Well, I’ve made it to Day 9 of the 30 in 30 and I have to say I’m pretty impressed with myself so far for keeping up. Today I painted an orchid cacti flower in hot pink and magenta… Oooo so caliente! I love it. The flower I mean, the painting is okay.

Yesterday I talked about lost and found edges and I tried to do that again with this painting and did so okay with the background but I found that the flower itself was harder to do. I think it’s because I’m using acrylics and they dry really fast especially with the heat on. Even though I mist my palette with water often, the paints dry on my palette not to mention my canvas. It’s a challenge. I do have retarders that slow the drying time, but I haven’t tried them with this new technique yet.

But hey what about the shape of that orchid cactus flower, huh?! I love the dangling spider look it has. I’ve titled it “Hot Pink Hottie” and it’s an 8″x8″ acrylic painting on board.

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.

Thanks for stopping by.

About Me

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.

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