Day #28 :: LATE BLOOMERS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

LATE BLOOMERS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The two florals I did at the beginning of the month are like beacons to me about spring and summer to come. When deciding what to paint today, earlier I chose a scene from a Cape Cod beach, and now I'm going back to a happy floral. 

I had a poor photo of these sunflowers I had bought from an enterprising local gardener in early November. I was jealous of the blooms still being produced from this green-thumb's garden and scooped them up from their flower bucket on the table at the side of the road for some ridiculously inexpensive price. When I remember back, I think I bought all of the flowers remaining, and the whole lot didn't cost more than $10. 

Today I struggled trying to make this piece cohesive. There's something fun about the entire top half. The bottom half I'm not sure about. I'll give it some time in the studio and revisit BIG! I have a hankering for some BIG work after a month of littles. 

When I studied for the trans-formative summer in Brittany, France, the artist Susan Lichtman was my teacher. Seeing her paintings was quite important to me in my artistic development. Another artist I follow posted an interview with Professor Lichtman and I immediately went to her website and ogled the paintings. Inspiration everywhere! Her process captivates me and drives me to take more risks and capture more in my work. 

The chair in the right top corner reminds me of her paintings slightly. It's imperfect and I find that imperfection simple perfection. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #27 :: SKYLIGHT :: January Daily Painting Challenge

SKYLIGHT
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

Sold! 

Perhaps you noticed I took last night off from painting. My sinus colds really take me out for the count, and I didn't have it in me to give in the studio. (I felt like I was breaking the law!) Instead Tim and I watched an episode of Masterpiece's Home Fires. Have you seen this show? It's a good one, and Tim pointed out that it's peppered with such beautiful greens. It's fun in an artist-household that a predominance of color gets noticed. 

This painting came out of me this morning with ease. Ahhhh! I am not sure you can know how much I needed that after the humbling experience that led to my last painting. The nuances of color are better in person, yet again and with my apologies, but this image on the computer gets the message across enough that I'm confident in it. 

The second painting of the day will come later. At least for now I'm caught up again. 

January is nearly through. I've learned a lot from this challenge and look forward to what I take on next. 

Thanks for reading!~kmw

Day #26 :: APPLE :: January Daily Painting Challenge

APPLE
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

We all have these days -- when you aren't in the flow. Wow! I threw away three painting starts tonight. It was hard. It's like my alter-ego showed up tonight in my studio and decided to 'have a go' at pastels.

Ha! The struggle is usually overcome with ability or vision. Tonight I lacked both for a while. 

Here is my single apple. The colors are fun. The marks are vibrant. Some of the color notes are unexpected. 

Tonight I could have fallen upon my comfort references and painted the landscapes I love. A marsh or a hay field or a beach would have been fun, but I really took the idea of a painting challenge to heart and thought I'd push myself. 

After all that challenging work, I'm tired, BUT ----

I'm also quite pleased with my apple. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #25 :: MORE ACORNS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

MORE ACORNS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

Sold!
Thank you 

Not being a big still life painter, these acorns are fun. And they are so diverse in their color and shape. Each has its own variety of oak tree. This spring, I'll have to pay more heed to the varieties of oaks we have in our neighborhood!

This assortment seems to be a collection of oddballs. The top left is so long and pointy. What fun that was to observe! The colors and shapes and indented tops of each are amazingly different and intricate. It was difficult to make them good paintings because part of me wanted to become a botanical illustrator and paint every little bitty detail. 

Funny that when I look at my collection of work, 20 of the 25 are from my neighborhood. The two acorn pieces are included in the 20. 

Five days to go. Twenty-five down. Feels great! I'll be hosting another open house in the future. More information on that to come. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #24 :: WINTER ACORNS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

WINTER ACORNS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

When I look at the array of work I've created this month I am excited about what I see, but of course I analyze it to death. What colors are prevalent? Subject matter? I critique the marks I made and consider improvements, future subjects, and sometimes I also feel accomplished. Because there are six days left to this challenge, I don't hold on to the accomplished feeling too long yet. 

