, I got on the ground under a huge bush of these daisies and took pictures looking up at them. My husband just shakes his head.......

And now I can't get the dang song out of my mind! (for those old enough, it's "Bicycle Built For Two", and I love it)
And here's our beautiful and beloved Wade on the trip! As I mentioned before, he is a Therapy Dog. Can you see why he was born to do it, and how he brings so much joy to people who are suffering?

Still Life

#15 of the challenge. It's getting hard now. I have no reserve and I'm not a day or two ahead anymore.  I could say "I'm only halfway there". Or I could say, "wow! I'm halfway there already!!"

I'm going to choose the second one. After all, how lucky am I to be able to see, to paint, to be blessed to have this much fun. Keep going everyone! 

I think anyone who does these challenges would have to say that it does help our habits, commitment, painting skills, and so much more. I always tell myself that I'll keep this up, at least to some extent after it's over. I'll worry about that tomorrow........

 8x10 acrylic 

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Alone But Not Forgotten

#14 of the challenge. This is from a photo I took at a classic car show. It is sort of a miniature of the one "Tried and True", which was recently juried in to the "Our Town" event. I guess I like this car!

6x8 acrylic

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Three Colors

#13 of the challenge.   I had no reference for this, but I wanted to just use ultramarine blue, white, and raw umber. I think it was a good exercise for me, but looking at it as a whole, I think I'd be afraid to hang out with this person!

The Big Dipper

#12 of the challenge 

Another piece of weird people doing weird things. One of my favorite things to get lost in! 

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Just Hangin Out

#11 of the challenge. These guys are just foolin around on a beautiful day!

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There's Something in the Air

#10 of the challenge.  They seem stirred up about something. It wasn't intentional!

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Good Hair Day

#9 of the challenge. 

This poor girl has worries on her mind, but is comforted by the fact that her hair turned out so great this morning. It always helps! 8x10 acrylic
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Afar

#8   Just minding his own business and daydreaming. Sounds like a plan..

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Let's Mingle

#7 of the challenge. I called it "Let's Mingle" for a reason. I really wanted to experiment with lots of things. I hadn't done it in a while, and my goal for the challenge is to try to learn something with each painting. I used liquid acrylics, inks, watercolor, and even alcohol inks (they made no difference in this format). I spattered, scraped, scumbled, and negative painted. Wet on wet, wet on dry, dry on wet. Just like a kid with his toy box. So then I waited and watched them "mingle". 

Yes, I watched paint dry! 

8x8 mixed

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Let's Have Some Fun

#6 of the challenge.   I just love watching this kind of connection/protection/love in action.!

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Must Be Him

#5 of the challenge.  This is from a friend's photograph from her trip to Italy. I started off  getting a pretty good likeness of it. But then, out of no where, I find that I haven't looked at the photo in a long time and am free flying (or falling). It's the shiny object thing. On a serious note, I never take for granted how lucky I am to be able to go to that happy distracted place. Fun! And that place has gotten me through some tough times in life. But art is only one avenue to get there. I would love to hear where your "shiny object" moments take you! 

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Vim and Vigor

#4 of the challenge. I'm trying to learn from each painting. And I realized that I hadn't done a palette knife painting in a while. So I did one!  Needles to say, this is very heavily textured.

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Reaching Out

# 3 of the challenge 

When I finished this piece, it looked like the flowers were reaching out. So that's how I got the name. Pretty deep thinking, huh?

12x9 acrylic

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Have Faith. You're Meant For This.

#2 of the challenge. I love painting birds, and this was going to just be 3 little ducks. But it turned out to look like the one on the right is afraid to get in the water. A duck! So it made sense to compare it to us humans. How many times do we doubt ourselves when we know we can do it, and that we're even meant to do it? Usually, our only obstacle is right in the mirror. Maybe we should have a designated day called "No Obstacles Day", and see what happens! Very Freeing, I bet.

This is 8x6, and acrylic

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Let's Slow it Down

#1of the September 30 in 30 challenge! I started the last challenge with weird people playing music, and maybe it brought me luck, because I was able to finish that challenge. So here goes.
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