Day 27

Slices of Live   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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This challlenge has gotten me painting every day so I'm already

claiming it a success. But I have to admit I had to give in when

I realized that my sleep was being affected even more than usual.

So at this point I decided that this shouldn't be a

painful exercise that is hanging over me.

I need to enjoy what I'm doing or I won't do it at all.

So now I'm painting every day. If I finish something, great.

If something else comes up, maybe

I'll get it done tomorrow.

maybe tomorrow.

Day 23

Sunny and Orange Today   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Today, September 23rd is my mother-in-law's 98th birthday. 

We'll take her out for lunch later in the week.

Happy Birthday Marcella!

So other than that, nothing special going on here today.

Just set this up and painted away.

As we're nearing the end, I think I might just miss

this challenge when it's over.

Day 22

Lemon For Your Tea?   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Okay, hopefully now after a little break for our anniversary,

I can get back to painting everyday. This is a pretty little teacup

that my sister gave me, probably 20 years ago. She will know for sure

when she gave it to me, she remembers things like that. How long ago

was it Carolyn? I've painted it before but that was when

I was working in pastel.

Day 20

Old and Pink   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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This is a beautiful old vase that's been around my house

for over 40 years and I love it. It may be an antique for all I know.

It's about 20 inches tall so it wouldn't quite look right

in this small square format. So for the sake of composition,

I cropped it. The pink flower just settled into the waviness

of it and begged to be painted.

Day 17

Really Stacked   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Today I as going for something simple and subdued yet colorful.

I think that was accomplished.

Now on to Day 18!

Day 16

Please Polish Me!   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Today I pulled out my grandmother's silver to use in this painting

and realized it's looking pretty nasty. It all needs to be polished

before the holidays, which will be here before we know it.

Maybe I can get my grandkids to do it.

But for now my purposes today, it adds contrast

to my painting, which I like.

Day 15

Too Pooped to Poppy!   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Have you ever seen a real poppy?

They're all gangly and won't stand up, hence the title.

I only bought one and I had to tape it to my tripod to get it

to keep the same position as I painted. Then I painted

as fast as I could. Tried taking a photo but it just looked dead.

I'm buying some fake ones next time I have a

Hobby Lobby coupon. Oh, and Carolyn,

I'll look for cherries too.

Day 14

 Tea for Two!   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Can't remember where I picked up this old china. I must have

bought it at a flea market or something. It was packed away in a box

of still life props. It has been on a shelf in our garage for

over 20 years, waiting for the day that I could really concentrate

on painting. So the day is finally here!

Now as I paint, I wonder what part it might have played

in someone's life before I stuffed it away in an old box.

Day 13, I think.

They're running together at this point.

 Fake It!   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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This one is titled Fake It!, as in "Fake it till you make it.",

because I wanted to paint a pink flower in this squareish

coffee mug, but I only had a white flower.

So I faked it!

Day 12

Laney's Collection   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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 My 10 year old grandaughter, Laney, has the biggest collection

of nail polish I've ever seen. And it's a beautiful thing, when she

tumbles the little bottles out of the box, it looks like easter eggs on

steroids. They sparkle, they glow, they're intense, jewel like,

opaque, transparent, textured (really, like fuzzy stuff),

pastel colors, primaries and  metallics.

Put all this into smartly designed little glass bottles, then add

bright overhead lighting to reflect long highlights and pop bright

little stars on sharp edges, and I can understand her fascination.

It's color, it's design, it's beautiful. Even if you hardly

ever wear polish and when you do, you smear it all

over your fingers and the kitchen table, it's colorful,

10 year old fun, fit for a 62 yr old too!

Day 9

Sunnyflower   •   12 X 16 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $399

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Since I'm a day behind, I thought I'd post this piece because, although

it is in a different format, I did work on this the other day.

I started it in a workshop this Spring but it wasn't finished so I

pulled it back out and messed around with it for a while.

