day #365 - the end of an era

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I thought I was on top of it; I had finished early and was looking for a movie to watch already 3 hours ago. And I don't know how time went by. A phonecall, some networking studying, some online shopping and here we are, already past the time for an early movie. Regardless, today is a special day. The blog is over! I finished 365 days of daily painting and recording it, whatever that means. A big part of the process I will have to keep doing mainly for myself. Perhaps taking daily photos of my work and saving it on some folder. This has provem useful many times when I trying to date a piece I've been working on. Also making a small diary of today's achievements. It's still useful. But this will be done for my eyes only. I also don't know if I will be continuing my obsessively daily painting. How would life be if I had days off? Now for example that I'm moving out and I have to daily chores that until now were completely taken care of, perhaps I'll allow my
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day #27 - A Pony

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Another tough day. Still proud that I did "the motions". I used the good paper today though I wonder why it sometimes feels like good, and other times it feels like the crappiest of them all. Today it was as if there was wax on the paper surface and watercolors would wash right off it. Moleskin...
Anyway when I started I knew I wanted something vertical for a change. I started with some forms (It was the pony or whatever this creature is) and this came out of it. I was again aiming for strange posture with a raised elbow and again it didn't come out too nicely. Today many things didn't come out too nice. The face, the body. But the stairs? wow, I like those. As I painted the first, before even drawing the pillars at the sides, I knew how I wanted them to look; and they came out exactly as I wanted them too. I like the painterly hints of forms at the corridor behind the pony and the pillars too. The pony is well-executed but it definitely isn't a pleasant sight. It's like the Donkey from the winnie the poo, turned white walker.

Anyway, the palette is passable but I'm not to happy about it. I don't like my watercolor technique, all colors come out muddy. By the time I've layered them 6-7 times (like in this instant) they are already desaturated browns. I feel as if I can't produce many colors; definitely can't produce light tones of pink. Though I keep forgetting that by the time I've put the 5th layer, that very-saturated pink looks like a light pink; I was thinking in comparison to the rest of the colors, but I just remember hearing that watercolors change while drying! Perhaps it's the paper too who knows.

Whatever the reason, I need to count my successes and these are a) once again I painted and b) I painted for better or worse more than I had hoped for, c) I did something with a hint of narrative, d) I explored the vertical format and e) and I am happy with the perspective in the steps and the pillars. Perhaps a little happy with the shadows at the right side too! I'm not very happy with the framing though; I wish I could pan it a bit vertically; make some breathing room from the top to balance out the staircase.

Bed time.

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