I have been painting and drawing since I was a young child. My father was an artist, and many of my fondest memories were of sitting together with him trying to recreate the beautiful paintings he made. I have studied with many artists over the years, and I still take classes and workshops to build my skills. Painting digitally allows me to take my art anywhere, so I can paint in locations it can be difficult for traditional media to go. There is little difference between painting on a drawing tablet or a canvas. I find having the ability to save and experiment without losing the core painting has allowed my art to grow in ways I would not have expected.
I have always loved dance in all its forms. While I have preferred to watch rather than dance myself, dancers have a way of inspiring me with their performance. I am fortunate to have a small company local to me, and they have been quite gracious in posing for my paintings. These dancers are not well known, but they are passionate about their art, as I am about my own. I strive to convey their emotions in the work I present here.
Day 21, success! Day 21 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. This is the first of three paintings I will do for Beth in preparation for a commissioned piece. For the package I am taking three photos and creating a pose and backdrop using them as reference.
Day 20, success! This is the last of the portraits of Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. Starting tomorrow, I will be doing individual portraits as I prepare them for commissioned works.
Day 19 - Success! Today I continued with the challenges, using the colors of the American southwest and depicting snow in monochrome.
Day 19 entry for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. This is Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 18, Success! Another portrait of the dress rehearsal for Arianna and Dylan. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 18 - Success! Today I started a few challenging paintings. For the color I wanted to explore more complex color combinations and moods. For the monochrome, I challenged myself with scale, painting a tiny pine tree.
Day 17, success! I wanted to play with dew on the monochrome, I think it turned out well. I felt the need to play with lilac and purple today for the mood piece!
Day 17, success! Another portrait of the dress rehearsal for Arianna and Dylan. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 16, success! 6th in the series for Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 16 - Success! Today took me all day, but I was successful! Pinecones are deceptively difficult.
Day 15 - Success! I've made it halfway through the challenge, 30 new paintings done! I went further into the reds and yellows today for the mood piece, and my monochrome study is a stream with a fallen log.
Day 14 - Paintings were a success, but my computer gave me issues for posting about them. But they are complete. Today I wanted to move away from the blues and into more reds. The monochrome, I wanted to experiment with ways to paint white water, which is fast moving and hits against many rocks.
Day 15, Success! Halfway through the challenge! This is Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 14, Success! This is Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 13, success! I experimented with color more on the mood piece, I tried pairing colors I normally would not put together. I think they worked.
Day 13, Success! This is another portrait ofArianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 12, success! The next couple of days will be a bit tricky to see if I can stay on pace. If I can get to the weekend, things should be on track once again. All pieces are available for sale.
Day 12, Success! This is Arianna and Dylan in their dress rehearsal for the studio's latest recital. They danced "Capture of the Firebird" from The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky. They performed with great passion and emotion, and I paint to capture a piece of that.
Day 11 - Success! The color piece is a memory of many winters over the years, being out on a walk and being just a little too far from the warmth of home for comfort.
The monochrome piece was more difficult. We have several wildfires burning in Colorado right now, over 11,500 acres between them at last check in. The fires come every year it seems, and they always leave me with a lot of complicated emotions. This is the first year I've tried painting those feelings. I previously painted two pieces, "I See Fire" and "Filled with Fire and Smoke", both dealt with fire more at a distance. For this, I wanted to get closer to the flame, so to speak. I tried to tackle it in monochrome, which allowed me to focus on the heavy contrast of dark and bright you get in a fire. The power and destructive force combined with the eerie beauty is something that touches me, I hope I did it justice.
All paintings from the challenge are available on my website.
https://www.memoriesofskyandstone.com/store-1/
Day 11, Success! Arianna and Dylan in a piece from the studio's latest recital. This is a choreography of a scene from Stravinsky's The Firebird. These two performed with an amazing amount of passion, and my goal was to express that in painting.
