100 paintings

Aloha and welcome to my blog, 100 Paintings! I am a beginning painter and I thought it would be cool to document my first 100 paintings.

It seems to be a common sentiment among successful painters that you have to paint at least 100 paintings to develop a style. Some painters say more, I've heard up to 1,000. Well, I am on #16, and that's taken me 2 years. Though, I did most of those, 13, in the last 9 months. 

I first heard about the 100 paintings thing at Flora Bowley's Bloom True Workshop in Portland in November, 2015. It was such a fabulous experience and in those four days so many things clicked for me in my heart and mind around expressing myself with paint. I came home fired up to paint, and do several times a week. I work full time as a teacher so I paint after school and weekends or occasionally, if the surf is blown out, I paint before work. Sometimes, 10 minutes is all I have but I've learned to center in quickly and do what I can when I can.

Flora & me at the Bloom True Workshop, Portland, Nov 2015

I always wanted to paint but for some strange reason I had this idea in my head (for most of my life) I would paint when I retire. I've been creative and making stuff in all kinds of art forms since I was a kid but for some odd reason painting got stuck on the retirement pedestal. Two years ago I was at the Hilo library and found this wonderful brand new book called "Brave Intuitive Painting". I devoured it in one sitting and went online to find Flora. It was late August and her September Bloom True online class was full. I put my name on the waiting list for the next one in February, 2014. I took the 5 week class stretched out over 6 months and began learning how to paint. I loved Flora's style and techniques. I loved most of all that painting was so satisfying and I could paint anything I wanted and it didn't have to look at all like 'real life'! Thanks, Flora for being such a catalyst for me. 

I don't know what's going to happen down the line once I finish the first 100 paintings, but I am committed to completing them and then we'll see. So far I haven't discovered any obvious style but I am discovering my likes, dislikes and tendencies that are interesting to me.

Because this is my blog I am going to start with my first painting and tell all about it. Each week, or maybe sooner because I am so excited about doing this bog, I will spin the stories of each of the paintings I've done, in chronological order, until I am caught up to the present. Hang in there with me, my paintings are evolving and so am I, and it's a fun ride!