Daily Painting Sept 2017 :: No. 13 of 30

While I've always used my palette knife to get paint mixed well, this challenge of daily paintings on a small scale have me applying the paint with the knife. The thickness of the paint is fun and attractive on these small works. 

This sunflower piece is from Tangerini's Spring Street Farm in Millis, MA close to where we live. What a treasured spot with farmers who like artists so close by and a true source of inspiration for me!

Daily Painting No. 13 of 30

3x3" original oil

I always like finding assorted colors in the greens out there, too. Seeing color is such a fun part of being an artist. I'm blessed to keep working on it everyday. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw

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 38 :: STANDOUT :: original pastel, 6x6"

STANDOUT
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

One of the farms near our home plants a field of sunflowers each year. It feels like a spot of Tuscany in Millis, MA. What fun to feel worldly in your own provincial place.

My painting from a few days ago, Flower Farm, had me thinking of my paintings and photos from Tangerini's Farm. A bunch of my paintings are inspired by their farm. This sunflower piece was worked from a photograph I had taken while experimenting with perspective. I knelt on the ground and took this photo of the sunflower from that position so it really takes center stage. It was fun to do that.

Tomorrow is Open Studio for the original #30in30 from September. I'm enjoying tidying up the studio a bit and making final touches on the paintings and their display. It'll be nice to welcome people in to my work space and hear the reactions to the work.

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day 34 :: FLOWER FARM :: original pastel, 6x6"

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

$125 + $8 shipping

While in New Hampshire yesterday we went apple picking and stopped in at a farm. Who can think about leaf-peeping when there are these beauties in bloom? Goodness! Sunflowers everywhere. And in the land of pick-your-own, these could NOT be picked. The travesty! They were selling little bouquets of them inside, but I decided instead to paint them.

It was a day with overcast clouds, and I think that just made these flowers more vibrant in their yellow, orange, and green glory.

My September monthly painting challenge ended last week, but I do love having this discipline to my days -- even if I'm a bit run down with a blah cold. We celebrated the 10th birthday of my eldest nephew tonight. No more single digits for him! Time zooms by. Be present. Use your talents. Share them. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day 22 :: SUNFLOWER COTTAGE :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

SUNFLOWER COTTAGE
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Today I went to see The Wyeths: America Reflected at the Heritage Museum in Sandwich, MA. The exhibit closes this weekend and it was an imperative for me to get there. So happy it worked out. Three generations of Wyeths inspired me a bunch. I went looking at paintings with key questions in mind. It's fun to find answers by looking at paintings you admire.

The show was in this super-cool military building at the museum.
Its starkness went with the show impeccably well. 

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
original oil by NC Wyeth
just one of the gorgeous nocturnes on display

Today's painting is inspired by sights from my drive home. Before getting on the highway, I was getting quick views of so many gorgeous Cape Cod homes and cottages. This one is part of some efficiency cottages all available for rent. I saw the overflowing sunflowers and decided to turn around and take a photo and make some notes. It's fun and a little funny to be in a parking lot with a sketchbook making frantic marks that only make sense to you.

The palette for today's piece is so far from the colors of the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere above. I was in awe of NC Wyeth's nocturnes. His oils had jewel-like tones. I have eight more days of painting with pastel. I'll be interested in playing with oils on a larger scale in October, I'd bet.

Does the car read properly? It was a beat up jalopy of a vehicle which sort of went with the vibe of the efficiency cottages. It is to scale as painted since this road ventured far back to distant tiny houses. I'm not sure if I pulled it off, though. After working on something closely for a decent spell, it's difficult to have new eyes. If it doesn't read properly, I'm going to have to revisit it.

I suspect I'll be making it larger in the near future.

It's day 22 and this is a draining but wonderful exercise. Life isn't well set-up to make this painting schedule too possible on a consistent basis, which is too bad.  The real bummer is that I'm really missing seeing my husband at night. The good from this, though, is artistically and emotionally really good. I can talk about that more in the future. I've got to go to bed!

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Day 8 :: SUNFLOWERS :: #30in30 Painting a Day Challenge

SUNFLOWERS
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 6x6"

$125 + $8 shipping

Sunflowers are beautiful. A local farm plants a field of them and when I'm there I feel like I'm in Europe. Stopping by at all times of day, we see their heads facing the sunshine -- that's how I feel in the wintertime.

Rather than paint something straightforward, I tried to mix up the color notes a little bit. Brown centers are boring. My notes include purples, magentas, and pinks!

Frugal me comes out when I have a piece of prized pastel paper 16x20" and a frame that's 16x16".
I trim the rest and make small pieces for studies as tests for future works and explorations of color. In fact, some of the 6x6"s that I'm working on for this #30in30 are being scaled up into larger pieces. (More on this later, just to tease a bit.) This sunflower was fun. I loved the turquoise and royal blue notes in between the stems. 

SUNFLOWERS SMALL STUDY
by Kim Morin Weineck
original pastel, 3x3"

Thanks for reading! -kmw

Pastel to oil

Yesterday I tried to paint with pastels. Oh, I wanted them to work!

Instead the first try went into the trash and the second was scrubbed off with a high-pressured hose. 

As is my usual pattern, I went to the studio, put away all my pastels and took out all my oils. The switch is on! Last week I'd used my oils for an afternoon after oiling out paintings in my 'painting graveyard' and figuring out which I wanted to finish (or attempt to finish) for my upcoming show. 

SUNFLOWERS
original oil, 20x24"
not quite finished but almost...
The scale of this is a bit skewed,
but the colors feel right. 

Pastels are wonderful things. When I use them my color sense gets honed to a great level. "I need to use a middle value, warm yellow green" and I find it. When I venture back to oil the decisions are helpful. Now I can mix whatever color I would search for in pastel stick. And the great thing about oils: There is always the color possibility you were looking for! 

SUNFLOWERS
original oil, 20x24
in progress
The colors in the original are
much cleaner than this photo. 

The pastels I attempted yesterday were unsuccessful because of the nuances of color. One image had too much subtlety in the sky blues. My collection of pastels didn't have the colors I needed. Honest. And then there's green. Never the right one in pastel.

Going back to oil yesterday was thrilling. I mean it - THRILLING! 

And I had every green I needed. 

Thanks for reading! ~kmw