Daily Painting Practice - Epitaph for an art blog

The times they are a changin'.

Well it's been almost ten years since I first started Daily Painting Practice.  But everything in life has an ending, and so it is with my blogging.   The ease of Facebook is an evil tonic to someone like me who suffers from LAPS ( Lazy Art Posting Syndrome) and so I find myself surrendering to the tides of technology. 
You'll still be able to find my adventures in art on (My Facebook Page) or (on my website). So please join me there in my blogging after life.

Here are some of my thoughts and some thoughts from a few people I spoke with about the passing of Daily Painting Practice. 

All palettes must be cleaned at some point.
Every tube runs out of paint.
Brushes wear out and so do art blogs.
Never cry over spilled art blogs.
Old art blogs never die... they just get dropped by goggle search.
 There is a place where all good art blogs go.... ( The NSA)


Words of comfort by some friends of Daily Painting Practice.
 

“Well, what can I tell you? Life in the wide world goes on much as it has this past Age, full of its own comings and goings, scarcely aware of the existence of Art Blogs, for which I am very thankful.”-Gandalf

 

 

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the Computer." -Dumbledore

"...Art should be independent of all clap-trap..."  -James Whistler

This isn't the end. Go Paint!-Peter Yesis

Daily Painting Practice - Do, redo, what ever it takes to get it Right

If a painting hangs around long enough it is bound to get worked on again, and again, and again... Until I get it right.

 Here's a painting in progress I posted back in 2012.

 Right off the bat I focussed on how the birches lit up the forest.

 I thought I was close to being finished back then. Two years later...

 it still hung around the studio, I'd work on it then figure I was done...Of course I wasn't. The painting never caught my attention like that first spark of the idea. So I worked on it some more....

Birches 12x16

and now I finally called it complete.  I may have lost the light but I'm pleased none the less. So, how do you know when a painting is complete?  When she-who-must-not-be-named says so.

Cape Elizabeth Land trust Wet Paint Auction

Doing it big.

I was honored to be juried into the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust's Wet Paint plein air event this year.  This was going to be a little different than  other plein air events I have been to.  First, you get assigned a location to paint and to make things even more interesting... you only get to paint one picture for the day.  Then that painting gets auctioned off in the evening. No pressure right?

 
I was told I should paint as large a canvas as possible by friends who have done this event  in prior years.  To me 16x20 was large for plein air.... however, being the brave soul I am I upped my game and boldly went for  18x24.

 We had to get up at 4:30AM in order to drive down to  Cape Elizabeth and arrive at 7:30.  Luckily, she who must not be named  did the driving and I ..."centered myself"  (actually it's called a nap).
 Arriving fresh I scoped out a place in my assigned area ( Danforth Cove) and went to work.  I was so lucky, this place was  beautiful!

  However, the heat was not.   This is a very poor photo of the finished piece I took with my  phone that evening  at the auction. 

 The venue was very nice ... so was the food. To end the day on a happy note...good news ,the painting sold!

Daily Painting Practice - the composition you want... or a surprise

Continued with the painting hoping to  unbalance the composition. At this point I was leaning towards  making the  bird feeder the  focal point.

Tea For Two

16x20

But surprise surprise the hydrangea flowers just kept pulling me back.... so forget everything I wrote about last time.  Flowers or bird feeder... the focal point is out of my control.

Starving Artist Sale -Maine Composition and Color studies -

Starving Artist Sale:
Composition and Color Studies - $200 Framed Free shipping-
To purchase see the Starving Artist Sale on my website (www.peteryesisart.com).

Coastal Study #1

5x7

oil on hardboard panel 

A great way to start a collection.  Composition and color studies are paintings not brought to the same degree of finish as my usual work but do capture the feelings and sense of place I hope to bring to my larger pieces.