Well, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do a painting for each of the 30 days, but I did 14 new paintings, and they were 14 ideas I’d been wanting to paint for a while, so I consider that a success, for me. I had five more planned, but things get in the way, like promoting Valentine cards and other commercial work that takes more time than planned.

My goal was to include a lot of variety in medium and subject, size and style. It’s been a while since I’ve electively painted just because and I feel out of practice. I wanted to give myself a warm up with these paintings and brush up on all the media I enjoy using and the ones I feel a little rusty at using, and get into the habit of following my ideas more frequently.

While that’s a great goal generally I actually found it a hindrance for this painting challenge. If I found I kept wanting to paint landscapes but painted a landscape yesterday I told myself to find another idea. I wanted to use pastel each day and I told myself to pull out all the materials and use ones other than pastel, which I use all the time for portraits and illustrations.

By the time I found another subject and decided on the best medium for that image, the tiny bit of spare time I had for painting something not assigned or commissioned each day was gone. That was not a success. I will slap my own wrists for that. If I had painted landscapes in pastel every day I probably would have learned something new about landscape painting—because there is always something to learn—and I probably would have improved my skills and confidence that much more. And been happier that I’d done more paintings.

But that’s how it is. January is not the only month for painting, and before I create more paintings I have to find some place for these 14 to be stored until I frame them, and then some place for them to go! Looking at them in the collage above, I’m very pleased. And I still have the other five ideas, and more

Here is a gallery of each of the paintings which you can click to see larger versions or scroll through as a slideshow. Below that is a list of each painting linked to the post about it so you can read more. Do you have a favorite? A favorite medium? Please share any feedback. I don’t paint just for me. I want to share the moment and share the idea.

One has been sold, most of them have “Add to Cart” buttons which I added depending on the popularity of each painting. If you are interested please use the drop-down list to choose your painting or print. If there is no “Add to Cart” button, just send me an email with the name of the painting. Eventually these paintings will be included in the galleries where they belong under “Fine Art and Portraiture”, but this post will always be available.

Thanks again for visiting!

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.

Sign up for e-newsletters

You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.

Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.

Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.

For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.

See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.

See daily photos as I post them on Today.

Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.

. . . . . . .

© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.