New Work: 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

 

The focus of 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, was to help me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day. 

This week was my first day of not working my day job anymore. Technically I am on "vacation" through the end of June, and starting July 1, I will be fully retired.

I have been using Florescent Magenta paint in the background of some squares on my Dates in a Life Walking Project to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, because it usually gave me more time to walk for exercise.

I decided to mark the time I am on "vacation" by using Light Phthalo Blue in the background, and then, starting July 1, I will use Light Ultramarine Blue for the rest of the year.

It was helpful to take advantage of my time working on my June 12 x 12 x 12  to help plan my Dates in a Life Walking Project painting going forward.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

I haven't had time this work week to work on my 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

Here, in reverse order, is what I painted last weekend. 

I'm looking forward to doing more painting this weekend, hopefully starting after work tomorrow afternoon.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day, I added red circles next to the black ones.

Currently I paint Florescent Magenta in the background of some squares to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I have not been at work, because it usually gives me more time to walk for exercise.

My days are going to change soon, and I’m trying to decide what color I will use instead of the Florescent Magenta so I can highlight that. By experimenting with one of the blueish paint colors in this photo, I will be able to make a good choice. 

New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

The theme for my 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12" square painting, is to help me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

The fabric in the photo is the same grid as my walking painting. While the circles are smaller than the icons I use to document my steps by the thousands, they leave me a good amount of space to try different color options.

Currently, I have been painting Florescent Magenta in the background of some squares to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I have not been at work, because it usually gives me more time to walk for exercise. 

My days are going to change soon, and I'm trying to decide what color I will use instead of the Florescent Magenta so I can highlight that. Hopefully working on this piece, and experimenting with one of the blueish paint colors in this photo, I will be able to make a good choice.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

 

This is the month of May for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016. 

In May I walked over 10,000 steps 19 times thanks to warmer weather, and more sunlight after work. On May 20, the high daytime temperature in eastern Massachusetts was 47 degrees and it rained just about all day. I didn't have wearing long johns on my bingo card for May!

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

The base monoprinted grid is black, with Florescent Magenta background paint used to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gives me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

The second image shows January through May and plenty of room for the rest of the year.

New Work: 12 x 12 x 12 May 2026

May 12 x 12 x 12 is a mixed media painting that pays homage to the Bartlett Pear Tree that grew in our back yard for over 20+ years, that we had to take down due to a number of reasons. The four brown squares are an acrylic skin of the photo of the stump after the tree came down. There is a circle pattern in the stump that can be seen in the lower left corner of the upper right brown square. The small circles in the squares are collaged on the stiffened fabric to represent tree trunks in general.  

New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12

I'm working on my May 12 x 12 x 12 mixed media painting. This month I decided to pay homage to the Bartlett Pear Tree that was growing in our back yard for the past 20+ years, that we had to take down due to a number or reasons. I printed a photo of the stump and made an acrylic skin to apply on the base fabric. Here are some process pictures, including removing the paper from the photo that makes it translucent.