I did it!!!

30 Paintings in 30 Days
by JJ Jacobs

I'm proud to say I've completed my first 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and I can definitely say this will not be the last!  I learned so much from these paintings, and after putting them all together in this wonderful collage made possible by PicMonkey I can see that a true style has begun to emerge for me.  Below are a few "stats" from the challenge I thought might interest you:

-- I seem to be drawn to circles (for me, they are a symbol of wholeness and/or completion) and I utilized them on nearly 100% of these paintings (if the circles aren't part of the painted design, they are in the texture underneath the paint).  

-- The favorite color used on over 90% of the paintings seems to be lime green - more specifically the chroma-dense "Green Gold" by Golden Acrylics (my preferred paint brand!)

-- The painting with the most "likes" and views on FaceBook was "Fallen" - the first floral painting in the challenge

Here are a few things I learned about my work:

-- I seem to have an affinity for non-objective work though there are a couple of landscapes and floral paintings thrown in for good measure.

--  Towards the end of the challenge I decided to try my hand at some small works on paper and used 140-lb Fabriano watercolor paper with acrylic paint and graphite.  I enjoyed working on this substrate and am definitely going to continue the color studies and works on paper!

-- During the challenge I was introduced to Micron markers which are wonderful archival permanent marking pens.   I decided to see what they'd look like with the acrylic paintings on paper, and came up with a bold look that I'm going to explore further.  (See "Roller Coaster" below)

Painting 30 paintings in 30 days seemed like a daunting task at first, but I learned early on to make multiple paintings at a time and schedule my uploads accordingly.  One of the biggest things I learned was how much I thoroughly enjoyed the  process and the networking with other talented artists from all over the world.  I surprised myself in the fact that I "stuck" with the program and didn't bail halfway through......and I'm really proud of myself for that persistence.

Stay tuned for more JJ originals coming soon......I'm in the process of painting several large paintings for a show at ArtHouse that opens February 7th and will be posting photos as they are completed.