Day 30 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Time to Paint", oil, 8x8, $400. framed

My last painting for this 30 Day painting challenge. It has been fun to be committed to paint and post a new painting every day. This is something I have seen other artists do and have wanted to give it a try. I explored some new subjects, like the one for today. Also did some paintings from memory, a few plein air, and even looking out my studio window. Along the way, I am thankful to have had some very nice comments, new blog followers and a new facebook page, Kalinowski Fine Art.
Thanks for the encouragement! I hope to keep posting my work as it is finished, and I promise it will not be posted everyday!

Please visit my website as it is updated monthly. I also produce a monthly newsletter with featured paintings, shows and events. If you would like to be a subscriber, go to the News/Shows page to sign up.

Day 29 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Porcelain Creamer and Strawberries, oil, 6x6, $250. framed

A second painting with the strawberries seemed like a good thing (since they were already in the refrigerator). I have been studying the pictorial effect of repeated but varying shapes with one central focus. This is called Subordination. I set this still life up with that concept in mind. Not only was the strawberry shape repeated, but the creamer had similar shapes within it.

Thank you for viewing my art for this month. Tomorrow is the last day for posting in the challenge. After this month, I will keep painting everyday with a focus on larger paintings. I will also post more paintings in progress and hopefully get out for some more plein air work!

Day 28 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Sugar Bowl with Strawberries, oil, 6x6, $250. framed

This still life was one of the most difficult challenges yet.
It looks like I have a series of paintings with red... it wasn't intentional, just happened that way. The strawberries (from Florida) looked really nice so I hope this painting brightens your day. It would look good in my kitchen, how about yours?

Thanks for viewing my paintings in this 30 day challenge, it is almost over!

Day 27 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Fresh Snow - Old Barn, oil, 8x10, SOLD

This is the second painting from the Saturday plein air painting session.  I loved every part of this subject, esp. the unique stone wall. It was nice to have the sun and all of the fresh snow on the trees!
This painting just might be next years Christmas card!

Below is a picture taken by Richard Jordan, the organizer of PAAWM, while I was taking a break in front of my easel. I was having a nice conversation with Sharon Pendula, the creator of Pleinly Speaking blog. If you would like to know more about the PAAWM, read the blog about this past paint out, please check out these links!

Thank you for viewing my paintings!

The easel is an Easy L Prochade box by Artwork Essentials.

Day 26 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Yesterday I had a chance to drive to Portage to paint with the Plein Air Artists of West Michigan (PAAWM). We met at the Southwest Conservancy offices in Portage, which is an old farm with other transplanted farmhouses and barns scattered among the property. As you can imagine, much to paint, and it was hard to choose. There was about a foot of snow and the day was in the mid twenties, sunny, with hardly a breeze. I was appropriately dressed and even a little too warm, so I managed to do two paintings on site. The painting below is the first painting and tomorrow I will post the second.

Sunny Morning at the Farm, oil, 8x10
Plein air
$200. unframed

Thanks for viewing my paintings!

Day 25 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

stage 1 - block in with NuPastels and the start of a wash

stage 2 - working on the sky and focal point

stage 3 - working all over the compostition

"The Swimming Hole", pastel, 18x24, $1500. framed

This is my large painting for the week, fitting it in between the 30 day challenge paintings.
I painted here last summer in Elk Rapids where the river empties into Lake Michigan, hence the sandy banks. Children were splashing in the shallow waters and enjoying the nearby public beach.
I was inspired by the sweep of the sand banks and the nice contrast of the light tree against the distant shoreline. The late afternoon sun cast a warm glow.

Day 24 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Kim", oil, 16x20

Today's painting is from an all day model sketch at the Grand Valley Artists studio. The model was Kim. As you can see she was a wonderful model! I need more practice with figure painting so this was a great exercise. I hope to continue every Friday with the model sketch and if I am not too embarrassed, will continue to post the results.

Thank you for viewing my paintings!

Day 23 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"For The Birds", pastel, 6x6, $225.
 framed in a warm silver custom frame with AR glass

A beautiful sunny day here in West Michigan with temps in the teens. The temperature prevented me from going outside to paint, so I just looked out my studio window and liked the snow covered tree and birdhouse. A chickadee goes in and out of this little birdhouse every day, probably to keep warm!

