Painting a Day: 31 Ideas

Get out your oranges, yellows, reds, and white for some fun color-mixing to capture the shimmering colors of a goldfish.

Paint the landscape the fish sees every day.

Positioning a butterfly so you're looking down on its open wings, rather than from the side, maximizes the amount of color you see. Decide whether you're going to paint a realistic one from reference photos, or use imaginary colors and pattern.

Decide whether you're going to open up the bunch to have some individual cloves of garlic or just keep it as a whole. The skin or leaves are a good opportunity for glazing in some delicate color.

Get something more from your veggies than mere nutrition by using them as the subject for a painting. Variations can be created by chopping or peeling the item, and including the knife and cutting board.

Pretend you got food poisoning from last night's supper and your skin's gone strange colors.

Close your eyes and remember the best fireworks display you've been to. Now paint the impression that evening left with you, the sprays of light and color against the deep darkness of the night sky.

Palette knife, painting knife, what's the difference? It doesn't matter when it comes to using it as the subject for a painting. If your knife is nice and shiny, position it so it has interesting reflections in it.

Use a flower to create a painting of a pattern of shapes and tones, moving it from the realm of realism into abstraction.

Treat yourself to a box of fancy chocolates, then take a bite out of each to see which will make the most attractive subject. If you want the filling to run down onto the surface you'll need to move quickly, or put the chocolate down and break a piece off with a knife. Just remember to be totally sure you have finished the painting before you eat the model.