The subject matter this month seemed to be demanding more still lifes, and so today's painting. I called it Winter Acorns because some of them were collected just before the recent snows we've had. Others were from my stash that I picked up during walks during this past fall. When I collected them then, the colors were green-tinged and the acorns were tight. In fact, I did this painting of them then 

ACORNS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

The caps of so many I had picked up in September and October are now loose or missing. Today's painting shows that with extra depth of color at the join of the acorn and cap. It was fun to paint the empty cap, too! 

I'm still sick and working on a bunch of things. Today I ironed and mended some clothes. Mending is fun if you throw caution to the wind and repair dark grey snow pants with bright purple thread! Not so ho hum! It's wonderful to get things like that done while you're laying low. And now off to a night catching up on some silly indulgences like Downton Abbey and maybe a cocktail ;)

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #23 :: FARM SUNSET :: January Daily Painting Challenge

FARM SUNSET
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 +$8 shipping

This painting brings me back up to date with the daily paintings. It's a relief. Funny how, while sick and resting, I'm thinking of painting and getting caught up. It was really bothering me! 

Today's final painting was the last from this series of three made today all of the same road. (For those local to me, it's Myrtle Street from the corner of Main to Hanover Street by Holmes Field.) 

Farm Sunset is the western side of the street and so the sunset was a glorious vibrant fireball while across the street for the previous two pieces you could see the moon in a warm blue sky. 

I struggled with the sky in this. As a rule I don't paint sunsets because they always look fake to me when depicted in paintings. I doubt whether the color was that vibrant, that intense, etc. My judgy artist self thinks sunsets are better left to photographers. That is how I felt until I've seen so many beautiful paintings of sunsets by those participating in this challenge! And so I thought I'd try. 

The rock wall was such fun to paint. I love the framing it gives to the composition, too.

Here they all are -- from the same ride home, same moonrise and sunset.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #22 :: RIDE HOME :: January Daily Painting Challenge

RIDE HOME
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

This piece is inspired by the same day and drive of the previous post. The consistency of the shadow line on the distant trees alludes to that.

I remember a painting demonstration at a local art association years ago. The artist mentioned that when one looks at a painting, the time of day, season, sometimes month should be noticeable from the visual clues in the work. Color, light, and other timely hints let us know when the painting is meant to show. 

This January challenge really cements this idea for me. So many of the paintings are so obviously January and winter for me. The color of the light on this one is all January. 

A wise-guy in the audience told the demonstrating artist that his painting felt like a Tuesday. I don't think you can tell that! 

The colors in this painting are not as punchy as some of my other colors. The light gave an overall cast of blue to the piece, making for the grass in the field to be a difficult color to pin down. 

In the end, I love the result. It was nice to get back in the studio and spend some time really concentrating on a specific time. The next piece I'm going to post to bring me up to today is also from the same ride home.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #21 :: WINTER MOON :: January Daily Painting Challenge

WINTER MOON
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

In the midst of this Daily Painting Challenge I got pretty sick. The girls had been ill, along with Tim. The rascally germs were bound and determined to get me, too, despite my best efforts of hand-washing and over-sanitizing. It's now three days later and I'm still sick, but I'm painting! 

Here is a painting from my ride home. The light was just perfect as the final light shone warm and constrasting against the cool shadows. Trusty camera to get a poor-quality photo along with some composition notes and later today in the studio, safe from the first BIG snowstorm of the season, I made this painting. 

I could have spent forever on limbs. But I need to play and experiment with saying enough without having to say every little last word. Detail is important but only in balance. 

This was the first of three today. Off to post the next!
Ah-choo!

Thanks for reading! ~kmw  

Day #20 :: BLUE NIGHT:: January Daily Painting Challenge

BLUE NIGHT
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Another night I wish I could have offered a painting rain check -- the girls are sick and now I am, but that was certainly bound to happen.

