End of the 30 in 30 and a Happy Ground Hogs Day to You.

February 2nd is one of my favorite days of the year. 

It's Ground Hogs Day! And although I don't take much notice as to whether or not Woodstock Chuck saw his shadow or not, I do  acknowledge - with some joy- that we are half way done with winter. Yeah! I am also done with the 30 in 30 challenge for January. Another Yeah!


This time the 30 in 30 was very difficult for me.
I made the decision NOT to paint a new painting each day but to continue to work on what I was doing and count the hours, not the pieces. My goal was to paint a little over 3 hours each day for a total of 100 hours in the month. Happily, I painted every day of the month except for three. I had 2 classes and  2 commissions in the month. Most of my time was spent on the painting below. I started the month struggling to get painting time in and to complete all I needed to in a given day. How is that? 3 hours a day isn't much. Having said that, I fell short of my goal of 100 hours by 18 or so. It's back to the drawing board as far as my schedule goes. There's always some thing in the day that needs immediate attention.

The interesting thing on this 30 in 30 was that I felt as if I wasn't completing the challenge even though I painted everyday. There was a feeling that I wasn't quite producing if I wasn't making one complete painting a day. But the truth is. I have several smaller pieces from previous 30 in 30's and feel I need to spend my time building up a collection of larger, more substantial pieces.

I guess the bottom line is games. Games we play with ourselves with having preconceived ideas about how much we should get done a day or how fast we should paint etc. The painting below took me about 80 or more hours. I'm pretty happy with it with the exception of the large pink flowers which I will go back and add more shading to. But for now, I will live with it and continue to explore a daily schedule which will work for me. I will also be more aware of the mind games I am playing with myself and the messages that these games are sending.

Art in Bloom, 

Floral Arrangement by Amy O'Fallon

From the Rockford Art Museum Show of 2016

14" x 19.5" Alcohol Inks

$2350

This is a photograph of Amy's piece almost in its entirety. The painting behind the piece is what she used as her inspiration for her arrangement. It is a painting that is a part of the Rockford Art Museum's permanent collection. I was drawn to the colors and textures of the piece. I love its complexity.

Amy along with her mother, Kathy, own O'Fallon's Fine Flowers, 1605 N Bell School Road in Rockford. It's a small, charming floral shop with two ladies that are big on talent.