A Painting a Day - Day 70

It is snowing here in central Indiana today so I thought a wintry scene would be a good way to mark the seasonal transition.

This painting feels like it has a story. Something has gotten this fox's attention and the darkness behind him is mysterious. He is on his way to somewhere but will he make it? Most of the paintings I have done for this project have not really had stories. Usually they are my attempt at capturing something beautiful. This time, a story feels like it is forming. I may have to revisit this picture when the project is completed.

Like all the paintings in my 100 days of painting, this red fox is for sale. It is 5 x 7 and available for $25. I think it would make a nice gift for a wildlife lover or a story teller. If you would like to buy it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thanks for visiting today.

A Painting a Day - Day 65

This is the painting I had hopes of posting yesterday but could not finish because if nothing else, this 100 paintings in 100 days has showed me I really really need to sleep. So instead of 100 days, it has become more like 105 days! Oh well. I am giving myself grace and room to be human. This is the most productive I have ever been in my life. So I am not feeling bad for missing a day or two!

My sister asked me the other day if I am sticking with this because I have done this project publicly. I did not hesitate. YEP. If people were not watching this, I would have quit this weeks ago! Ha! But I am so glad for the accountability because of the progress I have made in a very short amount of time. It has been completely worth the struggle.

This 5 x 7 red wing black bird is available for sale for $25. If you would like to own it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thanks for being there for me! I may not know who you are, but your visits have kept me going. I have 35 paintings left to go! Hope you can come by again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 63

It is interesting to go through the ups and downs of doing a long project like these 100 paintings in 100 days. The hardest is the stress of trying to actually do 100 in 100 days. I have already missed that goal when I took some time off a couple of weeks ago and then yesterday I posted the previous day's painting and did not have a new one to post with it. That is kind of disappointing, but I have to accept my limitations. With a month and a half to go, I have to some how gather up the energy and patience to keep going even though the days I don't feel like doing this are becoming more frequent.

I know I can keep going because I have made up my mind. I just want to keep the quality of my paintings satisfactory. That is challenging. Especially when I have off days like today where I feel tired, stressed, hurried and unmotivated.

But I got it done! So feelings of wanting to quit will be nothing compared to the triumph I will feel when I have completed my 100th day. Then I have to decide what my next move will be. Probably take a little break for the holidays! Then at the first of the year, get back to it!

This blue jay was as fun to sketch as he was to paint. I enjoyed the pattern the black markings on his feathers created. Blue jays are such pretty birds, even though they can be a nuisance to bird watchers because they tend to chase other song birds off. When I was a kid, it was fun to watch them hop across the yard, their blue color so striking and vibrant.

I painted this blue jay on 5 x 7 watercolor paper. It is available for sale for $25. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thanks for checking out my art. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. I would love to hear from you. See you tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 62

This was meant for yesterday but I wasn't able to complete it in time. Having a goal to paint daily has been such a great way to become productive and prolific, but I am finding it difficult to avoid having a day here and there where I just can't get it done. I am not certain I will get a new painting off today either though I do have a sketch.  Irregardless, I am creating at a rate and quantity I have never achieved before and encourages me that I can continue to produce many pieces of art in the future.

I recently watched an instructional video about watercolor painting and the artist used his sketches to develop his plan for the painting. As you can see in the photo below, I drew the kangaroo and developed shadows. I think used this as a guide for the shadows for the painting. Remembering that all bodies have volume, shadows and shading done with a consistent light source can create a three dimensional feeling to artwork. The sketch helps to achieve this.

Thanks so much for visiting my site. This painting is my 62nd painting in my 100 paintings in 100 days project. It has already been sold and will be going to a new home! Tomorrow's painting is already planned. I hope you can come again tomorrow to see it.

A Painting a Day - Day 52

I know I am late with this by about 9 hours, but I am giving myself permission to be human. Gotta sleep sometime! Plus the weekend was busy with activities for my kids and time with my husband. I want to have a ccareeras an artist, but what good is it if I neglect my family?

This is Halloween week so I thought I would do a few paintings of animals that might give some of us the chills. The sound of wolves howling can send shivers up our spines. Wolves howl, not to scare us, but to communicate with each other. Members of a pack will howl to call to one another because their territories are very large and they will become separated when hunting. They also howl to let rival packs know where their boundaries are.

This painting is 8 x 10 and done on Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper. New kind of paper calls for some adjustment in technique. I think it has a bit more of a painterly look. It is available for sale for $50. If you would like to own it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. Thanks for coming by to see my work. Sorry it is a day late. Hopeful I can get a new painting up for today later tonight. See you later!

A Painting a Day - Day 44

I am amazed everyday since I started this 100 day challenge at the response I have gotten from people I know and people I only know online. I so appreciate it. It has been inspiring and energizing. I have not worked this hard since I had a newborn!

I am going to say that I need to take a few days to catch up on somethings going on in my life. It's like that sometimes. You make plans but things come up and put a bump in the road and it's not necessarily a bad thing! But there are only 24 hours in the day. So over the next few days I am going to catch up and I will have a new painting to post on Sunday evening.