Tonight's painting is an idea that has been kicking around since Christmas Eve when we visited my in-laws for a wonderful family party. This Christmastide was downright balmy, with temperatures unseasonably warm. That night, on the ocean, the fog hung low. The night was a color I'd not seen before. The effect of fuzzy silhouettes struck my perpetual-painting-viewfinder eyes as completely and utterly captivating. Again, I took a fuzzy (this time TOTALLY fuzzy) iPhone photo and made shape and color notes on a cocktail napkin as well as a quick notan study. 

When I studied in Brittany, France the light always struck me. It was different - warm, subtle, deep. The sun set at 10:30 and night didn't fall until after 11pm. The streetlights all went out at 11pm. It was so strange! I remember learning the phases of the moon to figure if I needed to bring my flashlight for the walk home in the dark. When I'd forget to bring a light, my eyes would adjust and scenes like this painting were always in front of me. 

What fun it was to make this painting tonight, in this tight color and value range, and be channeled back to the streets of Pont-Aven, France for that impressionable summer of making art and friends and solidifying the person I am now. Funny what art can do!

Of course this piece was such trouble to scan and color correct. In person the color is a warm, purple-blue. I love it. The telephone poles, the silhouetted cedars, oaks, and other abstract shapes transport me: Christmas Eve night and that summer in France simultaneously. What art can do! 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw  

Day #19 :: DOG WALKER :: January Daily Painting Challenge

DOG WALKER
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

People in paintings add scale and the personal, storytelling element to the piece. People, though, are difficult to make interesting and not too engaging to the viewer. If I paint a really great painting of my own children, what are the chances that someone else would want that painting, or that I would want to part with it? 

The saying goes that you should paint from your heart, what you know. When an artist doesn't do that, something about that comes across in the end product. With everything it seems to be about finding balance. 

The January Daily Painting Challenge for me is a chance to exercise some muscles. People aren't my strong suit. Neither are dogs. But we have two wonderful daughters and a new puppy, so it's time to insert them in my work more! 

Today's painting of our youngest walking Hunter was a challenge (appropriate during a challenge, right?) to make look painterly and interesting. At one point I almost took out our daughter which would only leave the pup. My mothering instinct prevailed and she remains a great element of scale in the painting. She also lets me use colors in painting that often just stay in the box. Turquoise! Coral! Scary bright green! Hurray! 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #18 :: COLD SHADOWS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

COLD SHADOWS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Blue is my favorite color, and it is so prevalent during winter. The shadows, the sky, and the snow all feel so blue. Tonight I went out to shovel the four inches of snow we got last night and the light flakes all sparkled with crisp white and blue. Teeny electric blips of blue. It was beautiful -- but it was still winter and shoveling, so don't get me wrong ;)

This piece looks great on my bulletin board of work from this month. Next to yesterday's piece it is around the bend from that riverbank. My neighborhood inspires yet again. 

And how does this piece read? Is the blue water? Marsh? Field? It's not up to me. What I loved about this composition was the space and the light. 

Remember how I mentioned that new set of 200 pastels I bought at the beginning of the month? It's great -- but I need more blues! The Terry Ludwig Best of the Blues set of cobalts and ultramarines should do nicely. My birthday is in March, hint hint. :) 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #17 :: RIVERBANK :: January Daily Painting Challenge

RIVERBANK
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The sixteen prior daily paintings are all lined up hanging on a bulletin board in front of my desk and it's quite something else to see an expanse of work so obviously inspired by winter -- with the exceptions of only two florals on days four and five and one rogue Swanboat painting.

Today's piece is no exception to the #embracewinter hashtag I've been using on Instagram for the past few winters. Winter and I have a difficult relationship. It's of course beautiful. White snow makes everything look clean and crisp and blue. The light is purer in winter, without the humid haze of high summer.

Funny that--we have high summer and deep winter.

