CanvasCalls, First Post

Putting paint on a canvas has been calling for a while....but alas, no time to answer.  Last Christmas, I asked Dave (husband) for a gift certificate to the Delaplaine in Frederick (Maryland).  I took an oil class, forcing me to buy the supplies and get started.  This Christmas, I asked Dave for the book, "Daily Painting" (by Carol Marine).  So, per her instructions, I'm starting this blog and plan on posting the journey.  I did my first tiny painting today, less than 1 hour of canvas time, maybe 30 minutes of prep.

So here's how I decided to start.  Well, first I considered briefly to dismantle the Christmas tree before starting.  Perhaps all of humanity is afflicted with the tendency to procrastinate?  Instead I decided one of the prettiest ornaments on the tree would be my first subject matter.  I took a photo.  Drawing is the "ball and chain" of this process for me, so I decided to skip that part.  Not skip really, but cheat.  Not cheat really, but economize my time.  Not sure if others do this too:

My canvas is only a 5 inch square.  After I took the picture and imported it to my desktop, I cropped the picture to a square, put it in a word document, adjusted the size to 5 inches and printed.  Then I scribbled chalk all over the back of the printed photo, placed the photo (chalk-side down) on the canvas, and traced with a ballpoint pen the main objects in the photo.  Now I could paint, without having to "draw". 

So, Day One, we'll see how long this calling continues to call!  I told Dave, after I finished it and brought it to the kitchen for a quick pic, that since Carol assured that I would see amazing growth with this daily process, it was good the bar ended up so low with the first.  "Amazing" might not be so far fetched!  Not sure I'm a fan of this one, but it did get me started.

Here's my photo's: