30 in 30 - Day Twenty-Seven - SOLD

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Hoover Tower", Oil, 6" x 6"

Sold.

I think I am in a bit of denial. There really can't only be four more days left in this challenge! I am sad and cannot believe it. I still feel as if I am just getting going. Please don't end!

Of course, all of us shouldn't need a "challenge" to paint every day. But I do have to admit, it's been an awesome kick in the butt. And a great way to start out 2013. I can't help but wonder where would I be had I not done this challenge? The thought kind of scares me.

In four days I am going to continue to paint. I am going to paint and post as often as I can. But since I want to paint bigger and more complex paintings, the pressure of having to "paint everyday" won't be curtailing my painting dreams. And hence, I can reach out of my comfort zone once again. I am hoping you can expect to see something on my blog about five times a week. 

And I have just realized ... that means I can paint some boats again too! (OK, truth is I didn't really miss them as much as I thought I would. Hmmm.)

On another note, if you would like me to share your experiences with the 30 in 30 Challenge on the "Artists Helping Artists" radio program this week please email or call in live to the show. The show airs this Thursday at 9:00 am PST and 12:00 noon EST. 

I also have two spots in my Atlanta workshop as there were some last minute cancels. The workshop is February 11 - 13 and includes a home cooked gourmet dinner by yours truly! Follow this link for more information. To register, just email me.

I also added a workshop in Indianapolis on March 26th and 27th. It's through Renaissance Fine Art and Kathleen O'Neil Stevens is awesome! This will be my first time teaching a workshop in this part of the country and my only chance this year so if you are interested, please don't delay to sign up. Click here for more information. 

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty-Six

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Waiting for Sundae", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Usually I am a day ahead in the Challenge and able to post my painting in my nightly blog. But we just arrived home after spending two and a half days in Arizona cheering our son and the Stanford swim team. It was wonderful but the eight hour drive home today was especially tough with the rain and fog. I really hate driving in thick fog!

So, I will be painting two paintings tomorrow (I hope!) so I can get back on track. 

Update - my painting for today is posted!

I wanted to mention that I have had a couple of cancels in my Atlanta workshop so there are a few last minute spots open. The workshop is February 11 - 13 and includes a home cooked gourmet dinner by yours truly! Follow this link for more information. To register, just email me.

I also added a workshop in Indianapolis on March 26th and 27th. It's through Renaissance Fine Art and Kathleen O'Neil Stevens is awesome! This will be my first time teaching a workshop in this part of the country and my only chance this year so if you are interested, please don't delay to sign up. Click here for more information. 

I cannot believe we are on day twenty-six. We are almost done. Wow.

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty-five

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Look, I'm taller!", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information.

For some reason, in my family being tall became important. My boys are therefore lucky because they are 6'7", 6'5" and 6'4". Since my husband is 6'2", I am the "shrimp" in the family. And that's unusual because I am 5'11". If you look back at out Christmas cards often the tallest son is not the tallest one in the picture. Tip toes can be a huge advantage. In fact this year I heard from many of my friends that the boys height didn't seem right. Funny.

So after I painted this painting, all I could think of was my boys. 

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty - Four

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Pick me!", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information.

I have been asked a lot about what my plans will be when the "30 in 30" Challenge is over. My plan is to paint. A lot. Hopefully every day.

But I am not going to start another "30 in 30" Challenge in February, I promise.

There are so many positive things that have happened to all of us this month. My blog this month had over 40,000 visitors. That's right, 40,000. I am shocked and completely blown away. I am most excited that there were so many people looking at all of your art! For those of you that participated in the challenge, I think we are more motivated, confident and feeling like we are better painters. Of course, the dishes are piled up and our families are neglected. Ha ha.

Seriously though, January was a fast sprint for all of us to get back in the studio and paint. I think it worked and I know many of you are excited from all of the new exposure and sales.

I think February will be a good month to slow down a bit, relieve some of the pressure and start painting bigger and more involved paintings. But I don't want to lose the momentum. That's why I will paint every day. I just might not finish a painting every day.

