Day 7 of the 30/30 Challenge – Dunkin’ Donuts

It’s almost 11pm and I’m just finishing up. This is the latest I have posted so far. As a result, I am the 412th artist to post on the 30/30 Challenge blog for Day 7  (a few hundred off from my goal).

The day was challenging, both because life intervened and I got started late, and I was struggling with the background and the sprinkles since the paint was so wet (which made it hard to photograph). Here’s the final product.

I continue to work from photographs. As you can see, I saved the hardest part of this painting for last – the sprinkles on the white icing. In this case, that decision probably cost me a lot of time.

When I added in the white icing, it soon became apparent that the top donut was blending with the light background and the cup. The dark underpainting had good contrast and threw me off. If I had started with the white icing, I could have addressed the issue earlier and it would have been a much easier fix, maybe with a different outcome.

I have this nagging thought that the sprinkles might have helped the donut pop, but I didn’t wait to find out. I added some rose to the background, which I would soften if I had another day. Then I started painting sprinkles, one at a time, using a new brush for each color – blue, green, red, orange, pink and yellow. It got interesting when I ran out of small brushes… A lot of brush and hand cleaning took place today.

In retrospect, I wish I had done the white icing during the day. I use a full spectrum light in the studio at night, but it’s not the same as natural light.

The first thing I have to do tomorrow is find a safe place for the donut painting to dry – not to mention the other 23 daily paintings… I’m am running out of space on the piano and small easels. I am surprised by how good these small painting look together, and plan to hang them all together for this year’s RiverArts Studio Tour in April.

I learned a lot about painting donuts today in this format and on this timetable. I will use this newfound knowledge on my next donut painting, which may or may not be tomorrow. I haven’t decided yet. Maybe I need a donut break.

See you tomorrow!