Happy April! This month brings another edition of the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, along with the annual Blogging from A to Z challenge, always held in April. This year, I’m collecting challenges like my dad used to collect stamps. Yes, my dad was quite the stamp collector and he and I bonded over the stamps that he showed me in his books. Some stamps were kind of ordinary, while others were little works of art.
And speaking about art, two of those challenges that I am doing are art related. One is the 100-day art challenge that started in late February. Today is day thirty-eight of that challenge. The other is Inktober 52. With this challenge, I get a prompt once a week and then I have to interpret that prompt. The only real requirement is that I have to use ink in the picture. For the 100-day art challenge, the only requirement is that I do something art-related every day. I don’t even need to finish a project. I just have to show progress.
Today’s picture took several days to complete. It’s an abstract face with a Buffalo Bills theme. I had painted a smaller version several months ago, and it got a fan club. When I managed to obtain a much larger canvas, I decided to paint this picture again, but with more detail.
I finished this painting this morning. It took six days to complete. It was an exciting adventure, starting with covering another painting with two layers of white paint and ending with the final product. The steps included drawing a basic picture on the canvas and then adding the paint. I chose to paint only one color at a time. And each day, I shared my progress on Facebook. So now that I’ve arrived at my destination, I feel as if I have spent time with the person I depicted. We’ve shared a voyage together and, once again, I am reminded that it is the journey that matters. The destination is a bonus.
Who knows what adventure tomorrow will bring. Stay tuned! (when I was a kid, I thought that the TV broadcasters always said “state tuned,” but I truly din’t know what that meant.
Alice, I love how you’re diving into these challenges like your dad with his stamps—what a sweet memory to tie into your creative adventures! Growing up, my dad was a stamp collector as well! SO it was natural that me and my sister and brother followed his footsteps!
The Buffalo Bills abstract face sounds super cool, and I bet seeing the transformation over six days was a treat for your Facebook friends. I went to school in ROchester, NY back in the 80’s and I became a Bills fan (and still am to this day!)
Can’t wait to see what “state tuned” brings next!
Be Well.
Paul
Thank you so much, Paul. I am so glad that we have the stamp collector dad and Buffalo Bills fan-dom in common!
Yes, my friends said they enjoyed watching the transformation of the painting from a white canvas to the final painting. I was just thrilled to have a nice large surface to work on!
See you tomorrow!
I always admire your dedication to challenges! Love this picture, too, Alice!! I can see how you might form a relationship with your subject during the time it takes to paint the picture. That happens to me with writing projects.
Hi Jeanine, thank you so much. I experience the same thing with writing projects that I do with art projects. Speaking of which, I will be continuing the adventures of Bearnacle Bear… who knows… maybe tomorrow!
Love your dedication to the creative journey, Alice! Your abstract face sounds like a masterpiece in both process and result.
And can I just say: What a journey you had to San Diego via Las Vegas! I know the “gamblers’ paradise airport, and I am thankful that unlike in the casinos, at least at the airport people are not allowed to smoke.
Oh my gosh, yes. The gambling was just funny, but smoking would have caused me some sort of allergic reaction.
Love your dedication. I’d be interested to see some of your other paintings.
Thank you so much!
Glad to see you back Alice, I LOVE your Buffalo Bills face! As for stamp collecting, I used to do that with my grandfather!
Thank you, Martha! I’m happy to be back! And I’m happy that you’re back and that we both had that bond with stamp collectors!
What a fun way to do the challenge!!
Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
Thank you so much, Donna.
Yay for art challenges. I love abstract art and studying abstract nouns.
Abstract nouns! That sounds very cool.