Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver

This is a little 6x8 done a couple of months ago. It was one of those paintings that seemed to paint itself. I used a palette knife throughout the painting process, which is unusual for me. 

Alcova is a reservoir about an hour away from home. My husband likes to fish there and I like to paint there. This little scene was directly across from where he was fishing. The red rock formations always make a brilliant contrast to the blue water reflections.

I just entered it in the August Bold Brush contest. It's my first time entering the contest although I could have done so a long time ago. I keep waiting for a painting I think is good enough. But I decided I'd better just get to entering as often as I can and stop waiting!

September 1 marks the beginning of a new 30/30 challenge. The challenge is hosted by Leslie Saeta and it means participants will paint 30 paintings in 30 days. I participated in a similar challenge in January which was a blast and I'm going to do this one too.  At first I thought I'd do sizes other than the 6x6's I did in January.  Sometimes you get tired of painting a certain size repeatedly. But then I decided to use these 30 paintings as further studies and explorations of particularly hard (for me) subjects or techniques. So I'm sticking to 6x6 and maybe a few 6x8. 

I've chosen several things I'd like to challenge myself with other than the 30 paintings, which is a challenge in itself. However, I thought to keep my perspective fresh I'd add these other elements.  Each one is something I've had roaming around in the back of my head for quite awhile and it's time to get them out of there! There are 5 of them.

 Fork Invasion, 6x6 done from life during the January challenge

1) Use no more than 100 strokes. (I may be using a BIG brush for this one!) But this won't be on all the paintings. Just the ones I decide to approach this way. It will force me to be very purposeful with each stroke.

2) Studies of white fabric in sunlight. Don't you just love the paintings where the artist has really mastered this subject? So beautiful!

3) Studies of Aspens (because they always kick my butt whenever I try them).

4) Use of a specific color scheme chosen ahead of time (very limited palette) when painting from a photo or from life if it seems like a good idea. I've only done this once and I love the results, but since I paint from life so often, I feel I should try to get the color I'm seeing. Photos change things so much, the pre-selected color scheme can be a great way to add richness that the photo may lack. It can also create a mood or recapture the mood which the photo doesn't show. 

5) Cows and/or people from life, just because you get so much more info about color and dimension from life.

  Cow, 6x6 oil on panel painted from a photo reference from the January challenge.

If I rotate through these a few times I should have my 30 paintings and be a little better at each of these specifics. I'm very excited for this one because of the added interest. Of course, I may not be so excited a couple weeks into it!

How about you? Are you joining this challenge? Are you challenging yourself in some other way? I'd love to hear about what you're up to.