Hey it’s Day 16 of the 30 in 30! I have painted a red and yellow heliconia flower, sometimes called lobster claws.
I really enjoyed painting this exotic beauty today. To be honest, not every painting has been fun. Oh, it starts out fun and fresh with a quick sketch on my canvas but then sometimes the painting goes wrong. I’m not sure yet what causes this, but happily today it didn’t happen! I had this 8×10 painting finished in about three hours.
Plus, it’s Friday! I don’t know why I still get excited about Friday’s since I no longer am in school or have to leave my house to work, but I do. I guess it’s because I get to sleep in for the weekend. I’ve always loved to sleep in, but this year for some reason I find myself getting excited about bedtime, haha. I sound nuts saying that out loud but it’s the truth. Sleeping in to me is the greatest luxury.
Anyway back to the heliconia painting. Painting these greens have really become something I enjoy. Of course the flower steals the show, but there is something about mixing lemon yellow and cobalt blue together and getting such an array of greens that is exciting to me. Throw in some titanium white or burnt umber and sometimes sap green, I’m kind of obsessed.
Sometimes, I use lemon yellow and ultramarine blue (not in the heliconia painting) like in the lotus painting and find it makes much more cooler greens and turquoises, which I like too. Cerulean blue and lemon make beautiful greens more acid looking to me. I’ve tried using cadmium yellow for mixing, but didn’t get quite the natural looking greens I was looking for to use in all my tropical paintings.
lots of greens
See, I get lost in the greens… Back again to the heliconia, I’m not recalling ever seeing this plant or flower in person. Maybe I did in Hawaii, but I cannot remember if I did or not. Don’t you think they look fake? I do, ha ha. They are still stunning though and I really would love to see them in person. Someday maybe I’ll even grow one in my fantasy yard when I move someplace tropical. I have a thing for drooping plants.
I think my mom would’ve loved this. Red was her favorite color for anything, but especially flowers.
This very tropical 8″x10″ heliconia painting is available on my online gallery here.
Thanks for following along.
What’s the point of the 30 Paintings in 30 days challenge?
I want to be a better painter. To be a better painter, I must paint more and more.
The whole point of the challenge is to get yourself back in the habit of painting everyday. Now I haven’t stopped painting, but I certainly haven’t painted as much as I wanted in the last few months. So I’m joining in with the challenge to give myself a goal and to help me to feel held accountable, too. Not that the Painting Police will come and pick me up if I don’t paint everyday, it’s more of a self motivation thing. I’ve signed up on Leslie’s website and I’m hoping to be able to accomplish a lot of painting.
I’m not expecting to get gallery worthy paintings each day, I may not even paint a whole new painting each day. I’ve been there done that and that was stressful. I put the stress on myself, but nonetheless, it was stressful. I do hope to foster the act of going into my studio each and every day to get more painting accomplished. You know what they say about habits, it takes 21 days to form one. It will help me get better by practicing more and more.
See the paintings I’ve painted during this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by.
About Me
some of my paintings
Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page in the menu at the top. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started creating more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is mystery.
If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, join my email list. About once a month I send out a letter that gives you invitations for shows, birthday greeting, sneak peeks at new work and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!