Fun and no pressure.

Day 10

Two Cups of Apple   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Well now I have tons of vases, fruit, flowers, china, silver, etc. all over

my studio. But despite the quanity of items, I'm still having

trouble deciding what to paint. The daily decision is taking

more time than the actual painting does. I seem to be

having a commitment problem.

Day 8

Pot Repurposed   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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I'm aparently losing track of days. Yesterday I crammed in a second

painting because I knew we had a busy day today. I thought

woo-hoo, look at me, I'm really on top of things. But now I look

and everybody else is on Day 9! I swear, sometimes I feel like

I'm living in the Twilight Zone.

Anyway, earlier this year I took a workshop from Nancy Medina

 (who is also doing this challenge). So before I forget everything

  about how to paint flowers, and since I'm doing still lives this

month, I thought I'd try a real floral as we did with her.

 The small square wouldn't allow for the whole pitcher

because I'm using 3/4 in brushes. So the

tight crop works fine.

Day 7

Humbled Pears  •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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OMG!! This one kicked my but!! A portrait is much easier than this was.

At least there are features to work with in a face. I have new respect

now for all you fruit painters out there. This was so much harder

than it looked. I spent my entire Sunday agonizing over this

stupid fruit. That's okay. My husband is at the Rams

football game and I learned a lot, so we're all happy!

Day 6

My Coffee Mug  •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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So today is Day 6 of the Challenge. In an effort to simplify, I looked

at my empty coffee mug this morning (okay, so it was 1 pm)

and said, "Okay, you're an artist, make it work.". 

Below is what I started with, it wasn't much. Above is my painting.

So I tried to make it more interesting than it really was.

You can see that I exaggerated the color and light and all the shadows

and reflections. I think the painting seems to have more life.

But I'm sick of oranges already. Now on to pears for tomorrow.

Day 5 (okay, so I'm a day late)

Blue China and Orange   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Spent an hour agonizing over the darned orange

because I didn't want it to look like a grapefruit.

At this point, if it does, it does.

On to today's painting.

Day 4

Old and Tarnished   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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I think I forgot to squint on this one. Well, it's actually the next

day at almost 3 am. Gotta get a handle on this. Simplify!!!

Day 3

Hangin' on the Edge   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   •   $99

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Part of this challenge for myself was to do still life paintings from life,

not from photos. But I really need to start on these earlier in the evening. It doesn't take that long to actually do the painting, it's all the fiddle-farting around that comes before the paint. I'm roaming around my house collecting various props. Now there's a huge box under my table full of  junk. I set up the still life, it's too busy (I have to remember K.I.S.S.!) I mess around with the lighting, I knock everything over, I'm having a hot flash, I need a break, there are little white spiders all over the table from the sunflowers the other day, find the bug spray,

got the heepy geebies now, on and on. This shouldn't

be so difficult or take so long. I'm gonna get a

system soon though, I'm sure!

Day 2

Sunny Day   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   • $99

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Today my painting went alright but then for some reason my camera

decided it wouldn't upload my images to crop in my photo program.

Long story short, after an hour of trial and error I completely

powered down my computer and turned it back on.

And what do you know? It worked just fine!

Why does that always surprise me?

Can't get the colors to right though. I can get the blues right

or the yellow's right, but not both at the same time.

Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Well we're off and running and this morning I was already regretting that I

had committed to this. But now that this little ditty is done I'm quite happy.

For the last three years I've painted nothing but figures because I needed

to "focus". But now I need a break. So I thought I'd take this opportunity

to do something different. I'm not sure I can commit to 30 days of still lives

just yet, but I'll try. But this is so fun! I can't remember the last time

I painted anything this light and bright.

Let me know what you think.

I will be adding these pieces daily to my website under the tab

"30 Day Painting Challenge".

Day 1

Fighting for Attention   •   8 X 8 inches   •   Oil on panel   • $99

Click on image to purchase.