Red #701

Daily painting #701 6"x8" ink and acrylic on primed panel

I am working away on some little paintings for a Paintings in the Post friend and follower who lives in Switzerland. They are all little florals and most of them are South African florals. They are a mix of oil paintings and ink/acrylic paintings.
So just in case you think I am ignoring you or even worse...not painting, I thought I would share a little red protea with you. It's new home will be Switzerland (lucky fish!).

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A rose, of course! #700

Daily painting #700 8"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

So how does one decide what to paint for daily painting #700? My dilemma is that I don't usually think too much about what I am going to paint for a little daily painting otherwise I would spend all day deciding (my star sign borders on the indecisive Virgo scales) and I would never get around to painting. So it is usually something object based (often floral) and something that is close at hand in my kitchen/studio/house. However I have been brooding over what to paint for #700 for a while ...it needed to be something special...a good little painting....I had to 'get it right'. Those of you who have been following Paintings in the post for a while, will know that this type of thinking goes against my whole philosophy behind why I do these little daily paintings. But thank goodness things worked out just fine and my problem was solved before I had even realized it....and I had a good reminder about just giving something a go and not overthinking....

I had to teach a Painting class but many of the ladies were away. We ended up with just 3 people in the class and so a suggestion was made that I paint along with the ladies for the morning. Kate (yes....the rose lady if you remember a few posts back) had bought me some beautiful roses from her garden and so without even thinking about it, I sat at an easel popped the roses in front of me, grabbed a little daily painting board and painted along with the ladies. I stopped to assist if they needed me,  but finished a little painting before the class was up. It suddenly dawned on me that I had just painted daily painting #700! I had spent so much time thinking about #700 and in a way was dreading painting it and buckling under the pressure I was placing on myself to paint it. There is something to be said for just getting stuck in and doing something without agonizing too much (overthinking)! I had avoided painting this little painting but had just got stuck in and painted it without even realizing it. I paint these little paintings so regularly that it feels quite natural to just quickly grab a little board, my brushes and some paint and just do it! Only at the end of the session did I register the significance of what had just happened and perhaps it was because I had not planned to paint that the number 700 didn't quite come to mind (thank goodness) until the end.

So I give you daily painting #700, just an ordinary little painting and no more special than any of the others other than that for me, it marks a special achievement and a little milestone in a journey that began quite by accident and has changed my life. Thank you for sharing it with me!

A corner of my teaching studio...and roses!

To celebrate 700, I will be offering free postage on all purchases made in my online store until the end of the weekend (ends 12 midnight SA time). So make use of the FREE POSTAGE offer and visit the online store at www.paintingsinthepost.tictail.com

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Three plums #699

Daily painting #699 6"x8" oil on primed canvas panel

Three plump, jewel-like plums nestle into one another in the dim light....

After all the "pretty" blomme (flowers in Afrikaans), I feel the need to sit quietly and mull over a very traditional little still life. I see-saw between the energetic, compulsive and experimental and the comfortable, soothing and traditional. It is a good balance for me between exploring and concentrating on observation. The exploration is exciting, my marks more energetic and I never quite know where the work is going. In contrast the little traditional still life set-up, painted in a more traditional way gives me comfort and is like revisiting a good and faithful old friend. One can also never underestimate the skill of observation and these little still life paintings really force me to focus on interpreting what I see. So something a little more traditional for you today and a bit of soul food for me switching off in my studio, no interruptions and just observing, painting and loosing myself in 3 little plums!

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May blooms

A selection from the month of May!

Looking back over the month, I have realized there has been a whole lot of 'pretty' happening this month in my studio and it is not even Spring in South Africa! I thought I would share this little selection with you. 

You can view all available daily paintings by clicking the link below or visiting www.paintingsinthepost.tictail.com

South African friends and followers can message me privately at heidishedlock@gmail.com for prices in ZAR or for direct purchases.

May seems to have been a blooming good month!

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Pink and blue #698

Daily painting #698 6"x6" ink and acrylic on primed panel

A little floral study just to set me up for a day of floral painting on some large canvases that will be leaving my studio soon. Little studies like this fine tune the eye, heighten my sense of observation and get me all excited at the prospect of what today's paint explorations might bring (I can only be hopeful....of course the day could be a flop and the painting go all wrong and tomorrow will have to bring some magic but I'm an optimistic girl).

Happy Friday! 

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Hello!

ME!

There are a lot of new people following Paintings in the post on various social media platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram and so I decided to reintroduce myself for those that don't know much about me or Paintings in the post. A new follower who I happened to meet in person the other day commented on how lovely it was to be able to put a face to the artist and the person behind Paintings in the post...so here I am as large as life today....to say "hello!" Below is the message I posted on my Facebook page (Paintings in the post) and so I thought I would share it on the blog page in case you too are new to Paintings in the post....it read....

"There are a lot of new people (yay and thank you) on this page so I thought I would take the time to introduce myself. I am a full time artist and art educator and Paintings in the post began in 2013 when I decided to begin the daily ritual of daily painting. My purpose was not necessarily to paint every day but to engage as often as possible in completing a little painting that took me no longer than an hour and in one sitting. It forced me to observe, experiment and just paint for the sake of painting...like a little record of my daily living. That being said I managed to complete 568 consecutive days of daily painting (yes...I never missed a day for 568 days) until an accident, which left me immobile for 3 weeks, kept me out of my studio and stopped me painting for a period of time. I still love to complete little daily paintings but it now forms only part of what I do and I am enjoying concentrating again on some much larger paintings ...painting a little painting every day had become too all consuming and I had neglected doing other work too. Paintings in the post, the name, came to me when I posted my first little painting off to a friend in the UK, since then these little paintings have travelled all over the world, bringing joy to people who have delighted in receiving a little painting in the post. My paintings can be viewed in an online store which makes the paintings accessible for overseas followers. South African followers and friends can message me privately for prices in ZAR and for direct purchases. You can visit my blog page if you would like to read any of my ramblings and you can also find me on Instagram at heidishedlock if following images is what you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by and remember to leave a message occasionally...it's been wonderful meeting SO many beautiful people through Paintings in the post and I look forward to meeting many more....so if you are new, welcome...and if you have followed for a while...thank you!

Have a fabulous day..... X Heidi" 

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Soft pinks #697

Daily painting #697 8"x8" ink and acrylic on primed panel 

Protea....South Africa's national flower and a real beauty! I love the variety of colour and shapes that are found and their hardiness and resistance is a quality I admire. They really are beautiful to paint!

I am also loving working with ink and acrylic at the moment. I find the quick drying speed forces me to be less structured and I can feel I 'play' more with the paint and marks. Very different, I know, from my very realistic still life paintings in oils but part of doing a little painting in one session at the start of the day, is to force me to paint intuitively but without processing and overworking too much. I just  paint and see what happens! Some paintings work and some don't but the beauty of the little daily painting is that it becomes like an exercise, a ritual or warm up for other things that might be happening in larger works and so to always stay with what I am comfortable with (little realistic images) would be defeating the reason why I do these little paintings. That being said there is something important in the observation that happens when realistically depicting an object. Perhaps my choice of medium and style for these little paintings has much to do with how I am feeling on any particular day. What I do know though is that it is important to just paint...not for any reason other than because I need to....

Purchase paintings at Heidi Shedlock Fine Art
(Click on the highlighted writing to view gallery of available daily paintings)