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Deja- View A year of One a Day paintings
I have selected pieces that capture the beginning, middle and the conclusion of this wonderful experience.
The first selection of work exhibited shows the first few paintings attempted in this year long challenge. My early emphasis was to develop the discipline to paint daily, explore the challenge of daily creativity and develop my artistic style.
The second selection of my work shows the incorporation of step one and the stretching of these concepts. I learned to look for interesting things in the ordinary.
I would walk a similar route each day through my neighborhood and paint what caught my attention that day. With the changes in seasons you would think this would be easy but it turned out to be a test. With several grey days, or days with little to no light, rainy days, windy days, snow days, blizzard days and the like it was not always easy to find beauty. Some times I had to get creative- like the end of April 2009 when I just could not paint one more snow scene-so I turned to the returning birds of spring and attempted to seek out a new one each day and paint his or her portrait. I also found the size of the "dailies" to be a challenge, at first the small 4 x 6 size was a little like a puzzle, it was complex and interesting, but it soon became too small. I switched in August to a larger format of 8 x 10 and the world opened up once again.
The third selection of works shows my growth from form to abstraction. Towards the end of October I began to explore abstract form in the landscape. This brought forward a series of five paintings in late December 2009 that explored abstraction by using the same reference photo, stretching the landscape into design, pattern and shape, all while maintaining the integrity of the subject. Two of my favorite pieces are shown here.
The final piece in the show is an example of where 2010 is taking me and my art. I will be using my One a Day paintings as thumbnails for large abstract pieces. The size will be 36 x 48, 36 x 60, and 36 x 40 inches, and they are going to be more expressive and abstract. I have challenged myself to do 2 paintings per week until April when I will be hanging them in a show in Manulife Place, Edmonton.
I did not anticipate my One a Day experience to bring me so much growth. I have learned so much from it, , not just in technique but in the maturity of my eye for color and light, contour , texture and perspective. I would encourage everyone to take on a challenge each year- daily painting or any other creative outlet. You will end up in places you never dreamed you would go.
Jeri Lynn Ing
