Three more

Dark colors and blotting. 5x7

This is the painting from last week, and I think I may be finishing it next week. 9x12

 Nothing here to see, just a tree. 5x7

January 10, 2026 — Elaine O.

About a year ago, I experimented with some inexpensive gouache. I figured it might be time to revisit it. First of all, the box wasn't sealed completely and the paint looked like a cracked desert landscape. However, I added water daily and, after several days, it DID rejuvenate. So I tried this in my sketchbook over the course of a few days. 

I'm not thrilled with it as a piece of art, but it was interesting to try.

CORRECTION: It wasn't a year ago after all; it was actually three years since I touched the gouache. I'm even more impressed now with how the paint reconstituted! 

Unhappy campers et al…

 

I’ve been painting from a stack of old photos I found - possible source material that doesn’t totally engage me, but maybe it does….So I’ve just been painting from them in my sketchbooks, trying to increase my paint to water ratio. I don’t think I paint intense enough. But then I also like to scrub out and paint over and a lot of these sketchbooks can’t take the abuse. Maybe I’ll attempt the kids in the forest on better paper. Below is my final tree. I think the window framing is a little too dark.

 Obviously I’ve had a lot of time on my hands, because who wants to clean out 40 years’ worth of attic junk (my new year’s resolution…)

Alan Winter 3 - 2026

 Every 3 or 4 years I do a self portrait but I find that I use a reference photo from the past when I looked better. This is 8 1/2 X 12 on Yupo. 

I liked the background but it’s hard to do those little eyes. 

Goff Exhibit at AIC…

 

There are many many very cool surreal and abstract watercolor and gouache paintings at the Bruce Goff exhibit at the art institute. Not to mention his incredible color pencil renderings of architectural projects. Highly recommend this exhibit and the exhibit of the Japanese woodblock prints he collected — they are exquisite! He was an architect in the Frank Lloyd Wright school of thought but went far beyond anything Frank imagined…

Advice Not Followed

 My teacher in the portrait class had some “nevers” which he shared in a joking way…..but he was really serious. Never pick a subject showing teeth. Smiles in general not good unless they express pure joy. Never paint your family. And weirdest of all…don’t worry about whether your painting looks like the subject. Say what?.  My grandson and his father from a few years ago.  

back to horizontals

This is an abstract, needs more work.

A little different take on the hills including a bit of red sky.

 This is a tree trunk in the middle and a bit of yellow vegetation on either side.

January 3, 2026 — Elaine O.

What better way to start the new year than with a painting of the Art Institute, particularly the Ando Gallery? I wanted to make it contemplative and serene—just the way I experienced the room—so I kept the colors and value shifts subtle.

9.5" x 13.5"

 Next week, it's back to normal, noisier life.

Tree series….

 

I’ve been painting these since October. They’re all sketchbook studies, 7x10, all based on a couple of images below.  They’re not quite in order; I’m still working on the 4th one and it still has mask on the limbs. They’re interesting to see altogether —at least I think so! I was always drawn to the knot of limbs all going in different directions, plus the color of the leaves and the slight corona of the setting sun. I’m not sure any one captures all those things. They’re all very different but they all emphasize the knot of limbs. Here’s my source photo below.

Oh, this is an earlier version of #2…I really liked it but I went too far with the color mixing and thus too muddy …

One fine mess

 This was my image as seen last week: a painting of the photo printed in the newspaper that I paint upon including the printed  photo and a bit of the surrounding newsprint.  That whole painting is on newsprint itself and the next painting was going to include that painting and the newsprint that it is on.  Follow me?  Well I get confused myself.

And here it is.  Well not really.  I started out with a full head of steam, but within that steam I lost sight of my guiding star, then the painting stopped talking to me.  Alone and stranded I took the refuge of scoundrels and decided to convert it to an abstract.  Paint came off and paint came on and then the painting was talking to me again and finally I came to this point and called it a day.  I kind of like it, but then I like everything I do so who knows.