Day 30 -- Giving Thanks! Joy! Joy! Joy!

Giving thanks to Ria for an incredible month-long journey making art. Her encouragement to continue exploring my artistic side has given me the inspiration to paint almost every day.

Valuable Lessons Learned:

I've discovered it's not the destination but the journey that will provide hours of fun throwing paint on paper.
I stepped over the edge of fear that the art wouldn't be perfect. Very little of it is perfect so I finally relaxed and enjoyed the entire process.
Mixing paint can be as fun as putting it on paper.
Discovering ATCs brought a special lesson learned. I am braver about trying new things without worrying about using up my "precious" resources.

Thank you Ria, for the great class and challenge.

30-Day November Challenge - image 1 - student project

Day 29 -- Full Moon

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Day 28 -- Last Quarter

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Day 27 -- Last Quarter

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Day 26 -- Moonrise

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Day 25 -- Red Sunset

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Day 24 -- The Red Planet

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Day 23 -- Waterfall

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Day 22 -- Purple Plain

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Day 21 -- Poppies on Rice Paper

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Day 20 -- What Do These Look Like to You?

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Day 19 -- Storybook Tower

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Day 18 -- Approaching Storm

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Day 17 -- Ice Fairies

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Day 16 -- Sea Green

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Day 15 -- Susnset at Sea

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Day 14 -- Sailboat at Sea

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Day 13 -- The Brothers Peak

Rice paper and watercolor. on 140# Arches CP

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Day 12 -- More Olympic Mountains

I am fortunate to have a view of the sunset (when it's not cloudy) over the Olympic Mountains from solstice to solstice.

I have just discovered a new way to do art everyday and learning techniques...ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).

I realize that these have been around a long time but being new to art making has me excited about a whole range of things. :)

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Day 11 -- The Olympic Mountains

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Day 10 -- Artichokes

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Day 9 -- Sedums

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Day 8 -- Bye, Bye MorMor; Phoebe Jane departs.

A light water mist on the paper towels and another mono print later on watercolor paper.

Lessons learned:

Take prompts from uninhibited 5-year-olds.

Let your own imagination run wild.

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Day 7 -- Cleanup on aisle two!

Granddaughter's visit is about to end. This time we made leaf prints with food colors. Then she wanted to drop food colors on the paper towel. Not wanting to squash a 5-year-old's creativity we dropped food coloring on paper towels.

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Day 6 -- The visit continues...I have no excuse and we both enjoy making art. This time we made bookmarks for her mom and great grandmother.

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Day 5 -- My 5-year-old granddaughter visited and her first request was "let's do art MorMor."

Now that's a prompt!

I placed tempura on an old white ceramic platter, handed her a brush and we had fun. She painted her hands, she painted her shirt, she painted the counter...you get the idea. As we were finishing up the project, I handed her Q-tips and she made designs on the plate. Inspiration struck and I grabbed rice paper to make a mono-print. We both thought it looked like a fish with purple lips!

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Day 4 -- Hay

This was a puzzler for me. I saw the prompt before retiring. When I woke this morning I experienced a quick time travel trip to my childhood. (I won't tell you how long ago that was!) During the summers I would spend a month on my grandparent's small dairy farm. Charming memories include "campouts" in the hay barn.

For additional inspiration I searched for "hay" only to see huge rolls and giant marshmallows, thus the title of this sketch.

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Valuable Lessons Learned:

Quit while you're ahead. I was having so much fun exploring the use of the brush to make circles, I got a bit carried away. I wish I had not added the last four bales at the bottom of the sketch.

Allowing myself to simply "let loose" and discover what my paints and brushes can do is even more relaxing.

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Day 3 -- Colors

Though currently in process, I decided to post it anyway. "Colors" is an opportunity for me to continue to explore my paintbox. :)

I am intrigued with watercolor glazing and what can be accomplished if done well. I think I need to use more water and less paint for this first layer. We'll see when I do the next step.

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Valuable Lessons Learned

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Day 2 -- Gourd

Had fun with the big gourd, pumpkin, on this one. Used an ElegantWriter and water to become familiar with another technique that may eventually include watercolor.

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Valuable Lessons Learned:

I only had a few minutes since I was in the middle of a major publishing project. I didn't need the time to use watercolors to have a very relaxing break from computer.

I'm learning to relax and not be so hard on myself.

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Day 1 -- Fall

Fall always means Autumn for me. First I researched a favorite quote. Then printed a black and white copy of a favorite photo to remind me to look at tonal values.

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Here's part of the process where I implement a technique I'm learning.

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The result: Fall 151101

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Valuable Lessons Learned:

The reason I started painting was to relax yet I bring the other side of my brain along. I need to enjoy the process of tossing paint on paper and stop worrying about the destination.

I continue to become more familiar with the paint properites so at least I know what to expect when mixing colors. I love the mixing.

Well, there's always tomorrow.

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What a challenge as a new artist exercising a very different area of my brain! Looking forward to the fun in November.

My "Studio" is my kitchen counter. :)

You know how new I am at this when you see my "notes to self" in my paintbox to remind me of color name, transparency and staining characteristics!

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Susan Harrington

Lavender Grower and Artist

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