In order to keep us all motivated and working together, I would like to invite you to visit my blog every weekend (in February) and post two of your paintings from that week. Just be sure to include a different link for each painting. (I recommend that you put the link to the page on your website where the painting is for sale. Makes sense, doesn't it?) Knowing that you can post two paintings every weekend should keep you on track to continue painting. But give you the flexibility to try different things and have a life at the same time. Ha!

As you can see from my painting today I am still painting spools. For some reason this painting reminds me of my three boys. Very similar but different. Built the same but with different personalities. And very colorful personalities ...

So just when you thought you were done with me I hope I have enticed you a bit to keep the momentum going ... in the meantime, we are getting close to Day 30!
Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty-Three

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"In a Row", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information.

The spools of thread are back! I took a lot of photos of these spools last week and I love the reflections on the glass. I intend to paint a few more because I am completely addicted to these colors! Who would have thought I could get so much pleasure from four $1 spools of thread! Hopefully they will keep my occupied until the next swap meet. Ha ha.

Tomorrow's "Artists Helping Artists" show is going to be a great one. It's titled "Tips to Creating Dynamic Paintings" and I am really excited about the information written for the show.  We are also going to cover tips on how you can use your ipad/tablet in your art studio. I think you will love the ideas! To listen to the show just follow this link. It airs live at 9am PST/12noon EST or you can listen anytime after the show airs as all of the shows are recorded.

Next week's show, which airs on Thursday, January 31st, will be titled "30 Paintings in 30 Days ... So What Did We Learn?".  I would like to share on the air many of the emails I have received from all of you regarding  your experiences. So please email me if you would like to share. You can also call in to the show live as we will open the phones for the last 30 minutes for guests!

It's weird but I feel like an entirely different artist than I was a month ago. It's hard to explain but I have more confidence and I am enjoying painting about 1000% more than before! I don't want this feeling to end! Ever! So what can I do to make sure that doesn't happen?

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty-two

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Radishes", Oil, 6" x 8"

$250.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information.

This painting was completed at my Monday Night Open Studio event. Most of us painted the vase and pear painting I posted yesterday. But we still had some time left so I thought it might be fun to paint some radishes.  I think this painting would look so great in a kitchen! Perhaps mine?

I enjoyed painting the radishes so much that I bought some beautiful orange beets at the market. I will try to paint them next week. Or the week after ... I am loving painting every day so much that I think I am going to continue this phase for a long time. I hope you all do too!

The AHA radio show on Thursday, January 31st will be all about the 30 in 30 Challenge. I'd like to encourage many of you to call in to the show to talk about the experience. I'd also like to share some of the great themes you all have created for this challenge. If you have a theme you would like to share, could you email me or leave it here in the comment section? Thanks!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty One

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Duo Reflections", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information.

My internet was down all evening but it's finally working again. I have no idea what was wrong but it's fixed and I am not going to worry about it.  

We had a great time painting in my studio today. I finished two paintings so I am ahead for a change. I have been thinking a lot about what to do when the 30 in 30 Challenge is over and I have some fun plans for the months to come so stay tuned for how you can be involved! I promise it will be great for all of you.

Have a great painting day!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twenty - SOLD

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Baby Pomegranates", Oil, 6" x 6"

Sold.

Click here for purchase information. 

This silver dish with pomegranates is another one of my "finds".  Although, it's kind of hard to call it a "find" since it's been sitting on a shelf in my powder room for 12 years ... But it's funny how I forgot it was there. And yes, the pomegranates were a bit dusty. 

When I set up the photo shoot I used a very direct light coming in from the left side. Hopefully you can see the light depicted in the painting although the photo doesn't quite depict the light as well as the painting.

I am hosting my first Monday Night Studio this week. It's an open studio concept. Artists just need to bring supplies and a photo inspiration and I'll provide easels, glass palettes, wine and cheese and crackers. You can paint the same thing as me or I can help you with your own painting.  The session is from 4:00 until 8:00 and reservations are required as we are limited to 8 people. Email me if you are interested.

I must say that thanks to this Challenge I am in a really good place. I love painting more than I ever, I am painting better than ever and painting every day has finally become ... a habit! I am so excited! I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Nineteen

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Bright Reflections", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information. 

