The Sketch Challenge!

I am posting some sketches that I have made the last few weeks.  I am challenging my students and myself to make sketches every day this summer.  I am posting some here to inspire and motivate them to keep working.  I hope that some of the rest of you will also take the challenge.  Draw something every day. It can be small or large, serious or silly, from life or just a doodle, color or black and white.  Use pencils or paint or fingernail polish or ketchup - anything - just get some images on a surface.  Some of mine were very quick. Some were in meetings (even in church.) A few were drawn over several days, investing about 15 minutes a day until it was complete.  I also have been playing with my very wee watercolor set that I will take on my travels this summer.  (Judi, thank you for teaching me the little "wee" word.  I love it. So Scottish.) Also, here is an artist blog from two years ago. This lady traveled by car across the Great Plains and painted in the car as she traveled.  (No, she wasn't driving! Her friend was.)
http://vvaughanusa.blogspot.com/

I want to do that.  I'm not sure if I could paint in the car, but I would sure like to try.  Anybody want to drive???

If any of you make sketches and want me to post them, email them to me at janngogh@gmail.com. 

I hope my grandchildren will join in the challenge and send me photos.  They love to draw and paint as much as I do!

Arles, France
8" x 10" 
NFS

It has poured most of the day today so I painted. It was so dark outside I even ran to Walmart for additional lighting for my painting area. (Wish I could say painting studio.) This is Arles, France across from one of Van Gogh's hospitals. I think this was where he was taken after he cut his ear off, after he chased Gauguin (his roommate) through the streets with a razor and after he sent the ear to a prostitute. The hospital behind the iron fence was nondescript, but this little provincial house with the blue shutters was a jewel in the sunlight. The line down the middle of the street was actually a small drain that many of the streets there seemed to have. Arles was a beautiful little town with lots of flowers, blue shutters, sidewalk cafes, and Roman ruins dating back to the first century.

And now that I am finished painting for the day the sun has come out.

Forever Young

"Forever Young"

6" x 12" Oil on cradled panel

$200

This fun looking car is a classic - a 1959 Ford Skyliner with a retractable hard top.  I love red cars.  Wish I had this one. 

I have been wanting to paint old cars and trucks all summer but could not find the time to paint.  I have been traveling way too much but managed to find lots of vehicles to photograph. (I now believe that NW Arkansas has more old rusted trucks than any other place in the world.) 

"Something Has Come Between Us"

6" x 8"

oil on panel
$50

This painting was a workshop challenge. We had to change every stroke in color or value from the stroke before it. I have been meaning to paint in this manner again. It was fun and loose.

Some Cute Little Studies

6" x 6"

6" x 6"

6" x 8"

Carol Marine taught us do these very quick and loose studies. It is a fun lesson. I love them so much I might frame a few for my kitchen.

Finally a New Post

It has been a long time since I posted on my blog. I have been painting a lot of very small canvases. I attended a wonderful painting workshop in Texas last January with Carol Marine. I have been practicing what she taught us and teaching my art students her techniques. I will add a few of these studies and a few other things in the next few days. If anyone is interested in purchasing any of these little paintings, contact me.

Oranges and the Crystal Ball

6" x 6"
$75

Last Painting of the Summer

8" x 10" on gessoed panel
Sold

This is the last one for the summer. I go back to work tomorrow. I did this quick little painting of one of my favorite chairs. It is worn out from many years of sitting, reading, napping, having conversations with my family,having long conversations with God, and from watching many pool games when it sat in the game room. It, and it's companion chair, need to be reupholstered. It is a much loved chair that still feels good when it wraps its "wings" around you.

This is a little painting I did for a friend who is fascinated with the water towers in New York City. She and I have traveled there together several times, and she always comments on how many there are. I had never really noticed, but every building, no matter how old or how modern has a plain old water tower. (I guess everyone needs water pressure.) So, I tried to create something interesting out of something that I thought was very drab.

Snow day Paintings

Watercolor

12" x 16"

Framed $175

Oil on panel

Sold

Oil on Panel

11" x 14"

Framed $125

Sold

Oil on Panel

8" x 10"

Sold

I promised myself that I would paint on any snow day when school was cancelled. Here are the paintings I have done. Our two snow days wrapped around some weekends, so I got a lot accomplished. Bring on more snow days.