Freakin' by Leada Wood,Texas Artist

 

 

Day 11 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 Days. Whew! It maybe a very long month! Okay, okay I know I signed up for it but can't I whine just a little? Not only do I have to come up something to paint and then get the job done but then I have to name my creation. Realism is a little easier I think as the subject matter usually gives me a clue, like red apple or sunset. I guess I could have named this one red sphere, blue sphere...nah. Since I have been freakin' out a little about not only doing a painting a day but trying to get a little ahead in case I get in a pinch I thought that was an appropriate title. Do you think paintings on my I Pad would count...it is very difficult to paint with only a finger...hmmm what do you think?

 

 

Freakin'  by Leada Wood ©2014

Beach Bum by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Day 10 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Woohoo! I am 1/3 of the way done with this challenge. I started to name this painting Feeling Crabby...but painting brings me such joy I couldn't do it. I know I am very fortunate to work at something I love to do and have the ability to do it.

The crab painting comes with a story...no extra charge.  When our kids were at home we took them to the beach every summer on vacation. We  all like the beach and doing beachy things. One day we decided we would go crabbing. We get the chicken necks, string, nets and hit the beach. Oh my the crabbing was great! We had a big cooler full of crabs but we started noticing they had a funny orangey spongy under bellies . Not knowing anything about crabs we decided that was the way they were suppose to look. A nice man walking on the beach came by and started talking to us so my husband shows him our big haul of crabs. The man said we had several thousand dollars worth of crabs! Come to find out the spongy under bellies were eggs and we had a whole mess of female crabs and it was illegal to catch them when they had eggs. We quickly let the critters go! To this day seeing crabs reminds me of our fun day crabbing on the beach. I especially like the blue crabs and the tiny little sand crabs that skittle quickly across the sand. Aww nothing like spending time at the beach!

"Beach Bum" by Leada Wood ©2014

Harvest Moon, by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Harvest Moon by Leada Wood, Day 9 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Yep I'm still painting! I sure am glad I took Leslie's advise and made a file of photo references that I might like to paint before the challenge began. It would be getting hard to go though all those files and make those decisions right now. When I am not painting I'm sketching to get ready for the next painting. Whew! It is a challenge! Even though I do something related to art everyday normally, this is different. Besides painting and sketching, I am writing about it and posting on 3 blogs and Facebook. It is a good thing to confront yourself occasionally so that you can see if you can complete the challenge. Only 21 more days!

Harvest Moon is an acrylic collage on canvas board. I used one of my citra solv papers I made from National Geographic pages for the background and then painted on top of that. Thanks for looking!

"Harvest Moon" by Leada Wood copyright 2014

Girl With The Golden Fan by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Day 8 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. Hope you aren't getting tired of seeing a post by me everyday in your inbox. I do appreciate your support and welcome your comments.  Don't be afraid to comment...I love to hear what you think. I am happy that I am still hanging in there and have already painted 8 paintings this year! I would say 2014 is off to a good start. I have been bouncing back and forth between realism with watercolor and acrylic mixed media collage. This keeps me on my toes as well as creatively challenged.

Todays painting of the day is a mixed media collage, 8x8 on canvas board painted with acrylics. Even with these small paintings it takes time. I make the papers for these collages using various techniques. Very rarely do I use purchased papers. I use found papers as well. They might be pages of an old book or pages out of a telephone directory or newspaper. I am searching for interesting calligraphy and line. When I create my collage paper it is a 2 or 3 day event as I do lots of different colors  and lay them out to dry. The next day I will get out my collection of hand carved stamps and put design onto the paper. I sometimes add another layer the next day. I enjoy the making of the paper as I think it gives a unique and personal touch to my collages.  

Girl With The Golden Fan by Leada Wood ©2014

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Day 7 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. One week down...only 23 days to go! It is very difficult to keep up the pace, but I keep cheering myself on and doing a painting a day. It's a mind game. Your comments make my day as well. Today I needed a change of pace so I did a mixed media, a little smaller than I have been painting. I may be down to Artists Trading card size by the end!

When I do mixed media I created my own papers using hand carved stamps and hand cut stencils from my designs. There is a lot of creative process in mixed media collage as well as many layers. It is a lot more work than painting but I enjoy it.

"By The Light Of The Silvery Moon" is 8x8 on canvas board with collage, silver leaf and acrylic paint.

By The Light Of The Silvery Moon by Leada Wood ©2014

"Roadrunner's Gift" by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Day 6 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days. I am still hanging in there. I am not a fast painter and enjoy the process of the painting so this is a real challenge for me! I may learn to paint faster!

I live in Texas and the land around my house is terra cotta clay color, good old red dirt. We live on a small ranch and have llamas, sheep, goats and lots of birds. One particularly fine summer morning I got to noticing sticks at my front door and wondered where they came from. A mystery. The next morning I heard a tapping on the front glass door so I go to investigate. There was the roadrunner with another gift of a stick in his mouth to leave at the door. I don't know if he was thanking me for the cat food and scraps I put out or if he saw himself in the glass and was courting the pretty bird! Anyway he kept it up for a while and I guess he eventually gave up on the pretty bird and moved on. I still have visits from him, he likes to sneak around on the porch and window peek.

That is the story and the inspiration for my painting Roadrunners Gift. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for looking!

"Roadrunners Gift" by Leada Wood copyright 2014

Image Is Everything by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

 

 

Day 5 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days. It is quiet a challenge to keep on going...to do a painting a day is a real stretch! It's kind of like exercise, I know it's good for me and it gives me a good feeling when I finish. I am keeping my brushes wet!

 

This is a 9x12 mixed media collage on watercolor paper.

 

 

Image Is Everything by Leada Wood ©2014

There's A Song In The Air by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Day 4 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.

 

"There's A Song In The Air" is a 8x8 mixed media collage on paper using liquid acrylics. A mixed media collage is where you use found papers, paint, transparencies, image transfers and whatever else you want and layer them, making  them cohesive enough to make a painting. A mixture of various techniques goes into each one. I do enjoy doing these as they are creatively challenging, kind of like a puzzle.

 

 

"There's A Song In The Air" by Leada Wood ©2014

Bird On A Wire by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

 

 

 

This is day 3 of 30 paintings in 30 days. Leslie Saeta 's challenge has about 411 artists from all over the United States.

 

I love painting my little birdies, and watching them and feeding them! Such fun! This is a scissor tail as we call them in Texas and after a cold hard winter we are delighted to see them. Legend has it that the return of the scissor tails means winter is over...and it is usually true. I don't think I have ever seen the legend fail. This painting is transparent watercolor on archival paper and is 9x12 and is available. You can see more of my work on my website www.leadawood.com or contact me about the paintings.

 

 

 

Bird On A Wire, by Leada Wood © 2014

Out On A Limb by Leada Wood, Texas Artist

Happy 2014! What a way to start the new year by accepting a challenge from Leslie Saeta to paint 30 paintings in 30 days. Well I certainly went out on a limb and signed up...what was I thinking! First I was thinking oh that will be fun! I have followed her other challenges and enjoyed seeing everyone's progress and wished I had participated. So this year I am joining in. Here is number one, 9x12 watercolor. This painting is available.