Winter does me in, though. I get cranky and a bit sad. Often it seems like so much is harder. And there's little light. We wake in the dark. The girls are off the bus and it seems that darkness comes upon us so quickly.

Good therapy for embracing winter is to approach it with mindfulness, and I think painting is a perfect example of mindfulness. I have been taking time to examine the winter landscape and the light, although seemingly fleeting, and have been admiring its glory. The paintings from this month really embrace that.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #16 :: ICE :: January Daily Painting Challenge

ICE
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The notes and iPhone photo for this painting look nothing like this image. In fact, I'm going to show you my thought process for this piece! I had fun and think you may like to see the progression from start to finish painting. 

This painting on your screen doesn't do the painting justice, either. The sky here is odd and fluorescent where in person, the effect is more dynamic and smooth. The bottom photo gives the best representation of the painting.

As I said in a previous post, my mind is like a viewfinder, scoping out new paintings everywhere I look.  Sometimes when I see big shapes and angles, I take a cruddy photo with the intent of working it out better in a painting. Sadly, this intent is often not followed up on, and I have a ZILLION poor photos laden with the potential to be something better.

Until today!

My photo with big shapes and GRAND plans! 

Sure, this photo (which I cropped perfectly to be a fantastic square composition) is fine. If I were to paint it as is, the result could be a lovely calm piece. When I originally sketched out my shapes at the onset, I had in mind I would do a color scheme similar to the one shown, but give it a bit more oomph. You can see my original color mapping below. 

(left-top) The draft close to the photo and
(right-top) finished piece with imagined color
The finished piece under my two drafts

Something gnawed at my creative mind and told me that the grays and blues were too staid. Even my intellectual mind agreed! I drew the image again and laid in color on top of color and played with color relationships and balance. It took a few layers and corrections to get where I thought the piece was best before I started on today's painting. 

Tim just visited me in the studio and asked if the painting were from a place we frequently walk on a Cape Cod beach. I smirked knowing that this piece is actually from the newly constructed neighborhood being built near our home. 

He then mentioned that the piece looked and felt cold. Isn't that neat? The painting is oozing pinks, yellows, deep maroon, orange -- all warm colors, and he is agreeing with my thought the the painting looks cold. What power we artists wield! 

How great is it when your spouse totally backs you up and they don't even know that they are doing it? Tim so affirmed the lesson of tonight's studio time: 

 
*You don't have to paint exactly what you see. The viewer is only going to know what you make them see. Make it matter. 

*Play with color relationships. Convey what you want, but stretch yourself. Say more with color than what is there, and study color relationships. Work them out before getting into the painting. The effort will pay off in the end result. 

A big painting and seeing lesson tonight. I feel so teach-y!

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day #15 :: JANUARY :: January Daily Painting Challenge

JANUARY
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

For those who paint with pastels, I've been painting with a lovely complete set I purchased at the beginning of this monthly painting challenge. When looking at my work, I would guess the new set arrived for the eighth painting. The marks changed a bit and my palette broadened.

My go-to set for a while was Sennelier's plein air half stick set of 80 colors (funny how 80 color options isn't enough) because of its range of intense color and neutrals. My newest set is Gallery Mungyo Handmade soft pastels full set of 200 colors from Jerry's Artarama. If you're interested in adding to your pastel collection, take advantage of sales, coupon codes, and free shipping. Today's price is waaaaay more than what I paid, FYI.

With 200 pastel colors to select from in this set, I finally don't find myself saying "I wish I had this one color..." For this manufacturer, this is it. And so I force myself to make it work, and that is good practice!

Of course, despite the 200 (!!!) colors to choose from, I needed different blues (of course I did.)
What an important lesson that is. It took me a spell to figure out what sort of blue I wanted for the sky, the roof, the house itself, the snow, and the large evergreen. Some of that negotiation is visible in the finished product, but I am thrilled  with my result.

