Day #30 :: SNOW MELT :: January Daily Painting Challenge (in February)

SNOW MELT
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Interestingly enough, last week I went into the studio and four of these 6x6" pieces poured out of me onto their painting boards. It was intense and a perfect definition of "flow." When I came upstairs I showed Tim what I had done and he shot me a quizzical look. "In 40 minutes you did those?"

When people ask how long a painting takes, artists are frustrated by having to answer. So often, the paintings that take FOREVER are the ones that aren't as good. Not always, but often, this is the case. In my classes, I talk about saying the most you can with the least amount of strokes. Minimize your color palette. SIMPLIFY!

My classes also hear me tell this story --- which I LOVE so much. And if it's some made up literary legend, please don't tell me. I like to think that what I share here is truth.  ;)

Ernest Hemingway was talking with some of his writer contemporaries about story-writing. They challenged each other to write a compelling story with as little words as possible. Hemingway accepted and turned in this:

      For Sale:
      Baby Shoes
      Never Worn

Gets you right in the heart, doesn't it?

(And I just Googled it. Not sure if it's Hemingway, but I could be, so I'll hold on to my story line. Whew!)

And so with painting we want to say as much as we can with as few marks. We strive to make something difficult look as though it was done with ease. In Italian the word is "sprezzatura" and I first heard this in Professor David Nolta's Art History class at MassArt. Artists strive toward this "studied carelessness." It's a great contradiction: The art of making something difficult look like it was done with ease.

Winter seems to have broken, and I'm eager for this to be true. Only time will tell, but today's 50 degree walk in the muddy field with a smell of spring in the air was encouraging. This painting of greens touched with various light was a fun challenge to paint. I love the streak of sunlight: Warmth exemplified.

This painting wraps up the 30 in a row for 2016. I'm proud and excited about this body of work. Of course, I'm keeping painting. A new project has my interest and with teaching painting classes we shall see where my studio time brings me.

Be sure to stay tuned!
Thanks for reading ~kmw

Day #29 :: SNOWY STREAM :: January Daily Painting challenge (in February)

SNOWY STREAM
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

After a short hiatus, here's another painting from the January daily painting challenge. I know it's February. We get done what we can. Winter packs a wallop, and with it come issues of cold and snow, power outages, commitments, and other motivational difficulties. Funny, too, because our surroundings are quite inspiring. Seems the problem lies in time management and, perhaps more appropriately, light management. When it's dark at 4:30pm, I swear I'm ready for bed at 8pm with the kiddos. 

This painting was a challenge from the start. It's on a bright red surface which I thought would be a good way to warm up a cool subject. While that was the case, after a while the surface wouldn't take any more pastel and so I had to be quite deliberate about my warm and cool color notes. 

Perhaps it's more abstract than my usual work. The color harmonies make me so very happy. 

Again, this is a subject in my neck of the woods. We're so happy to have landed where we did, two years ago from February 1st. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #3 :: WINTER FIELD :: January Daily Painting Challenge

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

$125 + $5 shipping

It's chilly and here is another snowy painting. This piece was such fun to do! I started with another notan sketch and then the color laying over it was easy as pie!

Not much to say tonight because Downton Abbey starts up again tonight. And Alaska the Last Frontier. Funny how I watch so little television and then blam, both are on tonight. We'll have nothing else to watch for the remainder of the week (a good thing when a painting challenge is underway!)

OH! And I ordered some art supplies today. Can't wait to talk about those that will be coming in shortly!! :)

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

Day #1 :: SNOWY FIELD :: January Daily Painting Challenge

SNOWY FIELD
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125+ $8 shipping

Happy New Year! It's always busy through the holidays and tonight is New Year's Day and my dad's birthday. The girls will resume school on Monday and, while I feel busy crazy right now, come Monday, normalcy has the potential to resume. Perfect time to do another Daily Painting Challenge facilitated by Leslie Saeta.

The bummer of a January painting challenge could be the subject matter. Today I took our puppy, Hunter, for a walk and here is what I planned on painting tonight. Quick notan sketches in the field made for easy studio work tonight.

Subjects like this are my favorite. Depth. Foreground. Grasses. Color. Hmmm -- the color on this was a challenge and were so difficult to render on my computer. It's day one of the challenge and I'd bet I'll be writing that more often than I care to.

When I paint I strive to communicate a lot through the colors I choose. I want them to be somewhat unexpected. Today I got that right!

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day 31 :: SNOWFALL :: original pastel, 6x6"

SNOWFALL
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

SOLD! Thanks!

It's October 1st and I'm still painting. Before September I painted often, too, but the discipline of making art daily has been a good exercise and is adding a little balance to my life.

This painting is from a stack of photos in my studio which I've been collecting for years. It's been such a joy to tackle these references and see them through to fruition. Excuse the subject of snow, it is only newly fall and the first of October, but this image was on the top of my pile and the colors were so appealing to me. I think it made a good painting.

Snow is tricky to paint. Cold paintings don't look warm and inviting. How can you make snow look warm and inviting? You have to play with the temperature. Cooler in the foreground and warmer as it goes back in space. This atmospheric perspective for white is the opposite of how we usually paint.

And again this is from the field near our home. It's such an inspirational place for me.

Thanks for reading! I'm off to teach my Thursday night class -- kmw

Small works :: Shadows on the Snow

Ideas often percolate and emerge when they are ready. This painting came about in much this fashion. I've had this subject in mind with differing colors and layout for a spell. It's from a park in the town where I grew up. Love the blue tones in the shadows on the snow. 

©2012 Kim Morin Weineck
SHADOWS ON THE SNOW
original pastel, 6x6" framed to 10x10"
available 

For info about this piece, please email kimweineck@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading! ~kmw