A Painting a Day - Day 42

Time Management. I am failing at it.

But with every failure there is the opportunity to learn and do better the next time. So much of it is about making choices. Now some choices are already made, like my family needs to eat and I am generally the cook. My house gets messy and training kids to clean up after themselves takes time, as does the actual cleaning. My other job takes time. I can't just paint full time - yet. And even if I could, I would still have to manage projects to fit them in and then have the discernment to know when I can't make a deadline. Other things though are choices... like that television show I am addicted to. Maybe I need to go cold turkey. And Facebook, though it is making my connections with people possible during this project, I don't really need to stare at another cat video. The little things are like termites in the frame of a house. Over time, their little jaws can eat it all away.

So I need to cut out distractions. I need to work more and zone out less unless the zoning out actually benefits and doesn't just waste time. If I want to succeed at this, fat needs to be trimmed.  Entertainment tends to be the fat right now. It can wait until later.

Finearttips.com has a lot of great articles to help artist with their careers. Here is a link to a helpful article on time management.

This is painting #42. I am posting late again because of poor time management. But I will figure it out. I know I will. This painting of what are commonly called parakeets but are actually called budgerigars, is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $42. As I researched for this painting, I found out these little birds are from Australia originally. The wild ones fly in huge flocks looking for water and food. They all are green like the bird on the left. Since their domestication, they have developed mutations which have resulted in the blue color of the bird on the right, but also birds that are all white, all yellow and variations in between. Cute little birds! And they are happiest when they have a mate.

If you would like to buy this painting, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it. And if you have a suggestion for an animal you would like to see me paint, please leave your suggestion in the comments below. Thanks for coming by to see my artwork. Hope you can come by again tomorrow for a new picture!

A Painting a Day - Day 41

I have been taking requests for subject matter for my 100 paintings. This is a bearded dragon. Like the hedgehog and the opossum, I have never done a detailed picture of a lizard before. I wanted to experiment with this because I was leaning so heavily on the reference photo. The pattern in the background I did with a resist that kept the paper white in the places it was applied. I used it on the lizards scales too. I also let the water and color puddle where it chose to create a cloudy effect on the background and the lizard itself.  I like how it turned out.

This was also and exercise in sticking with a job. I am finishing this really late and I knew once I got the sketch done that this was going to take a lot longer to execute than some of my other paintings. So every time I felt the urge to stop and take a break, I resolved to stay with it. All the little detail take time, but in the end it is worth it.

This 41st painting is available for sale for $41. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy this painting, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase it.

Thanks so much for coming to see my art. Hope you can come by again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 40

If I could sum up this day in one word it would be: distracted. All day long it has been a battle to stay focused on doing my art and I can say, I got hardly anything done except my daily painting, communicate with a few customers, eat lunch with my husband, take my kids to their martial arts class and collapse on the couch because I just could not stay awake. None of those things are without merit. But it is hard to stay on task when there are so many tasks needed to be done. But that is life and I am in the middle of life today.

And I really REALLY needed that nap. I could have easily slept about 5 more hours. 2 was way more then I had planned on.

So tonight I am going for cute and fluffy because it makes me feel better. This little puppy with his orange flowers is my 40th painting. I can't believe I have made it to 40! Gotta celebrate that. And he is available for sale for $40. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. I think he would look perfect on the wall of a nursery or a child's room or in the room of any dog lover, especially one who loves schnauzers! If you would like to buy him please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase him.

The most amazing thing is not that I have painted 40 pictures in 40 days, but that you have come along with me on this daily discipline. Thanks so much for following my art. It means so much to me. Please leave a comment about what you think of my project in the comments below. I would love to hear what you think.

A Painting a Day - Day 39

When I was growing up, drawing horses was my escape. I loved to make their necks long and graceful, more like a swan then an actual horse. Their manes and tails would float around them like flames. I would make their eyes large and expressive. In the lines that formed them, I would get lost by creating something ideal and lovely, dreaming of real horses and wishing I didn't feel so lonely.