This is a painting I did about a year ago. It was hiding in a folder. I thought if someone would like to, they could give it a new home. I painted it after I had seen an I MAX movie about dolphins. They played with a piece of seaweed under the sparkle of the surface. It was so beautiful that I need to capture the memory.

This painting is for sale for $44. 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 being a part of my art journey. Thanks for your encouragement. Knowing people are visiting my art has given me the energy to get through these 44 days. Hope you check in again on Sunday evening and I will pick this up again! Promise!

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!

A Painting a Day - Day 33

I have not been this sleep deprived since my kids were tiny. Back then it was this irregular, sleep when you can, sleep in the middle of the day, sleep on the floor beside the crib kind of sleep. Now it is the going to bed way to late and getting up way too early because I have to do all this stuff. And it is all good worth while stuff. And I had read that starting a business was like this. You have to make sacrifices. I am sacrificing sleep. Painting every day means painting mostly when my kids have gone to bed. It means squeezing sketch time in while I wait for them to do their extra curricular activities. It means planning ahead while I drive to my other job.

I am sleep deprived like I was when had babies. Now I am creating something new just like I did then. It is not the same. A business is not as important as a child. But doing something for myself that lives or dies based on my effort is something that has challenged and enlivened me in a really amazing way. Not only that it has given me an opportunity to meet new people and catch up with friends I haven't seen in a long time. That also has given me new enthusiasm.

I am sleep deprived and I can barely follow a train of thought, but I know that doing this is creating something good in me. Not only because I am doing something profitable but because it is blessing other people. There really is so much on the internet that is dark. I get to give a little bit of beauty to people everyday and that is so worth it.

Today's painting is about sleep. This little fox is doing what I need to do. And once I post this, I am going to crawl into my bed and pass out!  This 33rd painting is available for sale for $33. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy my little sleepy fox. Thanks for coming by today! Have a good night.

A Painting a Day - Day 32

A weird thing happened while I was painting this. I liked it before I finished it.

That never happens.

Usually when I am doing a painting, I go through a period of time where I hate the painting and worry that I am going to have to scrap the whole thing. This pretty much never happens, but I feel it any way. This time, I only felt that way when I was doing the shadows leading from the deer's legs across the grass and that was more worry than hate. As I filled in the colors for the background I just loved how the picture was coming together. I don't know what to make of these feelings. Is it a sign that I am really enjoying what I am doing? Or is it is a sign that my skills are improving? I am not sure, but I do know I will miss this one when it finds a new home!

Painting #32 is 8 x 10 and available for sale for $32. If you would like to purchase it, please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy it. I am so glad you have come along with me on this journey. I am learning so much and I enjoy sharing it with you.

A Painting a Day - Day 31

A whole month has passed and a new month has arrived. I never thought I could be this productive or determined to stay the course. I think once you give birth and endure labor, you realize you can endure a lot and persevere through the most difficult trials. That has been my test at least.

I am finding over the past few days and paintings that I have to sketch more than one drawing before I feel comfortable with starting a painting. This started as a a sketch with one raccoon in a pumpkin patch. As I researched the furry little creatures, which are insanely cute by the way, I changed course and created this composition. It is more satisfying to me because the raccoon are clustered in the center and the blues and oranges help draw my eye around the picture making the animals even more the center of the painting.

I wanted to do raccoon because they remind me of fall. I remember reading books like Where the Red Fern Grows and Rascal. I never saw raccoon around the farm I grew up on, but I was definitely drawn to them. I even had a puppet raccoon that I still own. Somethings I can't let go of.

I am going to let go of this painting though. It is for sale for $31 as this is the 31st painting. It is 8 x 10 and ready to frame. If you would like to buy it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. Thank you so much for sticking with me on my 100 day journey. Hope you will come along again tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 29

Years ago I was a graphic designer. I had "settled' for that as a vocation. It made more sense than actually pursuing the dream of being an artist because I had bought into the idea that artists starve, that art is a hobby for retired people, that only rich people can be artist. Graphic designer was a job title that had a place to work and an employer.

I didn't love my job.

There were days when I would feel the frustration of working with a hard to please customer. Today I am the hard to please customer.

Even though this is not my favorite painting and the scan is not so great, this little hedgehog is cute! I wasn't sure I could paint one because they have all those spines! This was actually a suggestion from a friend and I am glad I took the challenge. I didn't have to paint every spine. Suggestion is important in art, even more so than perfect representation.

This little hedgehog is 8 x 10 and $29 for the 29th day of my challenge. If you would like to buy him please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can purchase him. Thanks for watching my art. Hope you can come again tomorrow.

A Painting a Day - Day 28

I have now reached the point of doing this not because of a drive or even a joyful feeling but rather out of sheer discipline. My sister asked me if I was still doing this because I wanted to or if because I had told everybody that I was going to do it. I couldn't lie. At this point I am doing it because I want to save face.

