Painting a Day - Day 5

Another one bites the dust!

I did another painting tonight - and I'm very happy with it since it really looks like a real painting and not some lame attempt at a painting.  I almost didn't do it, but forced myself to get up and go paint.  Yes, I watched "America's Next Top Model", "Ghost Hunters" and "Top Chef" while I did it, but I did do it.  

Pooka asked what I've painted so I'll give a brief description of the 5 I've done so far.  The first one was based off a photograph  of an Italian countryside view.  The second one was based off a photograph but I changed the animal pictures to a dragon.  The third was based from a painting and is a black winged angel.  The fourth is a castle and the one I did is a Japanese garden with a woman in a red robe.  If all goes well, I'll be able to post them all up here this weekend.  

All of them are oil paintings and almost all of them are from photographs.  So far, they are no larger than 5 x 7 and the next one will be 5 x 7 as well.  I chose that size because I thought it would be big enough to do something on without being so big as to cause a problem for me to get it done.  Something too big and it might take me longer.  Also the smaller size makes it less intimidating for me to approach the canvas.  I really feel like a painter now, looking at these works I've done, not just an illustrator.  Once the week is done, I may move to try and do a painting a week - maybe not oil colors, but a full painting of whatever size I feel like.  This will also allow the oils to dry more when I use them and layer the color better.  Having only a few hours to do something, forces me to be less... detailed than I usually am.  Its plus side is that I remove my more critical anal eye and work more with an impressionistic feel.  This is giving the paintings some energy instead of looking stiff.  Its also forcing me to loosen up which is nice.  Yes, there is some frustration when the paint lifts or blends too much, but its good for me to be working with it.  

When I move tot he painting a week, I am going to try and combine the painterly with the illustrative and see where I can go with it.  I'm excited and that's a good feeling.