30 in 30 Day 30

At Peace

Day 30 I wanted something special.  Something that would sort of sum up the month of the challenge and the theme I chose... hands.  Some were conceptual and some more to the realistic... all showed hands in some form or another.  For the final sketch, I feel they are all sketches, I looked at the hands of one the most famous paintings. Most recognize the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa but her hands show such elegance and restfulness they are at peace....we all want and need peace.... within ourselves and within our world.

This is far from perfect.... rubbed down first attempt and started a new..

Charcoal and conte on grey pressed cardboard

8 x 8

30 in 30 Day 29

Sadness

This morning had some coffee with two of my workshop artists, Traudi and Neomi.... Neomi is getting ready for her first solo exhibition Traudi giving advice for invites and catalog and me just for the ride.Wonderful espresso coffee and tasted some special cheese like paste made from Macedonia nuts... that was a special treat.  Had both pose for these sketches..so I am posting two for day 29. I so  enjoy working with my own references...

Traudi    The lighting was very dramatic...

Pencil and Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8 x 8 

Neomi  A more subtle lighting

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8 x 8

Can't believe only one more day... what a great ride this has been!!!

30 in 30 Day 28

Trapped

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8 x 8 

30 in 30 Day 27

Yummy Hot Corn

Charcoal and crayons

8 x 8 grey pressed cardboard

30 in 30 Day 26

Conversation

Our hands are a great part of our total body language, they can sometimes give us away. They can shout, plead, discuss and comfort. They can express sadness, happiness, peace and grief.

Crayons and pencil on 

8 x 8 grey pressed cardboard

30 in 30 Day 25

Peekaboo Mess

This started when a bloom from my hibiscus bush pushed its way through the side of the screen and rested on the shutters... it does that from time to time   But somehow it alluded me and turned into this crayon mess. Crayon on newsprint on grey cardboard. Lots of layers.. a bit of scraping... can't do much more with it at this stage.. so in "the spirit of" after all we learn from our "messes"!!!

Crayon on newsprint pasted on 

8 x 8  grey pressed cardboard.

30 in 30 Day 24

L'Shana Tova

On the eve of Rosh Hashana we traditional dip apple slices in honey for a Sweet and Happy New Year.
Wishing all a HAPPY HEALTHY and CREATIVE NEW YEAR...
A small collage on pressed cardboard with crayons.

Cut Newsprint + crayons

8 x 8 grey cardboard

30 in 30 Day 23

Painterly Hands

You can probably imagine the table as well!!! But the work was wonderful!!!

Crayons on 8 x 8 grey pressed cardboard

30 in 30 Day 22

Artist at Work

From my own reference photo of Uri, grandson 5yrs, making a drawing... loved the intensity of his expression... don't know if I really caught it.... difficult with crayons to get details...

Pencil and Crayons on 

8 x 8 grey pressed cardboard

30 in 30 Day 21

Beading

Little hands for little tasks...

Crayons on 8 x 8 grey pressed cardboard

30 in 30 Day 20

True Friends

I did the pencil sketch a few days ago but started the coloring part to this morning... Wish I had scanned the sketch.... anyway the coloring started out on a posterize scheme which I didn't like... and the colors took on a greenish ghoulish look ..and we are far from Halloween.... so scraped and sanded with scotch brite  and did some more layering....

Oil/Wax crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8 x 8 "

30 in 30 day 19

Pink Bubble Fun

From a reference photo I took of my grandson Noam blowing bubbles.  In this challenge my main concentration was the concept of hands..... but here I tried to get a good drawing of the hand.  Graphite on cardboard with pink crayon.....

Graphite and crayon on 

8 x 8 grey cardboard

30 in 30 Day 18

Collage Mishmash

Have seen some awesome mixed media work on the challenge and thought I would try my hand. Not much materials at hand..... will try to collect stuff for the future... lighter papers ... textures and stuff .. all I had were some newsprint and shiny stuff from travel magazines. The pieces were pasted on tracings of my grandson's hands....
I feel collage work would go greatly with my wax/oil crayons...will look for tutorials as well....

Collage on crayon drawing

8 x 8 inch grey cardboard 

30 in 30 Day 17

Bowl of Many Colors

 Oils with Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 16

Reaching Up

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 15

Looking Through

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 14

Resting Hand

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 13

Small Bird

We are slowly reaching the mid-mark  two weeks.  This is another "in the spirit of" posts..... The only thing I like are the colors.... hand is some what off... actually a lot off... and the subject is a little banal ,well worn..
Not to say too worked over...And it looks too green!!!!

Crayons on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 12

Hands on Pot

Crayons + Oils on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 11

New Growth

Crayons + Oils on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 10

Pink Bubbles

Again this did not come out as I envisioned. After several tries, with sandpaper,eraser etc.  There is just so much this cardboard format will take. I am dedicating this to my good friend Meredith who supports me in my art work and gave me extra support these past months with her continuous protective pink bubbles.

Crayons + Oils on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

If there are some grains of sand... well you can thank Lily our dog who walked over some work that I had put on the floor.... my computer room/studio has limited space....

30 in 30 Day 9

Buddha Praying Hands

Closeup of a Buddha statue done first with crayons, I use Caren d'ache neocolor I,  painted medium  and added oil paint mainly using palette knife.   Think this needs some tweaking.....

Crayons + Oils on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 8

Green Ringed Hand

This is one of those " in the spirit of "posts.  This month is for experimentation... ideas concepts,,, styles so even if it doesn't come off as I envisioned... posting and moving on.

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 7

Daisy Hand

This is my variation of the tradition of drawing on hands called Henna.

In Israel, Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish women sometimes choose to have a hennah party about a week before the wedding. 

 Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 6

Three Hands

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 5

Two Hands

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 4

I am taking a very interesting course through Coursera, A Brief History of Mankind. this is the second course with Coursera On the class page is a little image from the Cave of the Hands in Argentina... my inspiration for this small painting.

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 3

Entwined hands

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Day 2

Over the weekend I made several rough starts that I brought to my weekly workshop today... for some critique and finishing. This one, which I thought was just a beginning , turned out to be finished.... since I have a tendency to "overwork" excepted the advise.

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "

30 in 30 Painting Challenge Day 1

I have joined, for the second time round, Leslie Seata's challenge to do 30 paintings in 30 days.

Its been a long and difficult summer... I feel emotionally spent and empty and find it difficult to get back not only in painting mode but creative mode as well.  I feel that I am really pushing and with the doing  I will overcome and at least find a way to express my emotions.

For the beginning I have chosen the theme hands.. big,small,asking,telling ,seeing,doing hands I will be experimenting with colors, textures and concepts.  

Oil on grey pressed cardboard

8" x 8 "