Welcome to day twenty-two in the 33 Paintings in 33 Days Project of Alaskan artist  Nikki Kinne and Wisconsin artist Helen Klebesadel.

My 22nd painting is a study for a much larger work I am planning for a series on issues of global climate change as it effects our environment here in Wisconsin.  I have addressed this topic before, but the heat of the recent days in Wisconsin and recent wildfires in California and other places have me thinking about some the physical consequences of drought.

I’ve painted about the subject of our warming climate before, most recently in my ‘Winter’s End” which used the melting lake Michigan ice as a metaphor for the loss of cold and the species we will lose in Wisconsin with the warming climate as they move north to find the cold they need.

The painting toured in the exhibition “Paradise Lost? Climate Change in the North Woods.”  which resulted from an artist/scientist collaborative effort to bring attention to the science of climate change through the arts.  The project grew out of the participants belief that arts can address the most important issues of our time.

Of her 22nd painting in the prohect Nikki says, “This was a dead painting, one that didn’t make it in the “Safari of Lost Photos & Other African Influences” show.  I pulled out the gouache, which I’ve been waiting to try once I learn how to use it.  Once I started playing with the gouache and seeing how it brings the lights back, I fell in love with the freedom it gives.  Really, if the painting is “dead” anyway, what’s there to lose?  How many other places in my life am I hanging onto tools, waiting to use them once I know how to?  How do we learn?  Any little child could answer this question.  They know that doing is the way to learn. ”

Nikki does a great job of describing what I call the ‘What the heck” stage in a painting, when you know your painting not going to be anything you like if you use your familiar approach.  These paintings become wonderful opportunities to try something new and experimental.  At worst you ruin a painting you didn’t like anyway, at best you discover a whole new direction for your work! Way to go Nikki!  Congratulations on your courage to try new things!

Thank you for coming with us as we explore the world of a-painting-a-day.

My daily works for this project available for sale online in my Meylah shop here: http://meylah.com/HelenKle​besadel  I post them each day after they are posted in the blog.