The Daily Grace
The Daily Grace

BECAUSE I OVERDO EVERYTHING.

Jan 19, 2018 | making & doing | 8 comments

Case in point, how I paint.

It’s something I love and don’t take too seriously (let’s call that a WIN) because I paint primarily to stretch my brain. And because this is primarily my life philosophy:

pretty much

 

So I signed up for Mary Gilkerson’s Art+Life+Painting 5 Day Painting Challenge. I started with these difficult but ultimately liberating constraints:

  1. Limited paint palette.
  2. 4 x 6 gesso board, a new (crazy slick) surface for me.
  3. Palette knives (which my husband calls “spatula painting”) instead of brushes.
  4. Single theme: all are from photos of our beloved Black Mountains view.
  5. Finish in 20 minutes.
  6. Share the work, via Mary’s encouragement, on her wonderful blog. Pay attention to the paintings of other participants. Enjoy them! Learn from them! Cheer them on! YAY!

Everything about this challenge is difficult and scary. (See headline.) Thus, all the more reason to TAKE IT ON.

(Even so the world will never see my horrendous Day 1 painting.)

Here is Day 2. Better than the first but still seriously overworked.

 

That’s a lot of strokes and a lot of color for the goal to be SIMPLIFY.

 

Thank you, Mary Gilkerson, for the challenge and your fantastic instruction.

Thanks, Lila Anna Sauls, for being my accountability partner!

 

XXOO

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8 Comments

  1. Mary Gilkerson

    There’s so much more that works there than you realize yet. Well done!

    • Cathy

      Thank you, Mary!

  2. Wendy

    Have fun! That should be one of the instructions, too.

    • Cathy

      You are so right! And it’s actually Mary’s primary instruction. It’s just hard to remember when you are facing that tiny slick gesso board with a spatula in your hand 🙂

  3. Sharon

    Very nice!!!

    • Cathy

      Thank you–but I have a ways to go, my friend. Love you!

  4. Leslie

    I LOVE THAT PAINTING!!

    • Cathy

      IT IS SO OVERDONE. (But thank you, kind friend!)

Cathy Rigg Headshot

Hi. I’m Cathy.

This is a blog about writing, creative living, and grace in the everyday. It’s my hope this little spot on the internet will be for you a place of quiet and reflection, a source for inspiration, and a reminder there’s beauty all around—we simply need to keep our hearts open to see it. Thank you for being here with me.

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