Day 56

The washes aren't as great in this one, but that's because I didn't plan and I didn't wait as patiently.

So I paid the price.

What I love: I see a lot of this door and this house.  Here's a tribute to Tuesday nights and the people behind that door.

Day 55

The husband has noticed that I do a lot of architecture so I've started painting it on purpose.  This one is a tribute to the middle school I've been working at.

What I love: I really do love the architecture in the city and suburbs.  I think it was one of the first things I noticed when I moved here.  I noticed how neat the buildings look.

Day 54

Today was my first view of the lake.  I guess maybe I kind of saw it before, but I never really looked. I went a little abstract on you all.  I'm working on my wash quality and value.

What I love: The lake is really beautiful from above.  I haven't actually been on the shore yet, but soon?  Also, hanging out with old and new friends.  It was good to catch up with John and talk art with his wife Hayley!  Check out Hayley in her Etsy shop.

Day 53

There must be rule of the universe where you can only paint one good painting a day.  Which is why I should make sure I actually paint my paintings on the day I'm supposed to paint.

What I love: Walking to the post office/grocery store/liquor store.  It's kind of pricey, but it's close and that's pretty awesome.

Day 52

I guess for this one I wanted you to see what it was like for me walking down the streets of Chicago.  This is kind of how I remember it.  Really dark because it's winter and mostly that's when I have time to go outside.

What I love: How it kind of feels menacing, but beautiful all at the same time.  I'm in a part of the city that's way more residential and the iron is actually very pretty sometimes.

Day 51

Well this one didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but I'm tired.  I noticed though that when I'm tired paintings have issues.  I need to stop painting so late at night.  The quality of my work would most likely increase.

What I love: Chicago houses are so unique.  This house stood out because it's made of wood.  I guess awhile ago there was this big fire and no one wants to build their houses out of wood and there's fire stations all over the city.  Go figure.  Anyway, it makes this house really stand out.  I definitely have not done it justice.  Who's coming to visit so I can drive you by it?

Day 50

Happy 50th day!

I realized that I felt a lot of pressure to paint something really amazing and I ignored the pressure on purpose and just created something instead.

What I love: How much I'm learning.  I realize now, 6 years after graduating from college that I never really put in the time to paint.  I compared myself to so many wonderful artists who also happened to be friends and I told myself I would never be that good.  Thank you Chicago for making me see myself otherwise.  When did these little posts become so sappy? I think this winter has done it to me.  I'm so looking forward to spring.

Day 49

Oh my goodness, it's almost 50 days I've been painting.  

That's a lot of days and a lot of paintings.

What I love: The beautiful churches everywhere.  I actually think this church is going more church turned in to house, but I just love the different buildings.  They are just so beautiful and I couldn't resist this one yesterday.

Day 48

It was a long weekend and we used the time to go to the temple.  Here's another temple spire for you.

What I love: While it's a long drive I like going to the temple even if the rest of the world thinks it's mysterious or weird.  It's mostly just peaceful there and like a library, you just have a quiet place to think.  This place is a refuge for me when life gets hard.

Day 47

It's always hard coming up with material for Sundays because I usually just go to church and then hang out a home with the husband because it's one of the only days we actually get to spend time together.  So I tried a little journaling today with watercolors and Sharpie Marker Paints®.

What I love: How refreshing and relaxing Sundays can be here.  Everyone else in the city is out running errands and we've got our little haven at church and at home.  I'm excited to start walking to church again once it gets warm.  I have hope it will get warm again...one day.

Day 46

Oh boy guys, this one is kind of monochromatic, but it was fun challenging myself with the window and trying to make the lines as straight as possible with watercolors.

What I love:  Hoosier Mama Pies!  I had a pie that was pork, apple, and sage and it was one of the most delicious pies I've ever had.  The crust was delicious and I usually hate pie crust.  So flaky and lovely.  Kind of pricey, but we went near closing and they gave us free muffins and they were so nice!  What a great place and a definite repeat.

Day 45

On our day of love we made red velvet cupcakes!  Mostly because the husband wanted some and it was on sale at Aldi.  Luckily, a couple days later the in-laws helped us finish off the big ones.

What I love: I feel obligated to say my husband because this post is in reference to Valentine's day, but really I love Aldi for inspiring us and being almost as good as WinCo.  I'm not a sponsor for them or anything, it's just I love WinCo's bulk foods.  Also, I love cupcakes with buttercream frosting and really weird movies on Netflix cuddled up on the chaise lounge.  Ok, I really do love my husband.

Days 43 & 44

It's wasn't technically done on Day 43, but I made up for Day 43 by doing 2 paintings.  I went back in after the fact and worked out a couple of things I was unsatisfied with.  Thank you Sharpie Paint Markers®.