I'm getting good practice on painting buildings and it's obvious this monthly painting challenge is in winter --- everything is snow and cold and I have so many nocturnes. It's been SUCH FUN! For those in my neighborhood, this is the wonderful antique home on the corner of Miller and Myrtle streets. The candles in the window are still up and they make me happy each time I drive by.

All my posts end with a thank you, but, goodness! It's day fifteen and I have to thank all who have read, commented, liked, and encouraged me along the way. I appreciate your support more than I have words to express.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #14 :: WARM SPOT :: January Daily Painting Challenge

WARM SPOT
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

This afternoon I had to pick up our youngest from an after school activity and left a teensy bit early so I could scope out the area near yesterday's painting. I had such fun painting last night's piece, and thought I could take more inspiration from the spot. I wasn't let down. 

With sketchbook and camera phone in hand off I went. A quick notan sketch, color notes, and a click from my phone helped to get to this result tonight. Of course after taking the photo I had to go to school, come home, make sure homework was done, clean up, help with dinner, help clean up, etc. etc. before painting. Still, I was excited to see what I could make, and that is such a great feeling!!

When I stepped back and looked at the light in this piece I knew I had got it right. Yay, me! ;)

And I have an amazing painting idea for tomorrow. What crazy color! What beautiful light. We shall see if I can pull it off, but as my friend told me once before an art show, I got this! 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #13 :: THROUGH THE TREES :: January Daily Painting Challenge

THROUGH THE TREES
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Our neighborhood is an enchanted place. Being an artist, I spend my time looking at things around me seemingly with a viewfinder in my mind taking snippet notes of my surroundings and thinking "someday it would be nice to paint something or other...."

This daily painting challenge makes the 'someday' turn into TODAY! 

Tonight's painting is from the marshy area on the Charles and Mill rivers in our neighborhood. As you drive home at sunset/dusk/twilight, the light coming through the trees creates this magical twinkling of the spectrum. 

During winter this color show is vibrant with only silhouetted evergreens and the tree branches. I find the scene foreboding and yet also hopeful simultaneously, such a contrast of feeling, much like the painting construct is a contrast of dark and light and of warms and cools. 

I have SO MANY IDEAS swimming through my mind. Maybe tomorrow I'll have some time to fledge them out a little more fully. Bigger pieces are jonesing to be painted. I taught an oil painting class today and their buttery quality made me want to get smooshing around some oils. We shall see....

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #12 :: WINTER BLUES :: January Daily Painting Challenge

WINTER BLUES
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

Sold!

Today is the perfect example of why a challenge like daily painting is great.

I did not want to paint tonight. I wanted to call it in and catch up tomorrow. Our youngest has a nasty cold and we were together for the entire day after a draining night. Tonight it's snowing big, attractive, romantic puffy snowflakes, and I have lit a fire in our cozy fireplace. We read earlier tonight by the fire before the girls went to bed. Goodness, it was the essence of winter warmth at our house tonight! 

Still, though, I came downstairs into the chilly studio and made this painting. Hunter and I are good walking buddies and here our puppy is exploring the marshy field streams at that fleeting time before the light disappears. 

I've written before about night and twilight and dusk and about how I love paintings depicting these elusive and fleeting times of the day. This piece worked up in a classic complementary palette of violet and yellow. I love when things like this happen -- I feel so academic and that I really learned a thing or two in art school. ;) 

When I look at artists whose work I enjoy, again I bring up Marc Hanson. When I analyze his color choices, I see that white is hardly present, and when it is, it's in tiny dots and emphatic small gestures. What an impact that restraint can have. 

Today's painting was about exercising that restraint. My notes and reference about this scene were that it was so dark it was near impossible to see. Of course I took liberties with these notes, and in the end feel that I made a good painting. 

Hurray for challenging yourself! 

And now back to the cozy warmth of upstairs, watching the snow fall, and embracing winter. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #11 :: SWANBOATS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

SWABOATS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

Sold! 

The Swanboats in Boston are such a wonderful city treasure. I've had this image kicking around in my studio for a while and today was the day I decided to try it out as a painting. 