Thanks for viewing my paintings!
To see more artists work in this challenge check out this blog.

To purchase this painting send me an e-mail Kalinowski@chartermi.net

Day 22 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Red Barn - Winter", pastel, 9x12, SOLD
$500. framed

This painting started as a demo in last Thursdays Landscape painting class.  I had to work from a 4x6 photo so I am hope my outcome looks OK. If the perspective is off a little, well then, I will just blame it on the fact that it is an old barn and it has character. Now that we have some snow in West Michigan, I am anxious to get out in it to paint, as soon as the temps reach 25 or higher.

Thanks for viewing my paintings!

Day 21 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Blackberry Wine", oil, 7x5, NFS

I decided to try a still life for today. I am also working on a larger pastel, but that will take me another day or two to finish. My subject here has a personal meaning. My father and brother work together to make wine, something they enjoy doing together and our family enjoys the fruits of their labor. My thoughts have been with my brother these last few days as he is now recovering from surgery. So this painting is about him and for him!

He would not want me to waste that glass of really good wine... so cheers!

Thank you for viewing my art!

Day 20 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Golden Maple in October", pastel, 6x6, $225. framed

Another painting using the same colors. This scene was taken from the same day and place as the "October Sky" painting. In fact, I debated whether to paint this scene, looking north or the hills and clouds looking west. I could not paint both plein air as the morning light quickly changed. So in that case, I always photograph the surroundings in case another painting can evolve later... and it did!

Thank you for viewing my art!

See more artists work in this challenge here.
My paintings are also featured on my facebook page.

Day 19 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"October Sky II", pastel, 24x24, $1500. framed

This painting is near completion and since I needed to post something for today, this it is.  It could still be a work in progress for awhile. If anyone has a critique, I would appreciate it!
This pastel is on Wallis sanded paper. I started out with a warm underpainting of several shades of raw sienna and burnt sienna. Brushed it in with rubbing alcohol. I was very interested in letting the warm glow of the underpainting come through the layers of gray in the sky. Also useful was the burnt sienna in the foreground as a mass of tone.

Thank you for viewing my art!

To see other artists paintings from this challenge
go to this blog.

Day 18 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Copper Pitcher with Fruit", oil on linen panel, 8x8

$250. unframed until the end of January

The last few landscape paintings have had a warm color scheme. It seems like I have gravitated  unaware to the same kind of colors for this still life. My concentration was on lost and found edges and color harmony.  The color palette included transparent oxide brown, trans. oxide red, mag. blue, cad. orange, along with some of the usual colors. I am thinking of trying a similar set up with a darker background... next week.

Thank you for viewing my art!
Send an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing this painting.
Kalinowski@chartermi.net

Day 17 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Cloud Study II", pastel, 6x6, $195 framed in gold frame


As referred to in yesterday's blog, this is the second cloud study for  the larger studio painting that I started today. I like the cloud shadows on the land and the diagonals of the hills that make a Z shape composition. This study has more saturated color in the land masses and less drama in the sky.
I am going to take what I learned about painting these clouds along with the composition of the plein air study to assist in the larger painting. I will post the larger painting when finished!

Thanks for viewing my artwork!

Day 16 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Cloud Study I, pastel, 6x6

$195. framed with a custom gold frame and AR glass.
Add $20. shipping and tax if applicable.Send an e-mail if interested in purchasing this piece.

This is one of two studies that I did yesterday from a plein air work and photos of the place. I will post the other one tomorrow. The plein air painting (below) was painted on a windy October day and the clouds were amazing to watch, they changed every few seconds. It was hard to grab onto a pattern of clouds, let alone get the tones and colors close to correct. My intent is to use these studies along with the oil that I did on location and paint a larger studio version.

"October Sky", oil on gessoed panel, 12x12, $600.uf

Day 15 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Hospitality" , oil, 12x12, $800 framed

This painting took more than one day. I started it at the end of one painting session and finished it the next. It required quite a few hours! Needless to say, the pineapple was very ripe, and good, by that time. I was looking for a warm, light feeling, more high key overall. I had left the pineapple top for last and that was the hardest area to paint!

Thanks for viewing my artwork and following these 30 days of intense painting.
To see the other paintings in this challenge click on this link!