I went on a scavenger hunt throughout my house yesterday and found about twenty things that I thought would look good in a painting. The silver cup in the painting above was one of them. I then had a "photo session" and took another 250 photos. My photo set up looked like this:

It's nothing fancy, just an old desktop easel, clip-on light, glass palette and scrap book paper (for background colors).  But I have my next ten paintings already planned out! And I have all of my first day "painting exercises" ready for my next workshop.

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Eighteen

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Blocked", Oil, 6" x 6"

$200.00 with display easel.

Click here for purchase information. 

This painting is inspired from another one of my findings from the Rose Bowl swap meet. (I loved playing with blocks like these with my boys when they were younger.) I found these baby blocks at the same booth as the spools of thread.  And once again, I am wondering why I didn't buy more of them.

I do think this painting would make the perfect baby gift. So if you know a mother to be with a baby boy on the way then this might be the perfect gift to give! I will be painting some "pink versions" and can also paint commissions featuring baby initials if wanted!

I am getting a bit sad that this month is going to be over soon. But I have a feeling there will be quite a few of us painting A LOT in the months to come! I am thinking five paintings a week might be my February my goal. Maybe more? How about you?

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Seventeen

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Silk or Cotton?", Oil, 6" x 6"

Before I discovered oil painting my favorite creative passion was sewing. At about the age of ten my mom taught me how to sew. Before too long I was making all of my clothes. Eventually I was working part time in fabric stores, making model garments, entering sewing contests and making my wedding dress! I always imagined I would be making adorable "girl clothes" for my kids. But three boys later and all I could really do is make cool Halloween costumes ... and costumes for the school musicals.

My fascination with sewing is what attracted me to these adorable spools at the Rose Bowl swap meet last weekend. At $1.00 a piece I cannot understand why I only bought four. I should have bought all they had! I am going back next month on a mission to find more.

One of the things this challenge has done for me is open my eyes to all of the fun things to paint. I was in a bit of a "boat rut" and am so thankful that with the exception of one day, I have reached out of my comfort zone to find new things to paint.

So I am curious, what have you learned about "subject matter" while participating in the 30 in 30 Challenge?

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Sixteen

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Buoy, buoy, buoy", Oil, 6" x 6"

Click here for purchase information.

I just finished an amazing three day workshop. There were eight wonderful artists here and for the first time in a very long time all were from California. We braved the cold weather but had a magical three days. Most of the students finished four paintings in three days but a few actually painted seven! I am jealous.

Here we are in my backyard ...

My April workshop is sold out and there are only two spots left in my May workshop.  

Sign up now if you are interested.

I am loving painting everyday. We are on the back half of the Challenge so enjoy these days. They will be over soon! I feel like I am painting with 250 artists in my studio everyday. Thank you for sharing your wonderful paintings. And thank you for keeping me motivated.

Leslie

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Fifteen - SOLD

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Waiting For the Ride", Oil, 12" x 12"

Sold.

I know what you are thinking. Hmmm ... that painting looks a lot like boats. Now I could try to convince you that these aren't boats. But I wont go there, I promise.

Instead I am going to tell you the honest truth. In my three day workshop this week my students really wanted to paint boats. In fact, I always paint boats on one day of my workshop. I mean, that's what I am kind of known for. So it's Day Two of my workshop and we painted boats. And since I lead the demo I painted one too. Then tonight I cooked dinner for the class. Then we talked, had fun and at 9:00 tonight there was no way I was going to head out to the studio and paint a painting. Fatigue had set in ...

I kind of mentioned my dilemma in my workshop today and it was unanimous among my students that I needed to follow the #1 rule of the Challenge ... to have fun. It was also suggested that I give myself a break and post my boat photo from today. Needless to say, I totally agreed with them.

We are half way done with the 30 in 30 Challenge. It's been awesome. But I want you all to promise me that you will give each of yourselves a break. I am not suggesting that you skip a day.  But if you need to, then go ahead. Just get back on track as soon as you can. For those of you that haven't been able to keep up, no one knows but you! Just keep painting and post here when you can. And it's alright to push yourself. But no guilt, ok?

For all of you that have posted every day ... congrats! You are awesome and I hope you can keep it up for 15 more days. 

Finally, for any of you that want to paint boats. Go ahead ...

