Day 1 (30 in 30 for 30)

Bee*lieve you can fly  8x10  mixed media on canvas

Day 1: 30 in 30 for 30

(and Art Every Day Month)

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."
- Mary Kay Ash

I knew I wanted to start off this challenge with a bit of inspiration, and this quote (one of my favorites) is what popped into my head.

Today turned out to be a day of painting... then gessoing over what I painted... painting again... gessoing again...

I started putting a lot of pressure on myself to come up with the "perfect start" to this challenge, and for a while I lost sight of the joy I normally feel when I'm painting.  Then Stevie called and she helped me calm down, she told me to relax, stop stressing, and not to worry I'd "find my groove"... Wonderful advice from my beautiful sister who is feeling her own midterm stress.  Thanks Stevie.

Once I stopped worrying so much about the finished product and got down to the business of playing, things started to go more smoothly.  Until...

It came time to photograph/ scan it.  When creating the 30 in 30 for 30 challenge for myself I didn't take into account the fact that I'd probably be finishing up when it was dark outside.  Definitely not optimal conditions for photographing artwork.  So I scanned it - let's just say my scanner isn't the best and as a result the image above probably isn't the best representation of the actual painting.  But...

Luckily I have a brilliant (and very thoughtful) husband who anticipated me needing a better scanner, so he ordered me a new one and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow!  Yay!  As if that weren't exciting enough, he also bought me a new printer so I can make prints of my work!  Is he amazing, or what?!?

Tomorrow I will photograph and re-scan my painting in the hopes of acquiring a more accurate image so that I can list this in my etsy shop!

Don't forget that November is Art Every Day Month (the inspiration for my 30 in 30 for 30)... So be sure to stop by the Creative Every Day blog to see what other artists created today!