To see more work or to sign up for my monthly newsletter go to my website.

Day 14 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

White Hollyhock, pastel, 12x9

$500. framed
Send an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing this painting!

I might just continue this momentum alternating landscape and still life, with pastel or oil.

This was a nice change of pace. When not painting plein air, I often use my reference photos on my computer. The Mac screen is large enough to see what I need to see. Then I use my knowledge of warm and cool colors, values, creating depth and edges.... which all work together.

This old fashioned hollyhock was on the Armond Merizon farm where I was painting this past summer. There is never enough time to paint everything that I would like to paint. My artist friend, Barb Schilling did a wonderful oil painting of one of these flowers at that paint out. It was lovely!

Thank you for viewing my paintings!

Day 13 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Tea Time", oil on panel, 8x8

$150. unframed until the end of January.

Day 13, and another challenging still life. This old teapot was given to me by my sister. You can tell it was well loved, as the handle is bent. I debated whether to keep the bent handle in my painting or to correct it. I was more concerned though with mixing the grays and keeping the lights cool and shadows warm. Overall, I like the story it tells and the look of old patina in the background.
Thank you for viewing my painting!

Day 12 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Cedar Creek - Winter, oil, 12x9
$250 unframed through the end of January.


I don't think it is cheating... I thought I would finish up a painting that I started as Thursday's class demo. It had the large shapes massed in, the sky, some darks, and mid tones. This painting was from a photo and the demo helped to show my students some tips on starting a landscape, the value of doing thumbnails for composition and working thin to think. This painting also helped in the discussions and demonstration of mixing colors like greens and grays.
I like the finished result and will bring it to the next class for further discussion.

Thank you for viewing my art, click here to see my web site!

"30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Day 11 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Morning Coffee", oil, 10x8, SOLD

$150. uframed only until the end of January
plus shipping

Another still life painting white object with a limited palette. This one took forever! I can still see some adjustments that can be made. I might take a little break from these tedious subjects and work on some landscapes next. I have a demo that I started in a class to work on that will be a nice break.
Thanks for viewing my art and following my blog. Please feel free to leave comments, esp. if you have suggestion for improvement.

"30 Paintings in 30 Days"... see link on right for Artist's Helping Artists>

Day 10 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Wow, it has been ten days and I am not tired yet of this challenge! Again, I decided to do a white on white painting in a more traditional setting. This one took a while to even set up the still life. It was also very difficult to paint such a high key painting. I will try this "white" challenge again and try to push the color a little more next time.

"Milk and Eggs", oil, 8x8, $150. uf. until the end of January

Click on this link to see more artists work for this challenge of "30 Paintings in 30 Days".

Day 9 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

I am trying something a little different for the next couple of paintings. I also am following along with the AMO challenge of creating an all white painting. Since we still have a little snow, I set up this still life in the front yard. Amazingly enough, we also had sun and it wasn't too cold, so here is my plein air still life!

Winter - White on White, oil, 8x10, $100. uf.

This painting is also part of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. To see more paintings visit this blog.

Day 8 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Sunrise Impression II, pastel, 12x9

$375. uf or $500. framed in a gold custom frame with AR glass.
Please e-mail at Kalinowski@chartermi.net for purchase information.

Another painting in the little sunrise series. This one was interpreted from the blurry cell phone picture that my daughter took on our way to school the other morning. I had to ad lib quite a bit, but that was the fun of it! The darks may look black on the computer monitor, but they actually have many colors from the Terry Ludwig Darks pastel collection.

I hope you enjoy the painting!
More "30 Paintings in 30 Days" from other artists can be found at http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

Day 7 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Sunrise Impression, pastel, 6x6
$225. framed in silver or gold custom frame with AR glass.

Another memory painting, this time from yesterdays beautiful sunrise. The sun was very large, the sky with pinks and orange, the clouds were wispy gray. It made quite an impression! As I drove my daughter to school I had her take some photos with my cell phone even though I knew they would not be good enough to work from.... though sometimes blurry images spark ideas.... The next idea came as I drove down the highway past the rolling cornfields and barn. I see those cornfields almost everyday and I decided I could combine the two.
I hope you are enjoying my paintings during this challenge because I am enjoying the burst of creativity it has given me!