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Fourteen - SOLD

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Fraternal Twins", Oil, 6" x 6"

Sold.

Today was the first day of my three day workshop here in South Pasadena. I am blessed this week with a group of wonderful artists. Some have painted for years, others never before. We laughed, shared stories and had a wonderful day painting with the palette knife. Our only issue was the cold ... 28 degrees in Pasadena last night. Seriously?

I like to start out on the first day painting still life. It's an easier subject and gives everyone a chance to focus more on the palette knife than the subject matter. We painted pears and the end result was amazing.

Tomorrow we are painting boats ... which creates a problem for me since I am not allowed to post a boat painting for my 30 in 30 Challenge. I am also cooking dinner for my students tomorrow night so I haven't quite figured out how I am going to get my painting done tomorrow. Any ideas???

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Thirteen

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Vodka, Diet Tonic and Plenty of Limes", Oil, 12" x 12"

Lucky 13. That's where we are in the 30 in 30 Challenge. Some of you are hitting "the hump" and others are just cruising along. I probably fall in the first group as I have already blogged about some of the trials and tribulations of getting my painting time completed in the studio each day.

The biggest problem I am having is that I have been finishing most of my paintings in the evening, so I have not been able to photograph them in the usual way. In fact, I will re-photograph this painting tomorrow and re-post the better photograph. This photo doesn't look a lot like the original and the painting is so much better!

I start teaching a three day workshop tomorrow so I have been busy printing packets, name badges and embroidering aprons. I have selected all of the inspirational photos we are going to paint but I haven't finalized the gourmet dinner menu that I will be cooking on Tuesday night for the class. It has been so darn cold here that I just want to cook comfort food ...

I did have a fabulous time at the Rose Bowl swap meet this morning. All of my purchases are on my facebook page so head over there to see photos of what I bought!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Twelve

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I am not ready to upload for painting for Sunday. It needs a bit of tweaking but it is one of my "favorite things"! So you will just have to wait to see what appears here on Sunday afternoon.

I am heading to the Rose Bowl Antique Swap Meet in the morning. I haven't been in a few years, which is hard to believe, because I use to go every single month. For years I wouldn't miss it and my house has a lot of wonderful "finds" from the swap meet. I should do a "photo tour" of all of the cool swap meet items in my house. Many of you have seen my taboret in my studio. It's sage green and it's an old gardeners worktable. That was a great find at the Rose Bowl.  An old mirror, table lamp. old wire vase, picture frame, glass cup, chandelier ... I could go on and on. What's great is that each item was picked out by me, from thousands of others, with a special place in mind as to where it would fit in my house.  I am so excited for tomorrow as I cannot wait to find some cool stuff to photograph for my still life paintings. I am hoping to find something I can use in my workshop next week!

I hope you are all hanging in there and enjoying this new way of painting. Great job. All of the art is absolutely amazing!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Eleven

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Reflections on the Pond", Oil, 12" x 12"

Today was an "un-fun" day in my studio.  My day was full of mostly non-art stuff and I before I knew it I was behind schedule. I had a "hard stop" time to leave for my son's college volleyball game and that was non-negotiable. By the time I entered my studio I had less than two hours to paint. And I had no idea what I was going to paint.

I was not inspired in my studio, as I felt very rushed and stressed as I tried to paint. I started with a rooster face but didn't like the result. I wanted to paint boats, to get back in my comfort zone. But someone made a "no boats" rule this month (gee, who was that??) and I knew it wasn't an option. Finally, with less than an hour left, I painted some colorful fall trees.  I got lucky. But the experience was way too stressful and painful.

It pretty obvious I learned a lot today. This is the absolute worst scenario to try to paint. It wasn't fun, I wasn't feeling inspired and I did not like the fact that I had to finish a painting. And I had no time.

So, a lesson was learned. I have to paint earlier in the day. I have to block out the time. Forget the errands and "stuff". Painting is more important.

So my alarm is set for 6:00 am. I am on a mission to not let this "un-fun" scenario happen again. 

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Ten

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Under the Sun", Oil, 12" x 12"

Click here for purchase information

Day Ten ... We are one third of the way there! Sadly, I have already painted more paintings than I painted in December AND November of last year.  I know this is a good thing, I am just not sure what I was doing for the past few months! 

