Day 1 :: THREE SHRUBS :: September Daily Paintings

THREE SHRUBS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$50 + shipping

PRICING NOTE:  I am taking this challenge to heart and taking risks. The work created is a labor of love and learning. For this #30in30 challenge my pieces are experiments and priced accordingly. Each piece is $50 ($10 shipping if you're not local) rather than $125 for my gallery-worthy work. Only my pastels will be available at this time. Email kimweineck@gmail.com to purchase. Of course, thank you! 

At a recent family reunion, one of my creative aunts and I had a quick conversation about the spirit of childhood. Adults can get so pent up, yet as children there's an exuberant sense of freedom. My aunt gave me props by saying something like:  You know that feeling, I'm sure. As an artist you must let your inner child play and explore all the time.

Funny thing is that I don't let my inner child play pretty much ever. If she comes out, Blam! Inner critic shuts that mess down with some sort of blurt. Art is a struggle and not supposed to be fun or come easily. Artists are depressed. To make art, one must have angst!

My artistic inner child likes to use BIG brushes on BIG paper with cheapo paint and make messes sometimes. For my challenge this month, I'm working on being a little more experimental and see where it takes me. I have no theme for subject as such. My aim is to paint more, paint big, and feel my way through the work.  And to be more abstract (that goal will take some work.)

Today I thought about this goal and decided I'd visit a subject but paint it larger and in acrylics. Acrylics aren't my strong medium and my hand isn't as confident as I would like. Today's painting ideally could have had less marks, but I was having FUN!

THREE SHURBS STUDY
by Kim Morin Weineck
original acrylic on paper, 18x18"

The acrylic study informed the pastel. By the time I painted that one hours later I was mentally in a great place to make art. It flowed from me all zen-like.

We shall see about tomorrow.
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 32 :: WIND SOCK :: original pastel, 6x6"

WIND SOCK
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

The field in my neighborhood which I find so inspiring used to be an airport. Lucky for us, planes don't take off and land there any longer. We still see vestiges of the property's former use, like this pole for the wind sock, even though the fabric part has been long gone.

Again there is snow in this painting -- only a little, though. My previous post was at the start of a major named snowstorm. This one was a mere dusting early in the season. The time of day was dusk, which seems to be a favorite of mine lately. The light is blue. I think this piece holds a very specific light story.

I took liberties enhancing the colors in this piece. Blue is my favorite color, and it's pervasive here. The color relationships are the classic complementaries: blue and orange.

The sky is more dynamic in the original, with confident streaks coming down into the next subtle gradient. At the treeline is a subtle suggestion of a greeny-golden light. It really works with the turquoises in the piece.

The pile of references and notes and drawings in my sketchbook is massive, and I'm loving the discipline of daily painting. We'll see how long I can follow through. I'm bringing my pastels to visit my bestie in New Hampshire. I wonder that I'll take them out for tomorrow's painting....

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day 27 :: REFLECTION :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

REFLECTION
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

This September has been a busy one, and adding a daily painting to the mix has been a tall order some days. Today was one of these days. Nevertheless, the painting got done. And despite the fact that I have eight paintings that were 'back ups' painted before "just in case" I have been diligently going into the studio nightly to make a painting. The discipline has been great. Like I have mentioned before, though, I sincerely miss seeing my husband.

Reflections was a fun piece, and one I was able to play with and stretch the colors. Again there is a specific light story. I wonder that you can tell the time of day this was from? For me, it's obvious. A lot about this piece is obvious -- the time of day, the season, that it's New England. Try as I might, tonight I could not see this piece with new eyes.

I was in my studio working away, listening to the "While She Naps" podcast and getting into the zen of painting when Tim called to me with the latest supermoon lunar eclipse status update . Outside we'd go to see the supercool supermoon. After taking in the celestial phenomenon and not thinking about how old we'll be when this happens again, I'd go back into the studio to continue the piece.

In my classes I am a big advocate of the "walkabout" where you walk away from your piece to come back to it with a new presence. Strange that tonight these walkabouts didn't yield the same result. Is it that I'm spent? Is it that I'm content? Perhaps I'll know the answer to this in time.

Right now, I'm liking a lot about this painting. There are nuances (I may use that word in each post I've made this month, ah well) to the colors of the darks that make me smirk knowingly. The blues in the piece move in an interesting way from purple-blues to turquoise. I love blues. Some parts I'm not sure read for what they are, but then again, the abstractness of them isn't wrong. This need for things to be buttoned up and neat is something I've continually been working on in my paintings. I'm sure I'll continue to work on that for a while ahead.

Off to see the latest status of the moon.

Until tomorrow...with only a few short days remaining in September...
What will I do when this month is through?

Thanks for reading! -kmw