Bucketful of shells, day 22, 30 day challenge

 

This is a very long winded post, and if you are like me and don't like long winded posts, feel free to just look at the pictures. There are lots of those too.

 

 

 

 

I was so annoyed with myself yesterday that I couldn't even talk about it.  I did the above sketches and put black wavy lines around the edge to remind myself not to put any elements there because when these small paintings are in mats, the mats cover the edges.

 

So what did I do?  I put some elements like shells and beautiful pattern on the edges that the mat covered up.  So for yesterday's painting I ended up painting another piece of paper and mounted the painting to the second piece of paper.  Maybe the next time I will remember.

 

Bucketful of Shells, 10" by 8", acrylic and ink on paper
day 21, 30 day challenge
$45.00 ©Maggie Ruley 2013

When I first started putting color to these black and white sketches I wasn't happy, they were looking very much like coloring book pages.  But once the layering and pattern started to go in they really perked up and became richer in feel.  I love that pattern on the edge and to hide it was heart breaking.

 

Bucketful of shells 2, 9 x 6", acrylic and ink on paper
day 22, 30 day challenge
$25 no mat, ©Maggie Ruley 2013

 

The next annoying thing that happened is that the paper size for the second painting was too big.  I neglected to check the measurement when I started painting.  The image below shows how much of the image a standard size mat covers up.  Not Good.   I am not going through the painting and mounting process again so it is sold without a mat.  But it would be totally cute just hanging from a little clip somewhere as a touch of whimsy.

 

 

Look how much the mat covers up.

 

 

 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE 

 

AND THE WINNER OF THIS WEEK'S DRAWING IS

 

MAGGIE LATHAM!

 

Congrats Maggie, you have your choice of one of the above paintings. I did make a few prints of 906 Sea Breeze Lane, if you would rather one of those. 

 For those of you who don't know, Maggie is a watercolor artist who used to live in that house and she suggested I paint it. She is also participating in the challenge. See her entries here.

906 Sea Breeze Lane

 

 

There is one more week left in the 30 day challenge and one more drawing.  I want to thank everyone for their fun and thoughtful comments.  Once again here is the info on how to participate in the drawing and see what the other challenge artists are painting.

I am having a give-away!

Here is how it works.  Leave a comment on my post and you will be entered to win.  I am going to give away one painting a week for the duration of the 30 Day Challenge, (the month of September, 2013). If you comment daily on my posts then you can be entered up to 7 times to win.  The winner will have their choice of any unsold painting of the week. 

Those of you who subscribe by e-mail to this blog can either reply to the e-mail, or comment and you will be entered.

Please note this drawing is going to be casual.  I am not hiring any fancy auditing company to do the selection.  It is going to be a plain old pieces of paper in a bowl thing.

If you are the winner your painting will be shipped to you after it has dried, which can take one to two weeks with oils

To see more of the challenge paintings click here.