Peony Progress

I took the reference photos for this peony painting from a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. I have a membership, because then I’ll make sure to go several times a year to wander around with my camera looking for inspiration.

The painting is coming along, it should only take another one or two sessions to complete. I’ve been painting faster, and been more focused than I would normally be painting in my home studio, because the camera is on me.

That’s what gave me the idea for doing 30 timelapse videos in 30 days.

I noticed when I did my first timelapse video, that I would listen to a podcast while I painted instead of binge watching  Netflix, or checking social media, e-mail etc., which made me much more efficient.

Though to be honest, watching movies while I paint, is hella fun way to spend my days. Escapism at its best.

Glitches

All it took to fix the glitch (camera slipping) from yesterday, was to tighten a knob.

I’m still not thrilled with my set-up. An iphone attached to a selfie stick duct taped to a filing cabinet.  I’ll have research a better solution, something sturdier.

Meanwhile, today when I checked the video after my painting session, I discovered the whole thing was recorded at a 90 degree angle!

Luckily, I remembered an app on my phone that I’ve used before to help my son prep videos for his YouTube channel. All I had to do was upload the video to Videoshop, and click on rotate, and problem solved.

The video does seem a little smaller though, but at least it was usable. This is after all an accountability tool, I’m not looking to become a viral sensation with these videos.

Speed

Another observation is that my first video was 25 seconds, and about 1 hour of painting, however today was about 3 1/2 hrs, and the timelapse video was 20 seconds long.

AND it looked like I was a bee, or a humming bird, zipping around the peony on the canvas. It was not easy to make out what I was working on, because there was a longer duration lost between stills, which the camera strings together into the video.

On the plus side, you don’t catch all my mis-steps, colours & brushstrokes added and removed. Or every time I walked back to view the painting from further away, or to refill my water container.

Subscribe to my blog (the widget should be on the left if you’re viewing this on your computer), so that you can follow this 30 in 30 challenge.

Have you done, or are you doing a 30 in 30 challenge too? What theme, or what parameters have you set for yourself?