Barn #1

Barn #1, Acrylic on Crescent Board, 10"x12", $100

Happy New Year all!  I hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2015.  

 Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge
 Today begins a new Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge.  What a great way to jump start the new year. For those of you unfamiliar with the Thirty Day Challenge, the idea is to create and post a new painting each day for 30 days.  The idea was started by Leslie Saeta who graciously hosts the Challenge on her blog, Slices of Life. This is my fourth Thirty Day Challenge - the first one was a dismal failure, but the last two in January and September 2014 were excellent.  To see the paintings from the last two challenges click here (January 2014) and here (September 2014).

Choosing a Theme

To make the challenge more manageable and more useful, I try to have a theme. Last January my theme was simply learning to paint with palette knives.  In September, my theme was sunflowers.  This time, my theme is barns.  My plan is to continue my exploration of the intersection between realism and abstraction and the use of lines in my work.  To that end, I plan to incorporate elements of abstraction and line-work in each of my paintings. And, although this painting is rectangular, I am planning to make most of the rest of them square.  Making them all the same aspect ratio helps with composition and space allocation and provides an element of unity to the series, as do the other common elements. The interesting part will be watching the evolution over the course of the month.

Today's Painting
As happens frequently when I start a new subject, the first painting is a bit tentative.  I used a type of hatch mark application of the paint to get a mixed but not mixed appearance to the various areas of the painting. I used abstract swooshes of paint to get the feel of weeds and grasses in the foreground and used lines to give definition to individual weeds and certain architectural elements. I found that the size of the barn made it kind of difficult to make many interesting paint marks - I learned today that a bigger image/space gives me more room to make the paint look interesting.

This painting is painted on Crescent Board which has an archival core with watercolor paper adhered to the surface.  I applied gesso to the watercolor paper before beginning my painting. It can be framed without glass. 

About the Paintings
Most of the paintings that I create during the challenge will be for sale.  Some, for obvious reasons (you'll know them when you see them) won't be.  All purchases are handled on my web site (www.annavreman.com). I will have a special page set up for this Thirty Day Challenge. Pricing will be at a sneak preview level for the duration of the challenge after which they will be priced at normal gallery levels. Also, in general, paintings purchased through my web site are unframed - this facilitates shipping and also allows you the latitude to choose what looks right in your home. I do frame some work upon request, but I only make a limited selection of frames for cost and time reasons.

Work in Progress

Untitled (for now), Acrylic on Canvas, 16"x20", NFS

This painting isn't done yet so I didn't spend a lot of time getting the colors in the photo exactly right. But I wanted to share a new avenue of experimentation that I am exploring. I am enjoying the visual texture and abstraction of the patches of paint while still keeping a representational foundation.  I still have quite a bit of work to do on this painting - I haven't got the mood I envisioned just yet, and the composition still needs a bit more work - but I have some ideas on how to proceed.

Interestingly, I didn't always enjoy experimenting with new techniques and looks, primarily because I hate all the failures (still do).  But I am getting into trying things out just to see where they might lead.  Of course, that can result in a bunch of odds and ends, work wise.

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace, Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, 14"x15", $250

I made another pass at this one. I wasn't satisfied with the number and arrangement of the flower heads so I went in and changed them. I think I have more pleasing arrangement now.

To purchase this painting, please click here. You will find yourself on my web site which is set up for on-line sales.

Sunflower #28

Sunflower #28, Acrylic on Watercolor paper, 13"x14", $500

Still experimenting.  This is a painting that went horribly wrong during the September 30 Day Challenge.  At the time, I just set it aside figuring I would revisit it some day.  That day came this week. I like the cheeriness that this painting conveys.

To purchase this painting, please click here. You will be transported to my website where you can make your purchase.

Note:  I discovered yesterday that some of the links for purchasing on my web site were broken. So if you tried to make a purchase and were unable to, please accept my apologies and I hope you will try again.  I believe the links are all fixed now so you should be able to use my web site to purchase the painting of your choice.

Clearing Skies

Clearing Skies, Acrylic on Canvas, 16"x20", $900

There was some serious experimentation going on here.  I wanted to create a landscape in which the foreground, although large in area, was largely abstracted and darker than the middle and backgrounds.  In order to get the mood right and to get enough interest in the middle and backgrounds (if you lead them there, is there something for them to find?), I did quite a lot of compositional work as I went along.  All in all, I am quite pleased with the results.  In the actual painting, the purples in the foreground are a bit more muted; in fact, they blend in quite well.  Other than that, this photo captures the feeling of sunlight I got and which was one of the goals.

To purchase this painting, please click here. You will be transported to my website which is set up to handle on-line transactions.

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace, Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, 14"x15", $200

Ahhh.  Much better.  It's amazing how much I can miss when I am painting.  After I finished painting the other day, I looked at this painting and immediately saw what was wrong and had a pretty good idea of how to fix it.  So here is the revised version.  I was looking for a largely abstract, loose feel that would capture the sense of wildness and randomness of a field of wildflowers.  This feels right.

To purchase this painting, please click here.  You will be transported to my website which is set up to handle sales.  Also, I have decided to use "sneak preview" pricing for my blog posts.  That means the price for a painting hot off the easel will be lower for a week or two after posting. After that it will go up to the gallery price.

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace, Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, 14"x15", NFS

Wild flowers in a field.  Here in Vermont, they are just a fond memory now.  The frost has pretty much killed off the wild flowers for this year.  In this whimsical study I wanted to explore the use of abstract color and lines to create the feeling of a field.  I think I got that.  I will probably go back in and make a few changes, so it's not for sale for now.