Just back from my one-week vacation, I'm scanning the three paintings I completed as I reflect on my decisions about what to take and what to do. First of all, I anticipated just what I'd need and packed correctly for the situation. I was fortunate that I was spending a little time with an artist friend and could work on a big table in her studio. Had I not spent time with her, I'm afraid I wouldn't have accomplished much in the art department.
I had done some colorful underpaintings (acrylic on Yupo) before leaving on the trip, and I took these, along with photos and sketches, to complete in the studio. I worked with acrylic, marker, and magazine collage on top of the underpaintings. Two of the three paintings are figurative, using sketches I had done earlier in the summer. The third painting is a landscape using a photo I took at a friend's farm in Missouri.
Other than the studio work, I had little time for art since we were always on the go - driving and sightseeing. However, I did sketch my cute granddogs and took pictures of them for future paintings.
The figurative paintings count toward my "warm-up" exercise leading up to a year-long creative contract with myself to thoroughly explore figure painting and complete 52 pieces in the coming year. The warm-up will end Sept. 4, and the contract will begin.
Note to self: Plan more downtime for creative activities into future trips!