Please contact me by e-mail if you are interested in purchasing.

Kalinowski@chartermi.net

Day 6 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Meandering Creek, pastel, 6x6
$225. framed in a custom silver frame with AR glass.

Finally, a sunny day here in West Michigan! Also, we still have some snow, especially north of  Grand Rapids, so it is really wonderful. This little creek is one of my favorite places to paint, in all seasons, and really nice in winter.

Thank you for viewing my art and you can see many more daily paintings at the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" blog.

Day 5 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

"Blue Moon", pastel, 16x12, $650. uf 
$800. framed

A pastel inspired by the "blue moon" last August. Actually the 6x6 studies from this event are called "Red Moon" because the weather man said it was also called a red moon, I think because of it's color.    You can see the studies on my web site in the Small Works page. "Once in a blue moon" is because two full moons in one month does not happen very often!
I did this painting on a sheet of sanded wallis paper that had a dark underpainting, so getting the darker tones of the night sky and foliage was a little easier.
The day 5 painting took a little longer than usual though. So I think the next few will be a smaller size!

Thank you for viewing my art and see more great art for this challenge at "30 Paintings in 30 Days".

Day 4 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Summer Moonrise - Grand Marais, pastel, 9x12

$375. unframed, $500. framed
Custom framed with AR Glass in gold, silver or black frame.

This pastel painting was inspired by a trip to Grand Marais this summer. Grand Marais is located north of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, right on Lake Superior. The sheltered bay is the focal point of the little town, with a sandy beach and sailboats. I was lucky to witness this beautiful moonrise. Another painting on my website, "Full Moon at Sunset" (pastel page) was also painted from that evening when the moon was over the beach of Lake Superior. 

You may also see other artists work for this challenge of "30 Paintings in 30 Days" on this blog link.

Day 3 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Boathouse on Traverse Bay, pastel, 9x12
$375. uf or $500. framed like an oil with AR glass in Warm silver, gold or black custom frame. 
Framed size approx. 11x14"

This painting was started during one of my class demos last fall. I was just at the beginning stage demonstrating the underpainting wash and had not worked on it since. The underpainting is a light coat of Nu-pastel in warm colors and brushed into the sanded paper to give it tone. So I am happy to finish it up today as the painting for day 3. I am happy with the colors in the water and left some underpainting "drips" in the immediate foreground.

Thank you for looking at my art, hope you enjoy it!

This painting also in "30 Paintings in 30 Days" blog.

Day 2 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

Snow Shadows, pastel, 9x12, $375. uf, $500. framed
with AR glass in gold, silver or black custom frame.

"Snow Shadows" for day 2 is a scene that I had been contemplating to paint for quite some time. I am glad I waited because I feel I resolved some composition issues that were bothering me. If you live in west Michigan you will know that we don't have quite this much snow yet. Some of the information, like the snow on the pines was from my photo reference. Hope you enjoy the painting!
Also see my painting and others at "30 Paintings in 30 Days" and on facebook.

Day 1 - "30 Paintings in 30 Days"

January Moonrise, pastel, 6x6, $125. uf, or $225. framed with AR glass and a beautiful soft gold or silver frame.

My first painting for the challenge, "30 Paintings in 30 Days".
This pastel was painted from memory! The full moon was actually last week, and the sky had this hazy appearance. I also used some moon sketches that I have here in the studio to assist me in these types of paintings. To purchase, please send an e-mail to Kalinowski@chartermi.net or be the first to call my cell at (616)446-1308.

A New Year Challenge

Glorious Sunset, oil, 16x20, $1650. framed, $1400. unframed

Happy New Year for 2013!

To start the new year out right, there is nothing like a challenge to push creativity and potential growth. For the month of January 2013, I have joined with the "Artists Helping Artists" blog to paint "30 Paintings in 30 Days".  Starting tomorrow, Jan. 2, I will be posting a new painting a day on my blog and on the AHA blog. My goal of course is to do a painting a day. I am not setting a theme, only   I will try to do as many as I can from life or from previous studies. The sizes also will vary, and the mediums will be pastel or oil. These works will be for sale, framed or unframed, some at special prices just for my collectors.

http://www.lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/