Growing up is hard work and kids find different ways to cope, some good, some harmful. I can't say that escapism was the best way to deal with my feelings, but I didn't know a better way and I was too afraid to find a different way. In a drawing of a horse I would feel their power and freedom. I wanted both of those things and felt they were completely out of reach. Living in the fantasy I could identify with the creatures I was drawing.

Giving them up for a while was part of becoming mature. I have learned how to reach out to people and overcome my loneliness. I have learned that freedom and power are a state of mind as much as feeling like a victim is. Escaping into a fantasy never helps. Now I can draw the horses and just love their beauty and their form because they are amazing animals. I see my own beauty too now.

This horse if my 39th painting in my series of 100. It is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $39. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Reaching out to others through this medium has been such a blessing! I'm glad you are here and I hope you can come again tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 38

My family wanted a dog. I did not. My son was 5, my daughter was about to turn 3 later that year. We were working on potty training. I told my husband I would consider a puppy after I had everyone out of diapers because I knew who would be potty training a dog. That was not why I didn't want a dog. I felt fear towards dogs. I felt like they were smelly and obnoxious. The experiences I had had with dogs growing up was not warm and fuzzy. Mostly they jumped on me and made my hands smell bad. And one did bite me. But my husband and my son wanted a puppy.  So I went looking.

My husband wanted a particular type of dog - a shepherd mix that would be similar to a dog he had growing up. Apparently they weren't making that kind of dog at the time in this area because there were only lab and pit-bull mixes. I looked for about a week in the paper and on Petfinder.com. Finally I found a beautiful border collie puppy and I called the rescue only to find out they had already found him a home (SHOOT!) but.... there was this little female shepherd mix that was SOO cute! I said, we were are looking for a male. But I said I would look at her profile.

She was SO cute! I showed her to my husband. A day later we brought Daisy home and she is my third child. I went from being strictly a cat person to totally loving her and that opened my heart to other dogs.

This pretty border collie is probably what the puppy I missed looks like now. I bet he is beautiful. But I am glad he found a home and because of that I looked at another puppy. Not only did she get me over my discomfort with dogs, but she has made me appreciate the love people have for their dogs and I love that I am getting the chance to do pet portraits now. Funny how life can be in one place and turn and send us in an unexpected direction and it was the way you had hope to go all along.

This is my 38th painting and it is available for sale for $38. It is painted on 8 x 10 watercolor paper. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for visiting my blog. See you tomorrow! (Side note: I highly recommend Petfinder.com if you are looking to adopt a pet.)

A Painting a Day - Day 37

Like yesterday, I am painting a subject I have not ever attempted before. Opossums are strange little animals, sometimes not so little. When I was growing up, I lived on a farm far from town. There was plenty of wildlife. On any given evening a driver might come across a deer or raccoon or fox or opossum wandering across a rural road. For the animal's sake as well as maintaining the condition of one's car, you saw them in time to slow down and even stop to allow them to get out of the way. I remember I always cringed when I saw an opossum. They gave me the creeps! Like a giant rat with a weird white head that seemed too skull-like.

I took this animal on as a subject because I am now taking requests and someone who purchased one of my earlier paintings suggested I paint an opossum. So, as I often do, I turned to Google for reference pictures. Seeing the creatures through the eyes of a sympathetic photographer they actually do have a kind of beauty to them. And they are cute with their babies on their backs!

So everything needs a chance to be looked at a second time. All of God's creatures have some beauty to them.

I did enjoy painting this. I experimented with wetting the paper and allowing colors to blend and push against each other. The foliage especially turned out well using this technique.

Painting #37, which is 8 x 10, is available for sale for $37. If you are interested in purchasing it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for coming to see my art and read my blog. It is humbling to know so many people are enjoying my art work everyday. I am so glad I can give that to people.

A Painting a Day - Day 36

Since I began this project, I have been trying so many new things. I can honestly say this is the first time I have drawn a kangaroo. A friend suggested I add this to my list of potential subjects. I like the comma shape they make when they hop.

If you have a suggestion of an animal you would like to see me do a painting of please leave it in the comments below.

Painting #36 is available for purchase. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person who contacts me, can buy it.

Thanks for visiting my artwork today. Hope to see you again tomorrow!