Doorways, Enchanting Store Fronts, Secret Gardens & Beautiful Blooms

Starting to explore textures today. It’s also been howling gales outside – can you tell?

The first 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge of 2020 is here and these are my paintings for days one and two.

I’m trying something different this month and am aiming to develop my abstract painting skills with a palette knife. I first painted with a palette knife mid-way through last year and used an image of a mosaic archway as my initial inspiration. Continuing with this type of theme, I’ll be using lots of different Indian doorways as the starting point and then abstracting with collage and acrylic paint on square canvas boards. 

Looking forward to seeing how the month plays out. Thanks for coming along with me :)

New Beginnings (Mixed Media Painting, 9″x12″)

Finding the original inspiration (a beautiful mosaic archway from a gorgeous Persian cookbook), getting the patterns in the hues I wanted, ripping paper piles so the edges were raggedy. After all the collage preparation, layering and drying, I then had a go at trying to paint with a palette knife! And do you know what? I enjoyed the process :)

I received an online art course that I had wanted to do for ages (http://mondayonlinestudio.weebly.com) from my generous brother a while ago. After much procrastinating, the time was earmarked in the diary and I actually committed to the class. It took much longer than planned but it was amazing! Simply loved just working the mediums in a whole new way and I think I have a new inspiration for future paintings. This is always the way when I’m meant to be focusing elsewhere, but it did remind me of how important it is to be allowed to learn for fun.

I know I’m doing what I love for a living. So little of it is exploring and creating the art itself. This made me re-evaluate. Maybe I’ll spend less time on the admin and more on the painting. I’m having the new moon feeling of taking stock and reviewing things – and lots of financials are coming up for renewal (including this website). Watch this space, I’m definitely striving for simplicity over complexity.