I was lucky today to be able to teach a one day workshop today. Eight gals from Phoenix spent the day with me in my studio and we had a wonderful time! Most of them hadn't painted before and look at these finished paintings! 

 For more information about my workshops, click here.
Hopefully you have all heard today's "Artists Helping Artists" radio show. My co-host Carrie Waller and I interviewed daily painting artist Lisa Daria Kennedy who has painted a painting for over 1300 days in a row! Listen to the show for some wonderful daily painting tips!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Nine - SOLD

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Rooster Face", Oil, 6" x 6"

Sold.

In my post yesterday I mentioned I had a few things I wanted to get accomplished today. Well ... it's 10:45pm and I am almost there. 

The Carriage House studio has been completely emptied out, cleaned and re-organized. I am not sure if this vast project really needed to be done today but I just felt that it was a great way to start the new year. The easels and glass palettes are set up and I am ready for my workshop tomorrow.  The embroidered aprons are ready for my students, personalized with my logo and their first names.

My painting is done for tomorrow (yeah!) and there are a ton of packages sitting by the front door ready to be shipped.  The radio show notes are done and my co-host Carrie Waller and I are ready for a wonderful "Artists Helping Artists" radio show tomorrow. If you are participating in the 30 in 30 Challenge you don't want to miss our interview with Lisa Daria Kennedy. She's been painting a painting a day ... for four years ...

It's amazing I found time to paint. But it's a new priority for me and there was no doubt I would find the time today. Yippee.

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Eight

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Hawaiian Morning", Oil, 6" x 6"

Click here for purchase information

Things are starting to get a little busy around here. I have a one day workshop this Thursday and I am teaching a three day workshop early next week. I still have aprons to embroider and packets of materials to print. Not to mention I really want to spend some time organizing the Carriage House. I am not sure if I can all of this done but I am going to try! And then there is daily painting thing too ...

The good news is most of these commitments involve painting! I know while I am teaching I will have the chance to paint so I am thankful I don't have to stress about that. It's funny but it seems that my day is now centered around "when am I going to paint?". I am much more focused on painting and feel a HUGE sign of relief when I have finished my daily painting. So what are the chances that this is actually going to become a habit? Is 30 days in a row enough?

This week's Artists Helping Artists radio show has been specifically planned for all of you. Our guest is Lisa Daria Kennedy. Lisa has been painting one painting a day and is on number 1325. Yes, she has completed ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE paintings. Every day.

On Thursday's show I promise to ask her every tip and secret she has discovered in the last four years. We will discuss all of her experiences and any wonderful suggestions she has to help us get through our 30 days.

Seriously? 1325? And we are on Day Eight? Hmmm ... I guess its a bit humbling ...

Don't miss the show as I think it is going to be great!

Check out my upcoming palette knife painting workshops at http://www.saetastudio.com/Leslie_Saeta_fine_Art/Workshops.html.

30 in 30 - Day Seven

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My Favorite Things - 30 Paintings in 30 Days

"Setting Sun", Oil, 12" x 12"

Ah ... We have hit a milestone. That's right. We are done with our first week!

So that meas we are about 25% completed with the 30 in 30 Challenge. We all need to take a minute to stop and think about all we have learned. For me, I now know if I wait until too late in the day the stress of getting the painting done definitely impacts how much I like my finished painting. Yep ... if I am stressed I like the painting A LOT less. I have confirmed that I don't paint well under pressure. I also paint better in the early day verses evening. And I know that when I am ahead of schedule (and not stressed) then painting is fun. I absolutely love the fact that I am painting different subjects. And I like painting 6" x 6" and 12" x 12" panel sizes. Oddly enough, they take me about the same amount of time to paint.

My painting for today represents one of my favorite things ... my favorite time of the day. Sunset is a time for family gathering, it's a time for contemplation and it's a time to reflect back about how lucky we are for family, our health and the wonderful things we are able to experience every day.

So here's to week #2. Hang in there. Have fun and keep painting!

It's still not too late to sign up for the January webinARTs course. 

This is exactly what your art business needs for the new year. 

Use the discount code save25 to save $25.00 off the registration price.