Shiny things of today...

One can fall down quite the art rabbit hole on Pinterest...especially if one is following art-related boards like Inkflo (I like the board of watercolor tutorials, which I find really interesting to see how other people do it differently), Artopia Magazine (everything from art marketing techniques to vintage art supplies), and Canyon Road Contemporary (a gallery in Santa Fe...I contribute to their Stunning Sculptures board), and from there one clicks on more and more links until one has spent the entire afternoon looking at tree-painting tutorials.  Did I say "one"?  Clearly I meant me. :P

See all the fun stuff you miss out on by not being on Pinterest?  Courtesy of Allan Rodewald.

It was while wandering through one of these Pinterest rabbit holes that I found The Virtual Paintout.  And I immediately went, "ooh, I want to do that!"
It's a monthly art challenge where the organizer, artist Bill Guffey, picks a location (such as County Clare in Ireland, the English Channel island of Jersey, or San Francisco), and everyone goes on GoogleMaps and finds views in that area they want to paint.  I'm a GoogleMaps fiend anyway, so this sounds right up my alley.  Looking through the previous submissions is fascinating...lots of landscapes, of course, but there turns out to be an actually very diverse range of subject matter, and there's a variety of styles represented.

The new location is posted on the first of the month, so there's one coming up in just a few days!  I'm kinda excited to see what it will be.  Participating in the Virtual Paintout will also help me fulfill whatever art-related New Year's resolutions I make, which will probably be along the lines of "stop fiddling around on Pinterest and make more art, dammit!"

By the way, you can follow me on Pinterest here!  I post my artwork and other art that inspired me, but I also post lots of recipes for pies and slow-cooker stews, as well as decorating ideas for my hypothetical next, larger house.  It's fun!