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

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

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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"

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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 29 :: ACORNS :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

ACORNS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

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Since the girls went back to school I spend a fair amount of time outside walking in my neighborhood. It's a great spot to walk: hills, fields, rivers, ponds, forests, and so much to look at. Lately when I've been walking I've been stopping to notice small things at my feet: feathers, seed pods, interesting rocks, and of course -- acorns.

Acorns are everywhere right now. While waiting for the bus they seemed to be raining down on us. During my walks I am always picking up interesting acorns and bringing them home, my pockets stuffed. How many kinds of oak trees do we have in my neck of the woods? I had always lumped them together simply as oaks. Now I have been observing more closely--northern oaks, pin oaks, black oaks, red oaks, among others. Such interesting fun.

Last night I sat to write my blog post about Blue Coat and took an inventory of paintings for the month. Landscapes dominate, obviously, I am a landscape painter. I decided I needed another still life before month's end. Today in my studio I decided to paint acorns.

In art school, I was always working on a still life. My view from MassArt's Kennedy building was not my scene, so I'd set up my leather bag, or some other art supplies, and paint. It was then I learned that when painting a still life, the thing you're painting is important, but so, too, is the background -- even if it's a mass of a solid color. This is HARD to do! Professors often said (and now I repeat this to my students) that you should spend as much time on your background as you do the subject.

Today in the studio I really understood about the importance of the background in making a still life painting interesting. In person, it's almost as great to see the pinks, grays, blues, and yellows in the light neutral background as it is the collection of acorns.

Thanks for reading! -kmw