What I love: The Garfield Conservatory!  What better way to spend a day of love than finding a place to sit and paint at my favorite Oasis.  There were so many neat flowers in bloom.  I went with a painting friend and she did some pretty cool paintings too.  Overall, a good day of work.

Day 42

My portraits are still a work in progress.  I think I need a higher chair because of the angle.

What I love: How lucky I am to have such a good friend.  Seriously, she's taught me a lot about life and reminds me of the girl I used to be back in the day.  I think "finding yourself" is a lifelong process where you don't really find yourself in yourself, but you find all the good qualities you admire in other people and you emulate them.  She's wonderful and has a lot of great qualities to emulate.  If you lived in Chicago you'd want to be friends with her too.

Day 41

Breaking away from the norm and doing some abstract paintings.  I like abstract paintings because I feel like I can really show how I'm thinking.

What I love: The fact that I have learned more about Chicago by getting lost over and over again.  You go somewhere new, then you're lost because they have these 6 way intersections and you end up walking along the same road in opposite directions because you thought by going down this one street that you would make it on to the right one, but really you were just walking straight.  Sometimes I like asking for directions too and because it's so cold you stop people to make sure you are walking in the right direction because if you aren't, your legs are literally going to fall off because it is that cold and you forgot to wear your thermal underwear.  It sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm not, I'm laughing.

Day 40

We didn't go to the park this day.  Sorry to deceive you.  It was just church, but I wanted to do two paintings of the park because...

What I love:...I just love the park.  I'm not sure I've mentioned that enough.

Day 39

This day was just a really good day.

What I love: Walks in the park with the husband.  It takes some coaxing to actually get him out of the house, but once he's bundled up we just talk and talk.  Guys, I don't want to make you too jealous, but  he's kind of awesome and I enjoy my walks in the park a lot more with him.  We were walking and luckily the Mr. had his phone on him so we could take a photo because I just love the lines and the contrast in this!

January Review

I just thought you should know I painted 32 paintings in January.  This might be the most I've ever painted in this amount of time ever.  If there is one thing to love about Chicago it's that this happened.

Feeling awesome about this.

Day 38

I thought it would be interesting for you to see the process I go through sometimes.

What I love: Trying new things.  We went to Glazed and infused and I it was good, but kind of expensive.  But it was still pretty delicious.  I'm also in love with Friday night treats!  Yay for the weekends!

Day 37

What I love:  Discussions about God in the middle of laundry mats and Thursday night visits, but I don't really love this painting.

Day 36

What I love: Snow!  Now that the jeering has stopped, just hear me out.  Chicago goes through these cycles in the winter (or at least this winter) where it snows.  Oh boy, when it snows, it is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.  It covers up all the ugliness--until it doesn't and it just gets uglier, but then it snows again!

Day 35

I have discovered new talents.

What I love: Using my parallel parking skills I only had to employ on my driver's ed exam when I was 16.  Now, I'm getting pretty darn good.  Look how close I am to that other car.  Guys, I didn't hit that car and I have mad skills.  Also, maybe I'm getting the hang of this painting snow thing?

Day 34

Today was a celebration day and we partied hard with minestrone soup and fondue.

What I love: This pitcher has so many fond memories already.  I hope there get to be many, many more.  Chicago is shaping up to be an OK place.

Day 33

Sigh, it was getting muddy so I just decided to quit while I was already behind.  Maybe I'll go back in again.  It was a weird photo to work from anyway.  I like everything below her eyes though...

What I love:  This girl.  She did so great on her duet at the concert we went to.  It was a ton of fun on our date night and we're so grateful again for the people we've met here (even though we still really miss our old friends).

Day 32

Well guys, day 1 of February is not a painting.  It's still artwork, but it's a DIY and it's still pretty cool.

What I love: We moved and my whole life got turned upside down, but now that we've moved I have a place to sew and a sweet new chaise lounge to deck out.  Man Chicago is making me feel creative.

**I should, well maybe I shouldn't, but I'm going to also mention that I made the yellow pillow and painted it and the other one came like that except I had to alter it to fit the pillow.

Day 31

Again I'm behind, but I'm still painting! This is from the play I went to at the Steppenwolf Theater for a play called Tribes.

What I love: The culture you can find here in the city and a fabulous girl's night out!

Day 30

I know, I'm behind.  I'll catch up tomorrow after church.  I decided that after the play I went to last night it was just too late to paint and I wanted to sleep.  So you'll get two tomorrow, but this is where I spent most of my afternoon on Thursday.

What I love: Moving to Chicago and selling all my possessions meant we sold the couch, which I loved.  Instead I scoured the internet for a chaise lounge and one day this beauty came up on Craigslist.  We got a sweet deal and now it's my favorite place to sit and read.