Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year! Thank you for reading my blog an following my work, especially if you've been doing that for years :) Your support and encouragement means a lot to me.

The image above is from my sketchbook, a super-quick painting of a tree shadow that I saw on our backyard fence and painted while talking on the phone. Inspiration has been striking me in unlikeliest places recently :)

In news, I'm considering participation in another one of Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenges, which begins in a week. I really want to paint but I'm not sure I can swing it with two babies at home. Three on weekends...Yea or nay?

Ella-Nutella (or Meet the New Baby)

So you may have noticed that I disappeared for about two months...Which is pretty much what having a baby does to you :). Things get intense and everything other than making it to the due date, recovering, and taking care of the baby becomes less important.

Ella was born on November 4 and what can I say, she is pretty amazing. As much as I'm not into babies, I do tend to like my own quite a bit :)

Looking Back at 30 Paintings in 30 Days

And so, it was great, and it was hard, and it was worth it. In the beginning, I felt motivated and even, on some days, inspired. Then, about the time I ran out of energy (two weeks into the challenge), we went on a short family vacation to Catalina. Which, although exhausting in its own way, kept me going for the rest of the month.

I liked having a theme (landscapes and abstracts) and I am fairly happy with the results. I have 24 paintings and a sketch to show for it! I am also very grateful to all the artists, collectors, blog readers, Facebook fans and just friends who showed a ton of interest in my progress throughout the challenge and supported me with their wonderful comments, helpful suggestions, and the ultimate votes of confidence - purchases of my paintings. THANK YOU! 

 Some of the paintings are still available in my 30 Paintings in 30 Days section.

After a couple of days of a break, I would like to keep going. I am still full of ideas and I just got a shipment of paper and Nexus pens :). But I've been slowly cutting down on activities - mostly the fun ones, unfortunately, like the paintouts and figure drawing - as I've been feeling progressively worse. There are only four weeks left until the baby is supposed to get here. So, I'll be finishing commissions and painting a few pieces for a couple of winter shows I would like to get in to. Other than that, I will probably be laying low for a while. 

Day 30 - Avalon Pier, Late Afternoon

The day is finally here! This is the last painting of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. A few days late, but I'm pretty sure nobody cares except me, and I did have some tough few days.  

Avalon Pier. 11x15" Watercolor and Ink on watercolor paper. $120. Buy here. 

The painting is continuing (and probably not concluding) my Catalina theme. I put quite a lot of time into this one, beginning with a a fairly complicated drawing: and even some masking (and if you know me, you know I hardly ever use masking liquid):

I also wanted to keep the sky fairly dark and wasn't able to achieve that in the first wash (stuff dries quickly here in the desert!). So it took several washes to get to where I was sort of happy with it. The rest of the painting was just a lot of detail and small-brush work, which I don't do that often, either.  

Avalon Pier, cropped. 

I made the sky area large intentionally, but it seems to make the whole painting a bit too gloomy...So I am considering a more conservative crop. What do you think? 

Day 29 - An Old Church on the Isle of Wight (Virtual Paintout)

It seems like during this 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge, I couldn't stay away from architecture completely! It keeps peeking through the trees and suggesting itself in geometric abstract forms. But I did try :). Overall, I am pretty happy with how many landscapes I was able to paint during the challenge and I would like to spend a bit more time exploring the abstracts.  

11 x 15" Watercolor on paper. $95. Buy here.

So, with my challenge theme in mind, I gave the landscape a big part in this painting, while still keeping the church as the focal point. It was tricky modeling the building without any drawing - I usually like more structure in my structures. Here, I scraped the light areas of the church with a palette knife after laying in some color wet-into-wet. I added a few lines and reinstated the darks after it began drying.

Day 28 - A Seashore...Wet-into-wet!

I love bodies of water and I've always wanted to live near a largish one. My dream came true twice: first time, when I attended architecture school in Odessa, Ukraine, which is on the Black Sea. Second time, when I got married and moved to Oceanside, which is on the Pacific. My current plan is to at least retire (although, do artists ever retire?) on the water. Carmel sounds like a good place for that, but I will also consider other options :)  

7.5 x 11" Watercolor on Fabriano rough 140lb watercolor paper. $65 (until October 2nd). Buy here. 

And so, my painting today is a little piece of the sea. It was done wet-into-wet, with some palette knife scraping, lifting with a brush, and some coarse salt texture in the foreground. I am pretty happy with the result. I like how loose and abstract it is up close, while also clearly showing the subject matter at a distance. This would be interesting to do on a larger sheet. Title ideas, anyone?

Technically, today is the last day of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. However, I decided to stick to it and make two more paintings, even if that means extending the deadline. Weekends here are particularly tough to fit painting in, as both of my kids are home and my husband is at work.  

