#2 Daily Painting: Evie ... now Evelyn, etc.

Evie ... now Evelyn -- 8 x 10" watercolor on canvas

This is my second daily painting.  It's also an 8 x 10" watercolor on canvas, and is called Evie ... now Evelyn.

Although  I now normally paint oils, I'm starting out doing watercolors for my daily paintings because I exclusively painted in watercolor for years, and I miss the vibrancy that medium offers as the surface shines through the layers of largely transparent colors.  I'm doing the watercolors on canvas, because painting on primed canvas offers a number of benefits over painting on paper.   For instance,  the steadiness of the substrate (canvas vs. paper), they don't have to be framed under glass to be protected from moisture and wear. Also, since my watercolors on canvas are coated with clear, gloss, acrylic spray -- which has UV-protective characteristics -- the image isn't as prone the fade as old-style watercolors when displayed in a sunny place.  That said, I still feel it still is probably a good idea to not hang one of these paintings in a place where they will be in direct afternoon sun for long periods of time.

For the 17 plus years, I  exclusively on watercolor, however, I only painted on paper, because no one believed it was impossible to paint on canvas.  Then, Frederix developed an archival "watercolor canvas," and artists starting experimenting with it.  I learned about the technique while checking out my local art association's (the Lancaster County Association of Art) class catalog, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn the technique.  It was taught by a great teacher, named  Karen Frattali.  I so loved doing it that I quickly produced a number of really interesting large works in it.  However, my exploration of watercolor on canvas was interrupted last year for a silly-seeming reason. We spent the academic year in Ireland (my husband was on sabbatical there),  I couldn't find the clear coat acrylic paint I needed at my local DIY store.  Thus, I decided to go back to painting exclusively in oils until I got home.  I'm so grateful that someone encouraged me to do this daily painting project for myself, because it's so much easier to experiment when working on small pieces.

The topic of today's painting is dear to my heart.  She's my niece by marriage.  The image is from a photo her parents took around 30 years ago when they were on sabbatical in France.  When they sent the photo to us, we immediately framed it - but unfortunately directly under glass.  I so loved the image that we periodically would take it out and display it again for a while (despite the fact that she hadn't looked that way in years.)  A few years ago we got some great old photos of my husbands family, so  I decided to take out that picture, but re-frame it to go with the other photos we got. To my horror, moisture had welded the photo to the glass, so removing it to re-frame it was no longer possible.  My niece, who  now has two little girls of her own, saw it and  asked me to send her a copy of it, but because I couldn't remove it from the frame, I had to tell her "no," and  I felt bad.  Thus, it is not surprising that when  I decided to do this daily painting project, one of the first images I wanted to paint was this one.  I call it Evie ... now Evelyn because at around the time this picture was taken, my niece decided that she was too big a girl to go by the name of Evie, but that name still holds a place in my heart since that's what we called her when I first met and came love her.

If people are interested, tell me and I'll post some of the large watercolors on canvas I've done so you can get a better idea of what big works in this media can look like.  Also, I'm thinking of doing painting tutorial(s)/tip(s) on watercolor on canvas -- comments/questions?

Day 1 of Tracy's Daily Painting Project

Welsh Landscape 1 -- watercolor on canvas 10 x 8" (20.3 x 25cm)

Before I started doing this painting project, I reviewed lots of other artist's work to get a better idea of where I wanted to go with this, and how I wanted to handle things.  I saw a lot of great work, and realized,  when looking at different people's sites, I came to understand

that there are many ways to do daily painting "right." 

For instance, some painters truly clearly felt compelled to produce a painting each day. Others were comfortable, instead to commit to creating a fixed number of paintings a week.  Some restricted themselves to working only from life. Others also looked to  photo reference and/or their own imaginations for inspiration.  Some marketed their work on one source, and other's took a broader marketing approach.  Some limited themselves to 30 minutes or less to paint: , others didn't.

No matter what their commitments about how they would work, the daily painters had something really important that united them:  a belief that submitting themselves to the discipline of producing work so consistently over a long period of time would help them grow as artists.  

Craig Nelson, the author of one of my favorite painting boos,  60 Minutes To Better Painting, called doing this giving yourself "brush mileage."  Like Nelson encouraged his readers to do, daily painters see these little daily paintings as serving a purpose different from their larger, finished work.  The process used to produce them is at least as important as the look of the finished works themselves.  I love that idea.

I look forward to using this year to increase my observational, painting, and composition skills as each painting increases my own personal brush mileage.  However, I'm following the folk who produce 3 to  (ideally) 5 new paintings a week.  I'm not committing myself to a set time to do the work because I accept that working quickly is a skill that I'm still in the process of learning. I am, however, going to restrict the size of these pieces I produce.  The works I create must be able to fit in one of the USPS priority mail boxes.  Doing that will make shipping more affordable for buyers and myself.  Thus, none of the pieces will be larger 12 x 14" (30 x 35 cm), and most will be smaller.   For instance, today piece is 8 x 10.  Finally,  I'm planning to produce work in a variety of media because that is something I've always loved to do, and I've been restricting almost exclusively to oil painting in the last year.

Although I really like the idea of working from life,  I'm going to be one of those folk who uses a variety of inspirations for my paintings.  I'm doing this because I have all types of photo references, etc. that I've gathered over the years that I would have loved to tackle.  Now, I have an excuse to do that, and I'm thrilled.  That being said, I'm going to do at least one painting a week from life also because since I normally do paint from photo references, I know can use practice working from life.

Today's painting, Welsh Landscape 1, is based on a watercolor sketch I did years ago when we first visited Wales.  Wales holds a special place in my heart because an English travel agent tried to discourage my husband and me from visiting there -- dismissing the Welsh as unfriendly and strange. As Americans, my husband and I decided that we wanted to make up our own minds, and we are so glad that we did.  We found the people to be warm and friendly, and much of the landscape beautiful and dramatic.  For that reason, my earlier sketch held a special place in my heart.  However, I had just starting to paint, so the materials I used weren't as archival as I use now, and I'm thrilled by the opportunity to revisit the topic.  I'll probably revisit again later in the year as my skills doing fast, small works grows.

I'd love your feedback on this piece and on the way I've decided to approach my own daily painting project.