365 challenge

Now I don't know whether or not I can realistically keep this up, but the plan is that I do a small 15cm x 20cm oil painting a day. Should I go on vacation, I am not sure how I will travel with oils and canvasboard— I prefer to use a board rather than stretched canvas for this project to keep the size down. I have some travelling ideas involving a vial of linseed oil, a tightly sealed palette and plastic wrap, but nothing practical yet. We'll see. Here are the first four:

It's been a while since I've used oil paints so I am a bit out of practice, but I'm pretty pleased with the results so far. I'll be getting all the practice I need!

happy wednesday

The sun finally came out and I went to the Yeniköy Spor Kulübü for a little sketching. There is this elegant old lady that always sits at the same table in her dark fur coat and pearls. She reads everything in the paper over a glass of tea. As I was sketching her in my Moly, the sweet elderly gentleman that I believe might be the owner, came up to me with a sheet of paper and motioned to me to draw his fabulous customer. Once I was finished in my sketchbook, I drew her again for him. When I was done, a big smile spread across his face and he rushed off to give the drawing to her. I always get a little nervous that people might not like the way I've drawn her, but when I saw look of shock turn into happiness, my day was made.



Once home, I started working on turning a spare room into my new studio. It has plenty of light in the daytime, and is large enough to do whatever I please on whatever sized canvas I choose. In addition to the beautiful large canvases, I bought some 15 cm by 20 cm canvas boards that I am going to use for my attempt at doing a painting a day. I don't know how long I can keep it up, but I am going to try my hardest to do 365 small oil paintings. Here's the first:


The day got even better when a package from Mexico arrived with two Mollies inside for me to work on. Fellow Moleskine Exchanger Yoda Navarrete, sent me a book for Exchange 34 and 48, both look more amazing in person than on Flickr. I haven't the foggiest what I should follow these exquisite entries with.