Painting a Month in 2007 – January Update

The materials from my Curbly prize arrived last week: canvases, brushes, easel, sketchbook, etc. – everything needed to create a painting for every month in 2007.

Twelve blank canvases.

I decided to hang them all on the wall in our bedroom for the time being – as a large-scale calendar and reminder of the painting-a-month project. Each canvas is 12″ x 12″, so after I figured out where I wanted to put the bottom left one, I measured in 15″ increments from the first nail. (Nothing in our house is plumb or square, so I just eyeballed them, rather than going down to the basement for the level.)

After sketching and brainstorming and note-making, I have decided that my theme for the year-long project will be landscapes from memory – real or imagined.

Today I painted the first one:

Decided that it would be more fun to fill in the grid in a random way, so I did.

Here’s a close-up of the painting, a seascape:

I had no certain idea of what I wanted to do until I sat down at the easel. This landscape is based on memories of Ipswich Bay, near Gloucester, Massachusets.

I felt a great feeling of escape as I painted – it was like a little vacation to think about the wind and water and the smell of salt.

Thanks again to all of you for the opportunity to do this!

I’ll post the next painting in mid-February, and keep drawing every day in the meantime.

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