Peaceful Grove

Peaceful Glen

8 x 10 soft pasels on Art Spectrum Colorfix

Miki Willa

This is number 7 in the Deborah Secor challenge to paint 10 paintings, each only 30 minutes. Deborah put this challenge up in WetCanvas, an online artists community, for anyone who wanted the challenge. It has been a very enlightening experience.

After studying for a couple of years from Helen Iaea, a very good Hawaiian artist who works in pastel and watercolor, I decided to use all the information she share with me and work to hone my skills. When I discovered Deborah's challenge, I knew it would be the perfect thing to help me loosen up my paintings.

When I first started drawing, I wanted everything to look exactly like it appeared in nature. I became very frustrated when it didn't. As I added color, my frustration grew. When I look at the first pastels I painted, the tightness is the first thing I notice. Working with Helen helped, but this challenge is really working. I have to make quick decisions about value, mood, perspective, and color. That doesn't allow a great deal of time to be fussy about each little stroke. These are not finished works, but I see possibilities in each of them. That is something new for me.