It was fun to paint except for the GREENS. Goodness me! Greens are a constant issue in landscape painting. When you paint with pastels, greens are a funny thing. They always seem too something. Too blue. Too false. Too dull. Too bright. Too light. Too mossy. Ha! On and on and on. The greens in this painting were all over the place, too. 

Had I had more time (an excuse, yes, but geez, sometimes you don't have a lot of time) I would have done a notan study of the piece and had a stronger idea of the lights and darks in the distant shore of Boston Public Garden. 

All in all, it was FUN to paint. The struggle was fun and so was remembering when this was taken. That day was great. It's one to remember always. When it was our turn to get on the swanboats, this cute Japanese couple sat behind us. By the time we got to the bridge in the middle of the lagoon, their friends were all standing on the bridge holding signs. It was a proposal. We turned around to find him on one knee and she was crying and hugging him. Hurray for love in the Boston Public Garden and a wonderful proposal we will always remember having witnessed.

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #10 :: LIT WINDOWS :: January Daily Painting Challenge

LIT WINDOWS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Nocturnes are some of my favorite paintings. I am captivated by the way artists are able to capture the subtle colors of night. I wrote of this in September's painting challenge about my painting Blue Moon. Since the creation of the camera, it seems that night paintings are some of the most authentic ways for an artist to really insinuate themselves into a painting. Cameras take photos of any scene but night paintings say more than a night photo often can.

I'm in need of practice for nocturnes. The color palette isn't what I'm used to at all. The marks I made, too, are different for structures rather than features in nature. With practice I'll improve, and that right there is the nugget that makes these #30in30 painting challenges worth their weight in gold!

Off to watch Downton which started 40 minutes ago.

Oh! I haven't forgotten about my new pastels. I'll post about them hopefully tomorrow. They are still being tested. and so far, so good!

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #9 :: HUNTER :: January Daily Painting Challenge

HUNTER
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Each day I place my pastel on the scanner bed and hit 'preview' and wait. The machine buzzes and whirs and I always cringe as I wait for the image to appear. Each day I am tense with questions. And so it goes....

Artists are like this, I think. We always second-guess what we make and how we feel about it. This back-and-forth effort may be why I'm so tired after painting. The conversations in  my head are intense deliberations of color and shape and mark. Back and forth. During the process there are intense highs (the beginning) and the yucks (the middle) and hopefully the whole mood elevates again as the piece progresses to the end. Of course there are the times you don't leave the yuck period, but there is always something to learn and so off to the next!

If it's not the apprehension of success in painting-making, then I have oodles of stress for the scanning and optimizing. UGH! Despite having had tons of practice, Photoshop and I have a fickle relationship. I do my best, heck, that's my life's motto!

Here is our puppy, Hunter (obviously). He's a hoot. I've always  been a dog person (although cats can be cool, too) and now we are the caretakers of this little stocky fellow. He's a great dog and we've been training each other on how to be owner and puppy. We go on walks in the conservation land in the neighborhood.

We are both in our element in this field. I find wild cranberries. He finds entrails from a coyote kill the night prior. I discover Fibonacci's sequence in the frost-kissed Sweet Woodruff and he delights on the frozen streams and chomps on chunks of ice. Of course it was only a matter of time before he'd show up in a painting. And look how small I made him!

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #8 :: RIVER COLOR :: January Daily Painting Challenge

RIVER COLOR
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The art supplies I ordered came in and yes, they are pastels. Perhaps tomorrow I'll take some photos of them and link up to where I bought them in case you're wanting an excuse to buy some new color! UPS was to deliver them "by the end of day" and dang it! They arrived at the END of the day --- 4:58pm! 

As is my norm when I have new tools, I fall back to subjects that I'm comfortable with to familiarize myself with my new (wonderful) materials. The juncture of land and water is a magical place for me, and I'm always striving to make a painting sing as the actual scene does -- and maybe stretch the color a bit the way I'd like to see it. 

