Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Day 29

Only 1 more day to the end of this 30 day painting challenge. I returned to Animal Kingdom for my last 2 pieces. Here I wanted to paint this mini car at the Vacation Club kiosk.
8x10" Acrylic Club car

Monday, September 28, 2015

Day 28

Stopped to get a study of the signpost/lightouse thingy at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. There was nowhere to park so I had to snap a quick pic with my phone and work from that. I'd like to go back and refine this one. But this is a start...
5x7" Acrylic Typhoon Lagoon

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Day 27

the final stage I added more details, laundry on the tree, signs in the background and I could keep pushing this more and more but I like where it's at now.
6x8" Acrylic final step

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Day 26

Step 2 in painting the ruins near Asia in Animal Kingdom. I've finished blocking in my background areas, added highlights on the trees and ruins. Also got my ground and pathway solidified. Next step will be adding the last details.
6x8" step 2 ruins

Friday, September 25, 2015

Day 25

in Animal Kingdom again painting the ruins near Asia. This time I thought I'd do a step by step for the next few entries. Here's my under painting, I start with a gessoed canvas in either grey or warm tones (this one is yellow ochre toned, then I block in my darks and major shapes. I use a big 1" brush for most of this stage, in the next stages I'll start to refine things like the trees walkway and ruins.
I have to go out of town for the next day or so, so we'll see if I can post again Monday or Tuesday. Hope you guys like.
6x8" acrylic under painting step 1

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Day 24

I love the Rain Forest Cafe, and it was here I found my next painting of the Aquarium. I love the lighting here. Even though it was indoor lighting it made for a very interesting piece.
5x7" Acrylic Rain tank

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Day 23

Just 7 days left for this 30 day painting challenge. For day 23 I chose to do a study at Animal Kingdom, of a snapping turtle skull. It was behind glass but clearly visible enough to do this piece.
5x7" Acrylic Snapper Skull

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Day 22

Another work in progress, I can't say no to painting vintage vehicles. While I still need to complete some areas in this one I really enjoy catching some of the vehicles personalities in these. This one resides at the entrance of Hollywood Studios.
6x8" Acrylic Tow Truck

Monday, September 21, 2015

Day 21

I thought It'd be fun to paint some of my favorite subjects for the next few days. Back to Hollywood Studios for some classic cars. This one isn't quite finished but I wanted to post it anyway for today.
6x8" Acrylic Caddy

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Day 20

I almost missed my entry for today. Very difficult to stay on track these days but here's my painting for day 20. The Canadian pavilion entrance totem. I liked the silhouette effect on this one but I had to put some details on the totem.
5x7" Acrylic Totem

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Day 19

Back to Hollywood Studios for this one. again tons of things to paint. But this day I wanted to get this retro-esque Popcorn stand. I didn't get to finish this one and my under drawing was weaker than I'd like. Not my best but one to learn from.
6x8" Acrylic Popcorn

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Day 18

I always liked this Triceratops head at the entrance of Animal Kingdom so I got this quickie done for the challenge. I love that it looks like he's smelling the flowers or maybe eating them since he's an herbivore.
6x8" Acrylic Smelling the Flowers

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Day 17

You can't leave Animal Kingdom without painting at least one animal. So I ventured to Rafiki's planet watch and did a quick study of "Willy" the goat. He had some friends hiding in the back so I added them too.
5x7" Willy

Day 16

Animal Kingdom has many interesting places to paint, this time I stopped at the Yak & Yeti restaurant couldn't afford to eat though lol.
6x8" Acrylic Yak&Yeti

Monday, September 14, 2015

Day 15

Halfway through the 30 paintings in 30 days, while still in the area I chose to paint one of the main Siamang play areas. There were a pair of young apes playing while I painted  this one. I had to leave them out as they'd only look like two little dark patches in the scene.
6x8" Acrylic Siamang  House

Day 14

So many things to paint and so little time. I won't lie, all I really want to do with my current days is paint. It's relaxing, I feel more productive and like I'm accomplishing something. I'm not thong of creating to sell or display anywhere( except here). These towers I've seen many times but I've really noticed them today. I'm back in Animal Kingdom painting the climbing towers in the Siamang area.
5x7" acrylic Climbing Tower

