November is now upon us  -  the month dedicated to bloggers  -  when many writers tackle the challenge of posting 50,000 words during the month, in daily doses. There's even a registry where you can list your own blog, and daily prompts if you happen to run short on ideas. Great idea. So how can I adapt that to a blog about painting?

That was the question which popped into my mind when I noticed the informational email which arrived in my inbox just a few minutes ago. And immediately after the question presented itself, so did the answer.

I've recently completed a little project of quick-studies, done in Coloured Pencil, my medium of choice. I had spent the first 8 months of this year preparing for and then completing an exhibit of my work at a nearby gallery, during which I also taught a 2-day workshop in using the pencils. Late in August, when I collected the remaining paintings from the exhibit (those that didn't sell), and sorted and then stored the materials I'd used for the workshop, I was left with that feeling of “what's next?”

I'd expected that, and I was prepared for it. I knew I would spend some time just puttering, sorting and rearranging the studio corner of my 'shoebox studio' - so-called because of my growing collection of repurposed shoe boxes which are used for storing art supplies - they stack very nicely and keep supplies organized and easy to access. Also, my studio space is tucked into what was originally the dining area of my apartment, so it's a little like working in a shoebox as well.

But I digress.

I carried on in this manner for a couple days, waiting for the next idea to pop into my head. It didn't.

The real story here is what happened when I decided to sort out one of those brown file boxes you can see in the picture - it contained old photos I've collected over many years and cameras. Before the digital age, where you can just delete surplus pictures even before you upload them to the computer, I used to take numerous pics of any subject which happened to catch my eye, and as a result I ended up with piles and piles of 4 x 6 snapshots of subjects and scenes which had impressed me or touched me in some way, all taken with the intention that 'someday I'll use those for paintings'. Well, what better time for 'someday' than right now?!!

THREE LIGHT BULBS

As I sorted and filed the photos into categories, it struck me that I had accumulated a LOT of pictures of skies ... morning skies, evening skies, sunny skies, stormy skies ... skies, skies, skies ... and then came the first light bulb flash, so to speak ... a series of sky paintings could be just the ticket !! I had found my next idea, in a box. Not a shoebox, exactly, but close enough.

As a bit of background, I've used some of those photos for reference over the years, as inspiration for a sky in a landscape, but I've never taken the time to focus on the sky iteslf as the main subject of a painting. And, as a little further background, anyone familiar with my Coloured Pencil work has a pretty good idea of how many hours go into the completion of a single painting. So the obvious question quickly presented itself - how can I create a series of paintings without spending two or three years on the project.

The answer presented itself rather by chance, or happenstance, or perhaps Serendipity ... in the CP workshop I'd recently taught, I'd shown the participants how I'd experimented with using cotton balls and pigment scraped from the pencils to add a coloured tone to the paper before beginning work on a painting. So I decided to try that with a sample piece ... it should speed up the process a bit - instead of working on white paper there would already be some colour to build on. I also decided to do this first sample as a 'quick study' - keep it small, I figured 5” x 7” would be a good size to try ...

I had picked a sunset sky for this first sample, so I decided to add a warm orangey tone to the paper, over which I could then add the deep purples and blues and scarlets and orange tones with layers of pencil, in the usual manner. As soon as I started, however, with a cotton ball dipped in peachy-orange pigment scraped from a pencil, the second light bulb flashed, and I decided to see what would happen if I used several different colours to lay down all the basic colour areas in the sky.

The biggest advantage of applying pigment with the cotton balls is that it covers the area quickly, and it also presses the pigment right into the paper, creating a nicely toned ground on which to apply more pigment layers with the pencils. It's easier and quicker to build up dark tones as the painting progresses, since there is less 'white paper' to contend with. The basic tones are already set before I start in with the pencils.

After about 20 minutes of this cotton-ball process I ended up with a half-decent 'underpainting', which could serve as a perfect 'foundation layer' which I could then finish with the pencils. I immediately recognized this was something to pursue further, as I estimated it would have taken me at least a couple hours to accomplish this same foundation layer by using pencils in the usual manner.

As an added benefit, the pigment had been pushed right into the paper by the action of the cotton balls, instead of building up a layer on the surface. That was light bulb number three. After another 10 minutes working with pencils over the coloured foundation layer, the study was about half done. So I scanned it into my computer files, and continued on.

After another half hour of pencil work, I ended up with what I considered a fairly decent Quick Study. It contained all the visual information I would need in order to do further work and turn it into a 'finished painting', or to use it as a guide for doing a larger painting.

left: my reference photo,  center: after 30 minutes,   right: total time 1 hour.

THE PLAN EVOLVES

Using that first study as my guide and inspiration, I formulated my plan - 30 SKIES IN 30 DAYS now seemed like a goal which could actually be accomplished, in a reasonable time. 30 hours is just about the average time it usually takes to do a complete CP painting, in 8x11 size, so I'd be committing no more time than would be required for one single `regular`painting ... and I'd have 30 studies to show for my time! Win-win!! I got excited.

And so the challenge began. I've said before that I need to challenge myself from time to time, and this was definitely going to be a challenge.

Over the next few studies, I refined my process so that the first 10 minutes was done with just cotton balls and scraped pigment, then 50 minutes was spent with pencils to finish the job. By the time I got to the final few, the first step was taking only 5 minutes at the most, which left a little more time for the remaining work.

Using a timer helped keep me focused on getting the information down as quickly as possible, without being too finicky with details, which I normally have a tendency to do. The goal was to capture the essence of the sky scene in as short a time as possible - no easy task when working with pencils !! This process reminds me of doing timed studies in a Life Drawing group I used to attend, where the model would do a series of short timed poses and the challenge was to do as quick a sketch as possible to record the pose. An excellent exercise to strengthen eye-hand coordination. Again, win-win.

Now all 30 studies have been done. The original concept was to do them all in 30 'consecutive' days, but life being what it is, there were some days when there was just no time to work on this project. I also teach classes with the local Art Association, and preparation for those classes had to take first priority. But the studies were still completed in 30 days, so I feel I accomplished what I set out to do.

So this will be my challenge for the 'blogging month' of November - I'll post one each day. Check back tomorrow for 30 SKIES IN 30 DAYS, # 2.