challenge five

Jan Austin, 8 x 10 Watercolor

Jen Smith, 10 x 30 Acrylic on Canvas

Rebecca Wang, 10 x 12 Oil on Canvas

Torrie Smiley, 7 x 9 Acrylic on Canvas Panel

Beth Connolly, 5 x 7 Watercolor

Julie Haynes, 10 x 10 Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas

Sylviane Le Cann, 5 x 7 Oil on Paper

Cathy Bockel, Watercolor

Byannick, 7 x 5 Oil on Board

Renee Brennan, 5 x 7 Oil on Panel

Ken Barclay, 12 x 16 Oil on Gesso Panel

Alison Warner, Watercolor on Fabriano Paper

Sherry Thurner, 11 x 14 Mixed Media

Dianne Lanning, 9 x 12 Watercolor

Angela Sullivan, 5 x 7 Acrylic on Panel Board

Linda Popple, 8 x 6 Oil on Canvas Panel

Kay Zimmerman, 5 x 7 Watercolor

A quick note to let you know why I've added another photo to the challenge this week. I wanted more of the clay pot to show, so I threw in another shot that provided it. Feel free to paint whichever you prefer!

Thanks again to all who participated in the last challenge. Once again, I'm under the wire trying to upload my photo at 11:52pm on deadline day. It's been a crazy three weeks here, with a remodel at work and Montezuma's revenge at home that had me incapacitated for two full days. Seriously. It was gross.

Enjoy the tulips! Deadline for challenge five is midnight, Monday, May 17th.

Jen Smith 8 x 10 Acrylic on Canvas

Chelsie Brady 8 x 10 Oil on Canvas Board

Byannick, 8 x 8 Oil on board

Rebecca Wang, 10 x 12 Oil on Canvas

Irina Rekhviashvili

Andy Smith, 4 x 6 Watercolor on Arches paper

HMCraig, 9 x 12 Acrylic on Panel

Sylviane Le Cann, 8 x 10 Oil on Paper

Horst Hittenberger 12 x 11 Oil on Canvas

Angela Sullivan Acrylic

Cathy Bockel Watercolor

challenge four

Thanks to all who participated in the last challenge. It was really difficult for me, as I think you can see by several things I kind of gave up on. Like, the girl at the juke box has an alien head. Like the way I just kind of gave up in the lower left hand corner and pretty much the entire left side, as a matter of fact. I'm thinking I might have better luck if I get started on a project sooner than the day it's due to be finished.

I hope you have fun with this next challenge, I think I'll enjoy painting it much better than the last, although I think I've said that each time a new challenge has come around. A bit brighter, a bit shinier, and a much clearer photo than the last.

Good luck!

**edited to add that once again I've forgotten to post the deadline. The deadline for challenge four is midnight, Monday, April 26th.

Jen Smith 9 x 12 Acrylic

Janice Austin 9 x 12 Acrylic on Paper

Carol Mann

Horst Hittenberger, 11 x 9 Oil on canvas paper

Jill Sparks, 6 x 12 Oil

Angela Sullivan 5 x 7 Acrylic

challenge three

Apologies to all for the last challenge. Really. One great thing about being a rookie painter is that I'm naive enough to not know that while something might look interesting to paint, it doesn't necessarily mean it is inspirational to paint, and for me, the biggest challenge of the painting was to make myself work it. I just didn't like it. I do want to thank everyone for their submissions; I'm not sure if you struggled with the boringness of it all like I did, but it certainly didn't show if you did.

This picture was taken on a night out with friends a few weeks ago, and while I'm afraid it's a bit dark, I do like the light from the jukebox illuminating their contemplation. There's a bit more color than the last challenge, and to be quite honest, this is not the photo I had taken for this challenge, but I grabbed the wrong damn camera on my way outside today to take the few photos I could with the limited sunshine we've had here (it was really cool, with strawberries and yellow books, etc.) and only discovered this evening I had grabbed the wrong camera when I asked my husband where the upload cord thing was for that camera and he then informed me I had grabbed the traditional actual film camera.

See folks? That's who you're dealing with here. Play at your own risk.

Deadline for challenge three will be midnight, Monday, April 5th.

challenge two

Julie Bloch

Rebecca Wang

Janice Austin 5 x 6 3/8 Watercolor on 140 CP

Jen Smith 11 x 14 Acrylic

Marilyn Flanegan

Bernard Echanow 5 x 7 Oil on Gessoboard

Maggie Capettini 5 x 7 Acrylic

Bev Atkins 5 x 7 Acrylic, Hardboard

Renee Brennan 8 x 10 Acrylic

Andy Smith, 4 x 6 Watercolor

Deborah Northey

Gemma Manzo Pen & Pencil Drawing

Carol Mann

Angela Sullivan

Lela Stankovic Charcoal on Paper

Horst Hittenberger 10 x 16 Acrylic on Canvas Paper

Challenge Photo

Mundane, isn't it? While I know this isn't subject matter anyone is likely to long to exhibit in their kitchen or elsewhere, I couldn't help but fall in love with the circular shapes of the drain and the bowls alongside the straight, hard angles of the flatware. This photo was totally unplanned and is precisely the way my kitchen sink looks after I've had turkey chili and chocolate cake for lunch. No, I didn't have four bowls of it - It's good chili, but not that good.

I wish I would've moved the sauce pan to the bottom right of the sink and the bowl there to the left; I think it would've lent itself some balance, but as I happened by, I was struck by the way the dishes reminded me of this artist's work. I'm not sure why, perhaps just the tonal aspects of all that white, I don't know. But I love, love, love his work. Also, after working with such a dark background on the last challenge (which occurs to me just now that I could've changed) I thought it might be nice to paint something lighter.

Okay. I'm done rambling now, I promise. I look forward to seeing everyone's submissions!

EDITED TO ADD:

Thanks to all who participated in the first challenge! I'm completely blown away at the number of people who submitted their work - I appreciate each viewpoint and hope only to grow from here!