This piece is inspired by my neighborhood and is painted on archival suede board. Usually I love the softness the board provides. Today, though, I would have loved the chance to get some straight, hard lines for the reeds. Next time! New surface. Perhaps a Sennelier sanded board. Or a UART mounted board. It's fun to make these decisions. 

After yesterday's draining day, it was wonderful to have some support from you. I always end with "thanks for reading" but today there's a deeper meaning in that phrase. 

This challenge is shaping up to be a most interesting journey. Puppies and people and still lifes are bound to make an appearance shortly ;)

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #7 :: WINTER HOPE :: January Daily Painting Challenge

WINTER HOPE
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Today was a difficult January day -- as many days in January can be. Apart from the temperatures, which were rather mild for this time of year, today was about change. Changes that have happened and changes yet to come. 

I went to a wake tonight for a dear former boss. He and his family offered me such opportunity when I was in my twenties. Somehow I knew to work hard for them and see where the opportunities would take me and I went all sorts of places! Nantucket was particularly wonderful. So many years ago now. 

In the end, I could and should credit them with directing me to art school because they owned galleries. I spent my days working for them selling other people's artwork, figuring out what people wanted to buy, and studying what I sold. 

Funny how paths make sense in hindsight. 

Today we also got news of a family member's diagnosis. When you're hoping more than you can hope that it's not cancer and then it is....And I have no other words. Only prayers and making art. 

When I'm not sure what to do or when I feel lost or apprehensive, making art helps. 

Today's piece was a challenge again. Simple in construct, this solitary tree with some depth in the flat plane against a treeline and an oddly colored sky isn't as complicated as say a marsh with a dramatic sky and boat and and and... Simple in art is never simple. Instead simple is often a nightmare. How can it be done in a simple fashion and still feel professional/deliberate/confident/finished/etc? It takes some doing and experimentation to get there. 

My notes and reference weren't these colors, but when I painted them as they were there was no hope in the grays and dull browns. Those tones are for another day. Instead, what fun for me to empurple (a great word and joke for my art students) and redden and warm up the color notes! 

The piece is now more hopeful in its feeling. I kept at it with layer upon layer and finally arrived at a place I love for my painting and my head. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #6 :: PATH AT DUSK :: January Daily Painting Challenge

PATH AT DUSK
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6

$125 + $8 shipping

Today's painting was completed at dusk, which this time of year is like around 4pm -- too early! 

The girls were playing and I sneaked into my studio for some quiet time to think and paint and be on artistic auto-pilot.

My last two pieces, the Bright Bouquet and the Enamel Pitcher, were using a different brain for me. This painting today was back to my old painting brain but I was flexing my color muscle. I wanted to tweak the colors to read like that odd chilly light that is so very January. 

I think I communicated that light pretty well ;)

Thanks for reading!  ~kmw

Day #5 :: ENAMEL PITCHER :: January Daily Painting Challenge

ENAMEL PITCHER
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The kisses of color on the flowers isn't white like you may see in this image, but instead, are a gorgeous deep salmon-tinged pink. Then again, the angle of my monitor may have something to do with how this painting looks to others. I'm never sure. 

There are parts of this piece that I am in love with: The dark part where the negative space of the flowers meets the pitcher as well as the dark lip of the pitcher. Oooh! I like that part. Also the colors of the pitcher. The strokes are loose and fun not all bound in a straight jacket like I'm often one to do to my marks. 

As much as I love flowers, I don't paint a lot of them. The entries for the past two days have been fun challenges. The good news is that they're challenges. Without a challenge there is no growth. 

For a spell, I've felt something in me percolating. I want to make some hybridized artwork of fine art skill with freestyle design. I'm thinking that pieces like this are my segue. Although as I look at this piece now, I think it's certainly less of the freestyle design/illustration than I may be inclined to go in the future. It's a process and I'm feeling the forward momentum!

When it comes down to the nitty gritty of it -- who are we painting for? I'm often torn. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw