We set up the fake cemetery this past weekend.

I finished the sunlit rose, and have started on the Goldendoodle, a Christmas wreath, and a portrait of Mrs. Claus.

The sunlit rose is from the Brave Artist Week from Acrylic University; the Goldendoodle dog is from one of the Fresh Paint online classes.

As much as I was satisfied with the small pumpkin in the last post, I’m dissatisfied with this effort, but I think I have a fix for it should I go back to redo. This painting is based on a photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash, but is also available as a lesson/paint-along for Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint VIP members. (VIP just means you pay for 12 months upfront.)

I didn’t want to go with Ali’s color choices and I didn’t to go along entirely with her style, so I did my own, and it was a complete fail. FINALLY I decided to experiment using my 6×6 acrylic papers from Soho Urban Artists. And it is actually my study that I’m relatively pleased with — and I am somewhat taking a cue from how Ali painted her ornament although to my eyes, she used short, choppy brushstrokes.

Whether or not I redo this will depend on my mood — I got bored with this (always a bad sign) and there are other ornaments I want to paint as it gets close to the holiday season, including some of my own references. Anyway, here it is.. the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’m in the middle of a few Paint Weeks. There’s one by Ali Kay’s Fresh Paint from Sep 28 – Oct 4 in which you paint a small pumpkin, an autumn leaf, and a bouquet of sunflowers. (You do it with Ali Kay, who does it on video and then the replay is available for a short time.)

A similar Paint Week (same exact dates) called Brave Art is being offered this week by Acrylic University. Jed Dorsey, the instructor, will be leading the sessions on a private YouTube channel, and you paint a yellow sunlit rose, and a seascape.

Finally, the third thing I’m doing is #20for20 — which is 20 minutes per day for the first 20 days of October. This is being offered by LearntoPaintPodcast. It’s $25 to sign up, and up through the 1st of October, you get a short series of “lessons” (prepping advice) for your 20-day dash. (I’m thinking about doing small studies of apples because I struggle so much with decent-looking apples. But I may change my mind.)

I’ve never done any of these Paint Weeks before so we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve been focused on the autumn paintings (black cat, pumpkin, apples) but took some time to put paint down on this image from the Fresh Paint class of two unwrapped peppermint candies. It is still a work in progress.

More WIP from Fresh Paint as I juggle from painting to painting. (The pumpkin is being painted on a 8×8 canvas panel.)

The photo on the left is truer in color; the one on the right had a desk lamp shining right on it from above.

Still juggling several paintings at once, mostly focused on the fall season, and for now, I’m following the Fresh Paint method (lots of paint layering, and lots of watery paint).

The idea is not just value mapping, but ultimately allowing pops of color (usually complementary) to show alongside the final layers of paint.

All of these are from reference photos at Fresh Paint. I am painting a pumpkin, some apples on a tree, and some peppermint candies. The first step (purely optional of course) is value mapping. All of these are painted on 8×8 canvas panels.