#22 of my 60/60 Challenge

I spent the morning painting at the old Cement Works in my hometown of Warkworth (New Zealand).  I love painting there as there is a boat yard there where an assortment of yachts are usually being painted, cleaned, restored, etc.  This oil (about a 6" x 9") is of the Carlisa, a cement hulled boat that is being lovingly restored by a charming couple - he's from Scotland and she is Swiss.  They spend six months a year in New Zealand and have been working on the boat for 7 years (but only about 18 months total time).  A labor of love!

Catching up with my 60/60 Challenge

I've been doing my daily paintings for my 60/60 Challenge (that's 60 paintings in 60 days, painted 'from life' - no photographic reference) but I don't always have an internet connection to post them here.

#15 - 60/60 Challenge

This little oil was an experiment.  I gessoed a page from my sketchbook (300lb Arches watercolor paper) and painted in oil.  Not terribly exciting but an interesting way to work that I will try again!

#16 - 60/60 Challenge

This is a small oil on gessoed board - probably about 7" x 7"or thereabouts.  It's a bend in the road just around the corner from where I grew up, near Warkworth, New Zealand.  

#17 - 60/60 Challenge

I painted this in my opaque watercolor in my sketch book, from the dining room table looking out over Matheson Bay in the early morning.

#18 - 60/60 Challenge

I really fought with this oil (7" x 7") and finally cropped into it rather than turp it out.  This is painted on location in Puhoi, a historic Bohemian settlement just south of my hometown of Warkworth.  

#19 - 60/60 Challenge

This is another page from my watercolor sketchbook - an opaque watercolor on 300 lbs Arches paper.

60/60 Challenge - Painting #14

I'm not sure of the size of this piece - the actual painting is about a 10" by 10" but I've cropped off the bottom few inches - so perhaps it's an 8" x 10".  It's oil on Ampersand board.  I'm sitting in the car blogging this - the painting is in the trunk - but seeing the image on my laptop, the water seems a little too light in value.  Will have to take another look at the painting - maybe it's just the photography.

I painted this piece from Ti Point - just west of Leigh - which is an hour or so north of Auckland, New Zealand.  Several people were fishing off the Ti Point Wharf - including one who told me of his catch yesterday - a 17lb snapper!

60/60 Challenge - Painting #13

This is painting #13 in my daily 'painting from life' challenge.  I'm three days behind and hoping to get caught up today.  #13 is an opaque watercolor in my sketchbook - done on the road that I grew up on in Warkworth, New Zealand.  It was raining lightly so I sat in the car and painted it - fighting steamed up windows.  I walked this road a million times when I was a kid.  It hasn't changed - still as gorgeous with the ponga (tree fern), toe toe (type of pampas grass) and native trees, totara and rimu.

60/60 Challenge - Painting #12

Rain kept me from working outside in oil, so yesterday's 60/60 Challenge painting is a little opaque watercolor done in my sketchbook (300lb Arches cold-press).

The 60/60 Challenge is a pledge to paint a piece a day from life - no photographic reference - 60 paintings in 60 days, March 6th through May 6th.  I'm in New Zealand until May 15th so my paintings will be of my homeland.

60/60 Challenge - Painting #11

I painted this little opaque watercolor in my sketchbook (300lb Arches cold-press paper), looking out the window of the house over Matheson Bay.  As it has been pouring rain since last night, my next piece will probably also be a watercolor sketch.

Day 11 of the 60/60 Challenge

Gotta make this quick...I'm almost out of battery power in my laptop!  I painted this little 8" x 6" this afternoon behind the house that I'm staying it.  It's native bush - nikau palm, ponga (tree fern) manuka and a little supple jack!  I was hoping a piwakawaka (fantail) would fly through my motif so I could add it to the painting, but no luck.

Nikau and Supple Jack

60/60 Challenge #11

8" x 6" oil on board

60/60 Challenge - Painting #10

The weather has been glorious but the sun is fierce.  While looking for a shady spot, I found some cows that were fenced into the narrow area between road and paddock.  This decided today's motif because I knew the cows couldn't walk away once I started the painting.  And yes - the grass really is this green in New Zealand!

The Grass Is Greener

60/60 Challenge #10

6" x 8" oil on board

Day #9 of the 60/60 Challenge!

I'm finally caught up and back on track.  This is the ninth painting for the ninth day of my 60/60 Challenge!  I painted this little piece at a little boatyard at Whangateau.  The water was so blue and warm and the day so perfect, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

Day 9, 60/60 Challenge

Boatyard at Whangateau

6" x 6" oil on gessoed board

Playing Catch-up, Days 6, 7 and 8.