Since I'm extending the painting challenge, I will also keep the special pricing on the September paintings for two more days. Make sure to take advantage of the sale while it's on! You know you want to ;) 

Day 27 - A Tree-lined Alley in My Hometown

A memory of a memory. This is a view down a short stretch of an alley in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine. This place is next to the main town square, which used to have a humongous statue of Lenin, vandalized and then dismantled after the Soviet Union fell apart, leaving behind a plinth of polished black granite. This alley is also across from one of the art schools I attended as a child (I kind of failed that one..it was a multidisciplinary thing, with mandatory music, dance and theater lessons, in addition to visual art, and I didn't care for dance or theater). Anyway, I've seen it a few times :)

8.5 x 10" ink and watercolor on Arches hot press watercolor paper. $85 (sale price until October 1st). Buy here.

P.S. Incidentally, today was Khmelnistky's "city birthday"  - a celebration of the city. I just found out...an interesting coincidence. I must still be tuned in to the place I was born, even after ten years and across half a world.

Day 26 - A Wet-into-wet Watercolor Landscape

Initially, I wanted to try this very landscapey horizontal format yesterday, but I became intrigued by the vertical one and also, didn't have time for a wet-into-wet painting. So I enjoyed playing in water today instead:).  

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico rough 140lb paper. 7.5 x 22". Buy prints here

This is another painting inspired by a recent trip to Big Bear Lake. It is such a beautiful location, and I can't wait to go on a plein air outing there.

Day 25 - A Big Bear Landscape Study

Another scene from Big Bear Lake today. I thought it would be fun to try a really narrow format (and it was). Not sure I'm happy with the painting itself - the shape of the tree bothers me...it's too symmetrical and breaks the space into halves right around the middle. It could be because I painted this in-between cooking dinner, changing diapers, being a toy conflict mediator, and trying to not let my daughter eat the freshly-squeezed cobalt blue from my palette. Not fun. I am definitely not one of those supermoms, efficient, multitasking, and happy to be in the middle of everything. I need my space and my time. I get crabby when I don't get them, which is most of the time these days...

22x7.5" watercolor on Fabriano Artistico rough watercolor paper.  

Day 24 - Big Bear Lake Watercolor Landscape

This wet-into-wet landscape was inspired by a recent trip to Big Bear Lake. My husband and I took the kids to preschool and babysitter and went to Big Bear for some quality kid-free time. We rented a canoe and had lunch on the lake. The weather was beautiful: it was in the 70s, mostly overcast with spectacular clouds that were reflecting in the lake, and an occasional mild breeze. Afterwards, we set up a hammock near the lake and enjoyed just hanging out and doing nothing. A good day :)

11x15" Watercolor on Lanaquarelle watercolor paper. $95. Buy here. 

Day 23 - An Avalon Street in Ink and Watercolor

More Catalina! The city of Avalon, to be specific, the little street called East Whittley Avenue. I snapped the reference photo while pushing a double stroller with both of my kids in it up that hill.

East Whittley Ave. 7.5 x 8.75". Ink and watercolor on hot press paper. $75 (special pricing until October 1). Buy here. 

As predicted, I had no time or energy to do a daily painting yesterday. I had an amazing second (and last) day of my portrait painting workshop and I'm super proud of what my students were able to accomplish. However, I was also experiencing symptoms of a cold and of being very much pregnant, so by the end of the day, I was dead. With a little over a month left until we get to meet baby #3, I am glad to stop being so active and lay low for a while. Of course, I will want back in the saddle before I know it...but for now, I feel like taking a break. 

Day 21 - Mission San Luis Rey

I spent the whole day teaching the first half of my portrait painting workshop and hanging out with the husband and kids in the evening, so I am cheating today. This sketch of the Mission San Luis Rey is from a few months ago, when we visited San Diego. Miraculously, I think I was even able to finish the sketch on site.

Watercolor and ink pen on paper. 6x11" 

I'm teaching the second day of the workshop tomorrow, so I may not have an opportunity for a new daily painting again. Good thing I have a ton of unpublished pieces...On the other hand, I am still reliving the Catalina trip and want to paint a few things based on my photos from there.

Day 20 - Santa Catalina Island!

Aaaand I'm back! This week, we went on a family mini-vacation on the Santa Catalina Island. It was exhausting, as our baby daughter pretty much refused to sleep and was throwing tantrums left and right (not at all typical for her). But it was also great. I enjoyed plugging off the daily life, the housework, the art business, the social interaction, even just for a few days. And, of course, the island is beautiful. It would be fantastic to return there just by myself, or at least without kids, on a plein air trip.

