Isaac Hernández. “After Van Gogh’s Pair of Shoes.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″. Day 6

The reality of creating one painting a day for 365 days straight is starting to sink in. It’s going to be challenging, and not just because it’s becoming almost impossible to keep my nails clean. After all, I always say, “Happiness is having oil pastels in your fingernails.”

Isaac Hernández. “New Year’s Resolution.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day” Series: Day 7.

The challenge is not even drawing every day, as I really enjoy doing it. The difficult part is stopping. Every day I paint a new picture, but I also go back to work on the old pieces. By the time Spring comes around, I will have over 100 paintings on which I’ll be tempted to keep working on (or playing with). I will post the new paintings every Sunday. I’m going to try not to work on them once they are posted.

Isaac Hernández. “Orange.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day” Series: Day 8.

Of course, no sooner I made that decision, I realized that I’m going to work on the orange above some more.

Isaac Hernández. “Checkmate.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day” Series: Day 9.

I love how the project is taking shape. As I had stated in my first One Painting a Day post, the palette or subject matter of one painting dictates the next painting. The relationship from one painting to the next is not always obvious, not even to me, but somehow there’s a thread. But don’t take my word for it, as the idea keeps evolving.

Isaac Hernández. “Waiting for Alvaro. Santa Monica.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day”: Day 10.

On Day 10, I also started a new practice, posting a photo on location of the painting in progress, and posting it to Instagram.

Isaac Hernandez. “Sweet red roses.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day” Series: Day 11.

I’m starting to have followers on Facebook and Instagram, which gives me extra responsibility in making this 365 paintings happen. And since I post on Instagram daily, there’s no cheating and making two paintings in one day to catch up for missing one day. I have to create daily.

Isaac Hernandez. “Dear Orange Tree.” Oil pastel on paper. 9×9″ Part of the “A Painting a Day” Series: Day 12.

This is it for this week. I’ll continue working on the orange tree above, as well. And I may continue playing with the paintings above (most probably). And I could work on the first five drawings, but I won’t post the changes here. To see the final paintings, you will have to come to the exhibit. Sign up to my mailing list (below) to be notified when the show opens. And/or make a comment to encourage me to continue or to suggest ideas of where to exhibit this crazy project.

See other weeks of oil pastels: • Week 1 • Week 3 • Weeks 4-7

Please comment below. Every word you write serves as encouragement for me not to give up. Also, I invite you to follow me on Instagram to see daily progress photos of the paintings. Instagram keeps me honest to really create daily. And the photos turn out to be pretty fun.