The last couple of days have been hectic with no time to post, so today I'm posting the last three paintings for my 60/60 Challenge.....60 paintings in 60 days, painted plein air (from life).  I'm in my homeland of New Zealand for three months, so the outdoor studies will all be done while here.  I'm fighting the weather (lots of rain) and the way the paint is handling in the increased humidity.  But today I found a stash of liquid in my NZ painting supplies, so perhaps this will help!

"That which doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" - meaning, if I don't slash my wrists, I will be a better painter at the end of the 60/60 Challenge!

60/60 Challenge #6

Painted from the Leigh Cemetery, overlooking the wharf and harbor.

60/60 Painting Challenge #7

"South End of Joe Looking North"

8" x 6" oil on gessoed panel

60/60 Painting Challenge #8

"Waiting for Skylarks"

6" x 8" oil on gessoed gatorboard

Day #5 of the 60/60 Challenge

Why am I doing this?  Because I know from experience that it will get easier and I will get better at painting 100% from life by the time the 60/60 Challenge ends on May 6th.  Yep, that's 60 paintings, on location, in 60 days.  Fortunately, I'm in New Zealand for all of that time.  Unfortunately, this is the wettest/coolest summer in many years so finding a dry place to paint is a real challenge.  If I were in my own house, I could paint interiors on a rainy day, but I'm in a carpeted rental house and I'm guessing the owners would not like pthalo green on the carpeting.

I found a herd of young cows and bulls begging to be painted.  I screeched to a halt - set up my Sol-tek easel and wouldn't you know it, the cows/bulls made a beeline for the fence to see what I was up to.  So now I had big cow faces two feet away instead of the pastoral motif I had envisioned.

So this is today's contribution to my challenge.  It's an 8" x 8" oil on board....slightly unfinished as it started to rain.  I'm a glutton for punishment.

Day #4 of the 60/60 Painting Challenge

I spent an hour or two this morning painting at the Leigh Wharf.  Leigh is also home to the best fish and chip shop north in Rodney District but I was strong and resisted having them for lunch.  It's hard not to leave New Zealand 5 lbs heavier - and as I'll be here for three months on this trip, I've got to be strong!

Leigh Dinghies

6" x 8" oil on board

Day #3 of the 60/60 Painting Challenge

Three paintings done - 57 to go!  I painted this 8" x 8" oil yesterday afternoon on the road to the Big Omaha Wharf at Whangateau.  The original wharf was built in the 1850's and was recently restored as a historic building.  As New Zealand's was settled from the 1840's on, the wharf is an old building for this country.   The title, Pohutakawa at Whangateau, refers to the pohutakawa tree which blooms red in December and is also called New Zealand's Christmas Tree.  Whangateau is the wide-spot-in-the-road where I painted.

Pohotukawa at Whangateau

8" x 8" oil on gessoed board

As it rained most of the day, we painted from inside the wharf.

60/60 Painting Challenge, Day #2

We're fighting rain in paradise!  It rained (poured!) a good part of yesterday and this morning it has been overcast and raining on and off.  So today's painting for the 60/60 Painting Challenge is a small watercolor from my sketch book that I painted last week while on Kawau Island.

I'm sitting in the car at Ti Point wharf, picking up a signal on my Vodafone broadband stick.  I was hoping to find a covered area here where I could paint, but no luck, so will sign off and look for another spot.

Day #2, 60/60 Challenge

The View from Mansion House, Kawau Island, New Zealand

Watercolor Sketch

A New Daily Painting Project Starts Today!

Today I'm starting a new daily painting project called 'The 60/60 Challenge'.  A month or two ago I challenged some artists friends on Facebook to join me in the challenge - painting one piece a day from life....NO photographic reference!  As I'm in New Zealand for three months, my 60 paintings will all be done in my Homeland - another exciting aspect (for me) of the project!  If you are interested in seeing the work of all 27 artists in the 6060 Challenge,  you can 'friend' me on Facebook - or you can just follow along here, though you'll only be seeing my contributions.

Santa Ysabel Gallery in San Diego County will be showing many of the 60/60 Challenge paintings done by me, my sister Joanne Hanson and artist friend Joe Garcia, in a three-person show in December 2012.
However some of these paintings are available for purchase prior to the show - email me if you're interested!

Sea Through Manuka

7" x 7" oil on gessoed board

60/60 #1