Eureka! I should organize a plein air workshop there! Hmm...

The Casino (which is not a casino but a movie theater) in Avalon. Pen and watercolor on paper.  

The uncropped version, with my daughter's contribution on the left :) 

A quick note to blog subscribers

Good news! If you don't like getting an email from me every day for the rest of the month, please scroll to the bottom of the email and click "update subscription preferences." This will let you choose to receive my emails once a week instead of every time a new blog post is added. Thanks for reading!

Day 15 - Another High Desert Skyscape

This is the desert. So, by definition, we don't get much in terms of precipitation. When everyone else around us gets rained on, we are being teased by spectacular clouds. So, those who decide to be positive and embrace the fact that they live in the very hot middle-of-nowhere, become attached to the clouds...Particularly the sunrises and sunsets :)

Watercolor on paper. 11x15". $95. Buy here.  

Day 14 - A Mean Black Cloud

Oh, I don't know...It's a cloud :)  Also looks a bit like a Mean Gray Wolf...

Watercolor on paper. 11x15" 

It's pretty much the halfway point in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge today. I can say that I felt a lot more energetic and ambitious at the beginning! Now, it's more about having the will power while the excitement dwindles away. I can do this!

On the other hand, I may not be able to do this in the next three days. Tomorrow is my birthday and we are going on a mini-vacation to Catalina island here off the coast of California. I will be taking both kids to the island tomorrow and my husband will join us on Tuesday morning. So...like I said, I may not have an opportunity to paint. Even if I don't, though, I should come back plenty inspired :) 

Day 12 and 13 - Tide Pool Abstraction on Yupo

I'm catching up today, hence a two-painting post! And, of course, these two paintings were painted pretty much simultaneously, so it makes sense to put them in the same post.

Tide Pool I. 9.5 x 6" Watercolor and Nupastel on Yupo. $65 (special pricing until October 1st). Buy here.

Once again, I was inspired by a photo from my field trip to Point Reyes. Crevices in rocks full of amazing treasures. Tide pools.

Tide Pool II. 9.5 x 6". Watercolor and Nupastel on Yupo. $65 (special pricing only until October 1st). Buy here. 

I find myself drawn to diptychs and triptychs lately. They are not quite a series yet but maybe doors into future series. I have also been working larger - which is hard to tell based on these little daily paintings but the fact is, I feel more comfortable scaling up. Both working in series and painting larger are straight from my goals list two years or so ago. So...it feels good seeing myself moving towards my own goals as an artist.  

Tide Pool paintings side by side. 

Day 11 - Point Reyes

I couldn't find the time post this yesterday, so I guess it means two posts today! The painting is based on a photo I took on a foggy morning at Point Reyes. It didn't turn out quite as foggy or gray as the photo...but I still like it. I also did a couple of value sketches beforehand and changed my mind a few times during the painting process. And cropped the finished painting. Maybe will give it another go at some point.

Point Reyes. Watercolor on paper. 11 x 11". $65. Buy here.

The uncropped version. 

Day 10 - An Apple Tree Ink and Watercolor Sketch

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One of these days I will make a blog post about making a watercolor sketchbook. Especially since my current handmade sketchbook is almost full and I need to make a new one! The sketch below is also from the UC Riverside Botanic Gardens paintout. I started it there but was too hot and otherwise pregnantly uncomfortable to finish. So I finished it today.

Apple Tree. Watercolor and ink on watercolor paper.  

I liked this apple tree on my first walk-through of the gardens and made sure to return to it at the end of the paintout. I was hoping for a more interesting light and for a shaded spot for me to set up my easel but things don't always work exactly the way you want them to when you're doing plein air. The tree was in the shadow and I was pretty much in sunlight.

Day 9 - A Landscape with a bit of Fauve

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First of all, a note to my blog subscribers. I had several people unsubscribe in the last week, most likely because they don't like getting an email from me every single day. If that is the case with you, please let me know before you unsubscribe. I can change the frequency of the updates you would receive. So, if daily dose of me is too much, but you would still like to hear form me once a week or once a month, just say so! 

Also, once the current 30 Paintings in 30 Days project is over, I will definitely not blog every day. So hang in there :) 

Untitled. 15 x 11" Watercolor on paper. Sold. Buy prints here.

This colorful landscape (or abstract?) is another fruit of my outing yesterday. I'm not sure what to call it yet.. . I feel that the better I get at expressing things visually, the worse my verbal ability gets. Or maybe it's about using up too much creativity on painting and not having anything left when it's time to choose a title :). Who knows? Anyway, I'm looking for your suggestions and impressions! Thanks in advance.