The Paintings of January ~ what I learned

The Eighteen Paintings of January

I tried really hard to keep up with the 30 Paintings in 30 Days with Leslie Saeta.  I finished eighteen paintings before I crashed and burned.  It was a great experience and I learned so much.  

First, it is quite difficult be a daily painter and also have a full time job.  I am fortunate to work from home, so travel to and from work is not an issue, I am always home, but there are just so many hours in the day.  It works for a while, but then the pressure starts to build to get everything else done in between painting and working.

Second, painting daily improves your skill tremendously!  As the days progressed, painting became so easy.  I was even impressing myself with what I was doing.  I loved being "in the zone" of painting daily.  It was amazing!  I look forward to retirement from the "real job"....guess what I will be doing~

Third, I think I could have been successful if I had painted pears only.  I love painting pears and it comes very easy for me.  Instead, I tried to think of new and different things to paint which expanded my horizons as an artist, but added the pressure of breaking new ground in skill level daily~

And last~ I realized what a full wonderful life I have.  My wonderful Kevin, who is so supportive of what I do, deserved more attention than I gave him.  I am sure he would have liked to have me sit and watch him watch soccer more than I did....or maybe not~

I have wonderful children and a beautiful granddaughter that are so much fun! I could never pass on a shopping or cupcake adventure~

Up next!  Well, the house is clean, the storage building has been emptied, and the taxes have been filed~ time to get back to what I love!  There are large cupcake paintings coming soon, more ballerinas, and of course pears.  I am looking forward to Spring and painting lots of flowers~  Maybe this is the year I will finally start the "porch" paintings.  Sitting on my porch in the evening and painting~

Thanks for stopping by~

Torrie