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Day 13

I think I could do 30 days in just 1 park. There's so much it's not easy to paint just one thing. For this one however I went back to Downtown Disney. This smoothie stand just was basking in partial sunlight so I thought to myself, challenge accepted. I was very pleased with the end result.
5x7" Acrylic Slushy Stand

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Day 12

Ahhhh now here's one I love!!! Let's see If you guys can guess where this one is??? I took another trip to this park to paint underground viewing of Otters. Of course I'm talking of Animal Kingdom. This little mini cavern was great due to the darks and lights warms and cools. I was in pure heaven working on this one. I of course had to work from a photo to get the little boy in there. Of course the Otters didn't want to come out but the large fish seemed to make kids happy.
5x7" Acrylic Otter Viewing

Day 11

Eleven days into the 30 day painting Challenge. This time I'm back at Downtown Disney, to paint Bongos or the back view of the Pineapple shaped building. This was a very tough piece to do. The trees the lighting, the distant Starbucks building all seemed to be just out of my grasp. The struggle can really be a struggle. Better luck next time I hope.
6x8" Acrylic Bongos

Day 10

Day 10 back in Epcot for a glimpse of the Mexican Cantina from a distant bridge. I really liked the dome against an overcast sky along with the very dark trees. I tried to stay loose and just focus on the shapes. I think my favorite part of this one is the very distant cloud wisps. 

6x8" Acrylic Epcot Mexico

Day 9

Hollywood Studios main entrance. Like Animal Kingdom I tried to do this one on more of an angle. I think this works as a quick study at best. But a very tricky subject for me.
6x8" Acrylic Hollywood Studios Entrance

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Day 8

Moving on to another Downtown Disney location that will be different in the next year. Planet Hollywood, which was somewhat hidden behind a construction wall. This was another place I struggled in past painting attempts. Although I'm not thrilled with the composition this was definitely more of a success than previous attempts. I love the clouds which can be extremely challenging at times. I also struggle with trees from time to time but caught this one fairly well.
Hope you guys like this one.

6x8" Acrylic Planet Hollywood

Monday, September 7, 2015

Day 7



Well I've made it to 7 days of painting the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. This one was one of my more recent successful plein airs. I had only an hour and a half before starting my part time job. So I went behind the House of Blues and  set up to paint the balloon. Something just clicked this time around. This was my 4th or 5th attempt at painting the ballon, somehow I just knew what to do this time and ended up with one of my favorite for this series.
6x8" Acrylic Downtown Disney Balloon

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Day 6

This entry for the 30 paintings challenge was actually used for another challenge . I had to paint an outdoor market for a challenge by James Gurney on his blog Gurney Journey. I chose to paint the Moroccan Market in Epcot. I was fairly pleased with this one hope you guys like it too. I welcome all comments.
6x8" Acrylic Morrocan Market

Friday, September 4, 2015

Day 5

One of my favorite places to paint is where I work part time, Downtown Disney or Disney Speings as it is now called. I want to paint much of it as I remember, before they are finished renovating. This is from the side of House of Blues looking at the Water Tower. The large blue structure is DisneyQuest soon to be made into something else. The Tower has been a struggle for me to capture on canvas. I think this is my third painting attempt. I was pleased with most of this one. 
6x8" Acrylic H.O.B. Tower

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Day 4

As the 30 day painting challenge continues my next stop was Disney's Hollywood Studios. One of my favorite spots was one I attempted to paint over a year ago with friends and fellow cigar box artists Christian Slade and Mike Brady.  The Tower of Terror, this scene was different from my first attempt. The 1st time I tried this painting the umbrellas (which used to be red and white) was the best part of my study. This year Disney changed to green and yellowish umbrella which I tried to make my main focus. The tower was silhouetted against a nice somewhat overcast sky. This turned into one of my favorites. I was so into this one I even painted in people which I usually try to avoid.
6x8" Acrylic Tower of Terror 

Day 3

The entrance into Epcot is my choice subject this time. The sky was split into an ominous dark grey and lighter almost calming tones. The contrast of Spaceship Earth was too cool to pass up.
6x8" Acrylic Spaceship Earth

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Day 2

While still at Animal Kingdom I went to Dinoland and had to paint this big guy. I really liked the lighting which I struggled to capture. This was one very fun subject. I spent about one and a half hours on it.
Dinoland 6x8" Acrylics