A Sunflower A Day: 2011

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Sunflower Painting #9 Monochromatic Blue Sunflower

Sunflower Painting #9 Blue Sunflower 6x6 pastel

I have been working on my Sunflower project and I am sharing #9 today. I intended it to be a sunflower a day but there have been days I haven't been able to get to it....there are also some days like today when I get to paint more than one! So in the end I will get to do 100 no matter how long it takes. I plan to do more of these monochromatic sunflowers. This one is on blue canson paper. I am working this weekend on painting furniture for my new screened porch. I want to paint my second hand wooden chairs different shades of blue....I am inspired by the blue doors of the Taos Pueblo. I'll post pictures when I am finished!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Sunflower Painting #9 A new week begins!

'Sunflower #9' 6x6 pastel

I did a watercolor underpainting with some very bright colors. I like them so I didn't do much changing when I added pastel. They almost look fluorescent! I have some ideas for this weeks 'crop' of sunflower paintings and I think I will set up my paper to get a head start.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Sunflower Painting #8

'Sunflower 8' 6x6 pastel

For today's sunflower I chose colors based on another Matisse painting. I am teaching a pastel class and tonight is 'Matisse Night' I like getting inspired to used different color palettes.....putting together colors I might not try and seeing what happens. That is what is great about this challenge. I can try out so many ideas within the boundaries of the 6x6 format and subject matter.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Sunflower Painting #7

'Sunflower #7' 6x6 pastel

I had to miss a couple of days because of a water leak at the house. Hopefully I'm back on track and will make up for lost time this week. Today's painting is on Art Spectrum grey. It has never been my favorite surface but I actually didn't mind it today!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sunflower Painting #6

'Sunflower Painting 6' 6x6 pastel

Almost a week of sunflowers and I feel like I am just getting started. This is so much fun. Next week I will get a bit more out of the box so stay tuned. Today's sunflower is on Wallis Belgian mist with no underpainting.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Sunflower Painting #5

'Sunflower #5' 6x6 pastel ©Karen Margulis

For today's painting I chose another palette inspired by a painting in my Matisse book. I don't plan on painting all of my sunflowers yellow and I like this pink one! I am finished with a big commission so I now will spend the weekend getting more 6x6 paper prepared for my project. I was feeling a bit guilty working on anything other than the commission paintings so now I can devote more of my time on the sunflower project.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Sunflower #4

'Sunflower #4' 6x6 pastel ©Karen Margulis

Today's sunflower was inspired by a painting by Henri Matisse. Next week's pastel class will focus on Matisse so I was going through my Matisse books. I love his use of color and so many of his paintings make me smile. I thought it would be fun to choose a painting I like and paint my sunflower using this palette. It was so much fun that I did #5 already! This one is on black Pastelmat card. I am going to order more of this surface. It has a wonderful feel and takes a of of pastel. They go on like butter!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sunflower Painting #3

Here is Sunflower #3. This one is on Wallis Belgian Mist paper using the Jimmy Wright set of Great American pastels. There is no underpainting on this one. One of the things I like to do to add to the challenge is to sometimes choose a limited palette and see what I can come up with. In this case I limited myself to the pastels chosen by Jimmy Wright for his set. I love the vibrant colors in this set!
I am happy to say that Sunflower #1 has sold! All of these sunflowers will be available for $75 each and I will be adding Paypal buttons to each post. I would love for them to have good homes!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

SunflowerPainting #2

It is day two of my Sunflower a Day challenge and I was anxious to get painting today. I love when that happens! Today I cut a pile of 6x6 paper from my scraps. This will be a good way to make use of those small pieces of paper. I also got together all of my sunflower reference photos for this challenge. My neighbor has some huge sunflowers in bloom so I will plan on getting some new photos and new angles. Today's painting is on navy blue canson paper on the bumpy side. I sometimes actually like the regular texture of the bumpy side.

Sunflower Painting #1 sold

I have been thinking about doing another 100 painting challenge but I just couldn't settle on something that excited me. After I did this little painting for a demo it occurred to me that a Sunflower a Day would be just the subject that I would love to paint. I could find 100 variations on the sunflower theme and I would really enjoy the challenge. Imagine all 100 sunflowers hung on my studio wall! I know when I am excited about a painting idea when I start dreaming about it. I woke up this morning eager to get into the studio and paint sunflower #2!

So here are my guidelines. I plan to do 100 paintings in about 100 days or close to it. They will all be 6x6 and can be any sunflower reference and not just a variation on the same flower. I will experiment with many techniques and surfaces and will post my latest painting along with the details of my process here on this blog. I hope you will follow my progress and if you are so inspired.....start your own 100 painting challenge!