Now that doesn't mean I am not enjoying the art. Today's painting really turned out nicely. I was able to replicate some techniques in it that prove I am learning not just experimenting and that is fun and encouraging. But earlier in the evening, my kids and husband were watching a movie and I really wanted to sit in my lounge chair and zone out. Sitting at my drawing desk with  my back to the TV is not the same as vegging in front of the TV. But knowing there are folks watching me do this challenge is keeping me going simply because of my pride. That is not a bad thing.

In the days to come, I am sure I will feel joy over drawing a good composition or seeing the paint doing something lovely. Feelings change from day to day.I can't count on WANTING to do this. I have to count on DECIDING to do this. I already did that.

Today's painting is 8 x 10 and available for sale. If you would like to purchase it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com. The first person I hear from can buy this little banded owl.

Thanks for coming by today. Thanks for keeping me accountable!

A Painting a Day - Day 21

The first day of fall is this Tuesday.  I drove down to my dad's house today.  The leaves are mostly still green, but here and there are bursts of orange and red.  The soybean fields are beginning to look ready for harvest and the corn has begun to turn.  Autumn is upon us.

I painted this squirrel with fall in mind.  The ripe cob of corn and the orange tree speak to that.  I had seen a squirrel like this one sitting on a fence, taking a moment before he bolted away across the yard.  I know the squirrels are getting ready for the seasonal change as are all the animals. Even my dog is shedding less despite the fact she won't be outside to endure the changes.

This is the 21st day of my challenge.  I have been doing this for three weeks! I am really proud of my commitment and for how much growth this is causing to happen in me as an artist.  Someone posted a comment that 100 paintings would make one a level 2 artist.  I'm not sure what that means, but I do know I will have learned a lot about my craft. I hope I will continue to improve and grow.

As this is day 21, this painting, which is a 5 x 7 watercolor, is available for sale for $21.  If you would like to purchase it, please send me and email at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com.  The first person I hear from can buy it.  Thanks so much for following my art.  I have spoken to several people who are following along and they wait to see what I am going to post for each day.  I love hearing that.  I love that I am not on this journey alone.  I appreciate all the encouragement so much! Hope you can visit again tomorrow!

A Painting a Day - Day 16

When I see pictures of elephants, I feel sad.  This goes along with what I talked about yesterday and thinking about what the purpose of my art is, which I want it to be about creating beauty.  Elephants are beautiful in a wild, awe inspiring way.  They are strange in their form, not familiar like animals that look like deer or horses or cats or dog.  Those kinds of animals are relate-able  So if I see a gazelle, it reminds me of a deer which are familiar to me.  But when I see an elephant it is almost other worldly, exotic and strange.  And so beautiful when they are in action, moving swifter than their bulky forms would hint they were capable of.

So why am I sad? Elephants are disappearing.  I read an article in Smithsonian Magazine a couple months ago and it made me realize there really could be a day when Africa is empty of this majestic and iconic animal.  And it is all because of the evil and greed of man. That is why I am sad. Because the elephant should be an image of God's creativity and majesty.  Instead it is a symbol of the depravity of which people are capable.

I painted a picture of this elephant family, that even though it makes me sad, represents love, which I believe elephants feel. God did make them and He gave them a capacity for affection, joy and grief which is so close to human beings it stirs our hearts and minds.  This elephant picture represents the love of a parent and child and it represents God's love which is all around us.

This painting is available for $16.  It is 5 x 7 on watercolor paper.  If you are interested in it please email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com.

Thanks again for following my art.  Today I was cutting it close as it is 10 til Midnight as I write these words. But I made it.  And if you know anyone who might enjoy this picture, please share it with them!

A Painting a Day - Day 14

I have really struggled today.  So many negative thoughts racing around in my head today.  Will I be able to keep this up, doing a painting everyday?  Will I be able to do it and not neglect my other obligations?  Will I ever get over worrying about what other people think?  This is when the announcer stops and says "Tune in next week and find out!"

I realize fears are mostly just shadows that give us the willies but don't have any way to actually harm us.  I think I am just feeling overwhelmed with all of my day to day stuff and I will feel better in a few days.  I just have to make up my mind to keep going and not give into the fears in my head.

There I've decided.  There will be another painting posted tomorrow.  Unless I die and then I won't be worried about anything!

Speaking of fears. This mountain lion would strike fear into the heart of any one who might meet her.  I have lived in Indiana all my life and there haven't been mountains lions around here in years...depending on who you ask.  I hear the rumors and the stories of hearing eerie screams coming from the hollars in the dark of the night. The kind of sound that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.  There may be a mountain lion out there deep in the woods.  I hope they stay out there because it makes me cringe to think they might come near.

This beautiful cougar is for sale for $14.  She is painted in watercolor on watercolor paper and is 5 x 7 in size. You can email me at lauraparkhurstillustrator@gmail.com if you would like to purchase her.  She would also make a great gift.  Or maybe you know someone who loves mountain lions, please share this with them.

Thanks for stopping to look at my art today.  Hope you can come again tomorrow to see what I paint next!