Street Scenes

As I reflect on this year’s art explorations, one of the experiences that stands out is the group of paintings completed at the very end of the 100 Day Project. To close out the project, I played with a series of Street Scenes, painted in a new way, with a very blue color palette.

"Street Scene" 6" x 6" acrylic and color pencils on paper.

It was the painting I posted on the 82nd day of the project that inspired me to create this little mini series. Using black paint, I had made some quick lines and marks to start it off… but then I had absolutely no idea how it was going to develop. Totally by accident, I stumbled upon an image of the Moroccan village of Chefchaouen. The lines in the photo were unbelievably close to the lines of the undeveloped painting sitting before me! And I loved the idea of having fun with that color palette… blues and orange!

Three Street Scenes at different stages of development

So, during the last nine days of the project, my focus was on painting more images inspired by the blue walled streets of Chefchaouen.

These works took me down a path I never would have traveled if I had continued art-making as usual, without the months of exploration. I'm thrilled to have given myself the opportunity to take this intermission, to explore new ideas, and create works on paper. So curious to see how these experiences "color" the work I do moving forward.

At the time, I wondered if I would end up painting more Street Scenes at some point, larger in size and on canvas. During my recent trip to France, I took photos of street views wherever I went, just in case I one day decided to create similarly focused paintings. Of course, they would inspire a different color palette. I don’t have any plans to do so at this time but the creative door is always open.

The 100 Day Project

“Explorations” series in process.

I was just beginning a new mini-series when I learned of the 100 Day Project on Instagram and it peeked my interest. As I write this, it is day 24 and I had committed to creating 25 pieces in the “Explorations” series to get me started. For the “Explorations” paintings, I’m using magazine images to inspire a daily exercise on pieces of 6” x 6” canvas paper.

My focus for the 100 days: I absolutely love to paint on canvas, raw or primed, stretched or unstretched. So, since this project is designed to take me out of my comfort zone, instead, I will be creating (mostly) small works on PAPER. I intend to play with paint, some collage, pastels, pencils, and any other materials or process I can have fun with.

I see the time spent on this project as an intermission between the work I've done in the past and what I will create in the future.

I'm curious to see how far I will go in this. One hundred days takes us to JULY! I don't know if I'll complete the full 100 days, but for now it’s my daily focus, allowing me to stretch my creative muscles.

The project came up for me at the perfect time… just as I was taking a break from producing paintings on canvas and instead finding and exploring various ways to develop and grow as an artist. It ties into my current need to play, experiment, and try new things.

Note: The artwork shown above is a selection of 9 pieces from the “Explorations” series. And at this time, I know I will be creating ten additional minis as part of that collection. Posts for the 100 day project and “Explorations” can be found and followed on Instagram and on my Facebook artist page.

The Explorations Mini Series

“Explorations” mini series, paintings on paper.

I began a new mini series on the first day of April… the “Explorations series.” This group of small paintings was inspired because of spring cleaning. After spending time clearing out my parent’s home, I came back to my house and immediately began to clean out drawers and cabinets.

One cabinet was filled with magazines. I don’t think I’ve ever thrown out a magazine. There must have been somewhere around 70 magazines in that cabinet. Many of them had been cut up and used when my daughter was younger, for collages and creative projects. It was time for that pile to go. They’ve been taking up space for years. But first I wanted to flip through the pages of each magazine… and as I did so, I was inspired to create one more project with them.

“Explorations” series in process.

I began pulling out any page with an image or part of an image that I found interesting. The magazines went into the recycle bin and I ended up with a fairly good sized pile of pages to consider using in some way. Before I knew it, I had glued one or more pieces of an image onto eight 6” x 6” sheets of canvas paper. They were ready to be painted.

The Goal: for the attached magazine image to inspire and challenge me to create something new each day. The “Explorations” give me an opportunity to shake things up, experience a personal art exercise. and see where it might lead.

“Explorations #12” 6” x 6” mixed media on paper.

My original intention was to complete ten of these and then decide if I wanted to continue. But the day I posted the first one, I decided to join the 100 day project on Instagram and made a commitment to create 25 in the series.

Posts for the 100 day project and the “Explorations” can be found and followed on Instagram and on my Facebook artist page.

In the next blog-post, I will share more about the project.