The 100 Day Project 2018: Night Skies And Galaxies

I am so pleased to have made it through the first 10 days of The 100 Day Project! This is the third year I am attempting to do this and I am determined to complete it this year!

If you aren’t sure what this project is all about, I wrote about it in a previous post where I explained how it all started and how it works. In this post I will be showing you what I have created over the past 10 days and I will also be revealing my new theme for the next ten days!

Theme: Night Skies & Galaxies

I have never really tried this theme. I think I once tried a galaxy, but was not really happy with the way it turned out, so I stuck with what I feel most comfortable with – flowers.

This time I am specifically aiming to come out of my comfort zone and stretch my skills and techniques, so I have filled the theme pocket I showed you last week with all sorts of things I don’t really know how to paint – this is a learning experience.

I am quite pleased with how these skies and galaxies have turned out. It takes me generally 2 days and sometimes quite a few sessions to finish one picture. I just cannot sit up at the table long enough to complete a whole painting in one sitting.

My Learning Process

I started with galaxies, trying to master the wet-on-wet technique and get the colours to blend seamlessly. I can tell you, it wasn’t easy and I have a few very odd looking pictures I will not show you!

I started this project with some cheap pan sets I had, but then (two days into it) my aunt bought me a gorgeous set of gouache tubes and I’ve been playing with those ever since. They provide a much smoother finish than the powdery pan sets I was using before.

I would start with the background in one session and then, usually the next day, add the stars and then, in another session, I’d add the mountains and trees, etc.

It’s the first time that I have worked in layers like this. I could have used a hairdryer to dry the layers and get on with things on the same day, but the hairdryer is noisy and would make me ill, so I opted for the forced rest instead.

Here are some of my first night skies and galaxies: (click to zoom in)

I then moved onto landscapes and had so much fun with those! Also tried more adventurous colours in the skies. I think you can really see the improvement in colour blending after just a few days. Practice really does make progress!

Finally, I added the silhouettes of trees and hills.

Some of the backgrounds came out much lighter than I expected and these were turned into sunset pictures. Not quite night skies and galaxies, but close enough!

I went even further and tried lake scenes with reflections in the water. Obviously this is something I need to work on more. Depicting reflections of light and shadows on a lake is quite a leap for me at this point. I will definitely be revisiting this theme though!

My New Theme

I had my sister draw the new theme for the next part of the challenge. I showed you last time how I made a little pocket in my journal that holds all the themes for this challenge. Every 10 days we will draw one from the pocket and that will be the theme for the following 10 days.

My New Theme Is:

Flowerspractice different florals each day

I’m excited to work on my florals. My aim will be to try new flowers each day and move away from my usuals that I am quite comfortable with.

I am really enjoying this challenge as I can actually see the improvement over the 10 days of working on the same theme.

Also, by breaking it up into 10-day sections, I get to do 10 mini challenges and there is less risk of me getting bored and falling off the wagon as has happened in previous years.

It’s quite common that people embarking on The 100 Day Project lose interest or inspiration along the way, so by picking a new theme every 10 days, I am keeping the excitement and anticipation alive.

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If you’d like to follow along daily and see all my work-in-progress pictures as I make them, you can follow along on my arty Instagram @ChronicallyHopefulArt or on the dedicated Facebook page Facebook.com/chronicallyhopefulart

Let me know in the comments which is your favourite night sky!