White Pumpkins: a challenge from Karin Jurick

Oil on masonite, 6" x 8"

This is a very neat thing I found out about from Dean H. of Deano's Den. Karin Jurick started a weekly challenge to any artist who wants to participate, by posting a photo image and inviting artists to do their own interpretation of it. Her weekly challenge blog is called Different Strokes From Different Folks. She posts the new image every Wednesday, and through the following week all the various versions of it pile up above the photo. I especially love seeing what Karel Tuinart does with these photos, and Kim Ratigan did a neat thing with one of these white pumpkins starting to get painted orange! (Is that how it happens???) Along with everyone else, I appreciate all Karin's hard work. Karin, I hope you're enjoying this as much as we are.

My painting and posting have been sporadic here, though I've been posting in-progress photos of some longer-range paintings on my new Art Blog. Getting going painting on anything approaching a daily frequency has been slow, and having a community project helps. I think sometimes us self-directed artists need a deadline or two, and a deadline that's just for fun is something I find both energizing and relaxing.

Like many of us, I wanted more color than this photo had. It's still a bit low-key, but I had fun playing with some nearly-neutral colors. I also liked the graphic presence of the skewed rectangle, and I loved some of the shadows, especially the one cast by the right-hand pumpkin stem.

Here's to many more weekly challenges - thanks again, Karin!

Available

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