Art – Page 107 – Katie Jeanne Wood

Three Sisters on a Camping Trip – Daily Painting Day 317

Empowerment – Daily painting day 316

I Remember Your Small Room
12×12 acrylic mixed media portrait painting on canvas
Was $300
Now $180
Shh! Don’t tell my husband..he loves this painting, and would kill me if he knew I marked it down. 🙂

The 40% off portraits sale continues in my Etsy shop. I can’t remember the exact date I set as a cutoff, but I can tell you, the sale will be ending soon. I don’t know when I’ll be featuring a sale like this again, so this is basically your last chance to get a great deal while you still can.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.

Pele

Make no mistake, being an artist takes great sacrifice. There always is, and always will be, something standing in the way between me, and my studio. There are a million other things to do, and a trillion excuses I make daily to try to weasel out of putting in the hard work.

“I don’t feel like painting” being at the top of my list most every day. If I told you that 9.9 times out of 10, I never feel like painting, would you be surprised? I paint anyway because I refuse to let how I feel physically or emotionally stand in the way of what I know I need to accomplish each day. If I did, I’d probably never get out of bed in the morning.

Oh, you’re tired?
Not in the mood?
You don’t feel well?
There, there.
Poor baby.
Now, go paint!!

The voice in my head isn’t always kind to me. What can I say? It knows me well, and doesn’t fall for my BS excuses. It knows how to get me up off the couch, and painting.

Looking back on the past 316 days, some haven’t been easy. The resistance to paint daily has been strongly felt, and I’ve wanted to quit too often to count. Underneath it all, I’m tenacious (INTJ to the core, what can I say?), and when I commit to do something, I follow through to the end.

The boldness of endurance is
the underline to almost every success.
– Mary Anne Radmacher

I know the disappointment of letting myself down, letting other people down (not that anyone cares if I paint daily or finish this 365 day project, but still..I pretend, and tell myself they do), and feeling like a failure/loser will be far worse than feeling a little too tired, sick or moody to paint at the moment.

Are you making the right choice today, and every day? If you really want to do something in life, no matter what it is, let nothing stand in your way.

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The ugly stage – Daily painting day 314 & 315

The ugly stage is the most fun for me to paint. This is where I don’t care about the outcome, and I’m just getting in there, and making marks. Getting a layer down, not making any hard decisions, just playing around like a kid.

I ask myself a lot of “what ifs” at this point in the game. One of the questions I asked myself was what if I left it at the ugly stage forever? So, I did. For about a week (which seemed like forever because it was pretty ugly, imo) it stayed this way in my art journal, and then I couldn’t take it anymore, and this happened..

I’m probably going back in at some point, and fix her mouth a bit. I didn’t notice until seeing the photo, but she looks a bit disgusted or bitchy to me. I’m not sure what her problem is..but I don’t appreciate the attitude she’s giving me. haha!

PS: I woke up with this song in my head about two weeks ago. No, I’m not kidding (I wish!), and ever since, I can’t stop the earworm from playing non-stop in my brain. Why, brain, why??

Please send help soon, I beg you. 😀

Watching: Peggi Kroll-Roberts High Key Painting Demo

Reading: Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions by Russell Brand

Garbage – Daily painting day 313

When I went to photograph this page, I discovered that I’d painted it upside down in my art journal, which is why it’s upside on your screen. Erp.

I got my daily painting finished by 5 this morning, and quickly decided everything else can wait. I’m officially off the clock until tomorrow morning.

What’s more important than painting today? Well, everywhere I’ve turned for months now, I have run into people talking about this old self help book, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, published back in 1937. A couple months back, Amazon had it on sale for only a couple bucks. Out of curiosity, I bought it.

This morning while I was painting, I had an inspiring, motivational youtube video on in the background, and the book was mentioned yet again with great enthusiasm. That was the moment I knew I was going to drop everything, and spend the day reading. I have to find out what all the fuss is about.

So far, so good. I like it, and doing a little further research I found out what an interesting character Napoleon Hill was throughout his life. He had a way of constantly reinventing himself, and lived many lifetimes in one.

So much beauty in the decay – Daily Painting Day 312

© Katie Jeanne Wood
Blue floral painting
daily painting: 365 day art project
Day 312
Gifted – nfs
Prints are available here

Every time I walk past this old abandoned building downtown, I always think what a lovely studio/gallery it would make with its huge glass front. It kills me that so many lovely old buildings sit vacant like this. There is so much beauty in the decay. Unfortunately, it will probably be torn down soon, like the other old buildings in the area. Have to make room for things like the new dollar store that’s being built on my street, I guess. :/

How to make brush cleaner for oil and acrylic painting simple recipe – Daily painting day 310 & 311

As you can see, I was scraping the bottom on my Master’s oil brush soap. All I had left was a little ring around the outside of the pan. Since it was a holiday weekend, I decided instead of buying more, and waiting for it to ship, I’d make my own brush cleaner. I can’t believe I haven’t done this sooner.

This is what it looked like the next morning, all separated.

All I did was pour some dishwashing detergent in a small jar, and add some olive oil. Shook it up, poured a tiny amount into a small pot, and tried it out. So far, I’m very pleased with the results.

As much as I like Master’s brush cleaner, I think I like this homemade soap better. Not only did it save me money to make it myself, but this mixture also conditions my brush bristles, and makes them soft.

The solution works well when painting with acrylics, also. Try it for yourself, and then let me know how you like it.

Woohoo..June 1st, and another month behind us, and I’m one day closer to the end of the 365 day project. YES!! I’m counting the days, soon to be hours.

You know what kind of day it’s going to be when it’s 85F at 10am. 107F heat index today. Can’t wait to spend the day in the pool.

Persistence – daily painting days 308 & 309

Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.
Ovid

Hit the ground running this morning, and haven’t stopped since then. Whirlwind of a day. Partnered up with an amazing company, and can’t wait to start working with them on a new project.

Other than getting bitten 3 times by a spider, and swelling up like a balloon from the allergic reaction, it’s been a pretty good day. Got a lot of pages prepped in my art journal, a video shot, bedding washed, and lots of vacuuming done to get rid of any spider webs. I think it’s going to be an early night for me, and my mate, good ole Benadryl.

Seasons change and so do I – Daily Painting Day 307

I change with the seasons, as does my work. I prefer using faster drying acrylics during the cooler months, and slower drying oils when it’s stifling hot in my studio, even with the ac running nonstop.

My subject matter also changes, depending on which paint I’m using. So, in the late fall and winter, I focus mostly on florals, birds, abstracts, and landscape paintings. In the spring and summer, I paint mostly portraits.

Ready or not, here it comes. The temperature outside is starting to soar. It’s going to be 104F by the end of the week.

shipment of 100 panels waiting to be prepped

My favorite subject to paint with oils is portraits, and since I have a stash of 300+ hardboard panels, you’re probably going to see a lot of oil portraits being created over the next few months. If I have to be stuck inside, otherwise risk being fried to a crisp, might as well keep busy, right? Probably not going to get to all 300 panels, but I hope to put a dent in the huge stack.

This is why you see the drastic change in my work as seasons change. I’m just trying to go with the flow, and this is what I’ve found works best for me.

Does your work change with the seasons, also? Let me know in the comments below.

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