'Painting a Day' overview for the week of Oct. 20th

This has been a good week artistically speaking. I say that because I am challenging myself by getting out of a comfort zone in order to learn and hopefully move my work to another level. I also am enjoying the fact that I can choose to 'move on' and not fret over a piece or I can 'fret' all I want by reworking something in my mind, over and over as I process what my mind sees and what my hands do!

I will post the paintings I have done this week and make comments as far as what they've taught me.

I suppose now would be a good time to mention I am self taught. I am a 'later in life' artist, painting my very first painting just a few short years ago. I can count on one hand the number of art classes I have taken. I drew horses extensively as a child but stopped once I reached my late teens. I began drawing in my mid 40's. I now do portraits- people and animals which can be viewed on my web site at http://www.suesteiner.com

I am at a stage were I am hungry to learn and would love to go to art school but I have teen aged kids soon to be in college themselves. I can't quite justify the expense- especially since an art career is not the most practical of choices. I am now doing what I love. I do know I am an artist at heart, with or without the diploma and am making this trek because it is who I am and what I can do! I believe in the value of art and self expression and have seen its healing effects in my own life. So, by following along with me I am hoping that others may value art and incorporate it in their lives too. Most of all we need to encourage people who have an artistic bent to know it is worth developing and pursuing so thank you for following along on this journey.

A charcoal and pastel sketch from 10/23/08. I am working on quick 30 minute sketches to challenge me to get positioning and form down quickly and efficiently. This particular pose is proving to be a personal challenge. I feel I am making progress on the body but the legs still leave much to be desired and the head could be tucked more. I am choosing difficult poses to not play safe here. I want to get out of my comfort zone since I feel being afraid to make mistakes builds huge barriers in art. By posting my 'mistakes' here I am breaking thru those barriers. Maybe I should rename this series The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! :)

Same pose, different day. I did my drawing directly on the canvas-- no sketching, tracing, grids or anything like that. This is oil paint and fast becoming my medium of choice. I am also a fan of watercolors but you won't see any watercolors this week. The position is still not quite right but the freedom I felt in working directly with the wet paint on the canvas suits me very well. I believe this is something I can develop further and is exactly why I wanted to do this project. I have felt a growth spurt coming on-- may its thats because I have teen agers and am seeing growth spurts all around me! :) I realized I can not grow if I don't give myself the room to do so. This Painting a Day I believe will help to bring this on.

This is Ricco, my colt. I LOVED doing this painting. I've since made some small changes to the neck area, eye and the left hind leg but am in love with this painting method. You can go thru the archives and see the work in progress pics if you are interested in seeing more but again it is an oil painting with the drawing directly on the canvas. In fact I begin with a rag and just rub out big shapes and go from there. I think this was my favorite from the week. I liked the fine lines and suggestions of shapes which I love to do with watercolor incorporated in this painting.

This is a fast sketch of Ricco in the same pose. I enjoyed seeing how each piece, even with the same reference took on a life of its own while working on it. This is my second favorite of the week. I see shades of my favorite childhood artist, Sam Savitt, in this drawing. My goal was to not be overly fussy. By giving myself a short period of time in which to work I just can't get too fussy and keep moving on.

This is a scene from my backyard. It is more a study of 'values' than anything else. I loved the deep contrasts between the lights and the darks. Sketching done on the canvas, freehand.

Thank you for following along. I am planning on painting a mustang next week. I also have my eye on a shire colt. Stay tuned for more!