After a week of unremitting rain, at times torrential, we were ready for a bright and sunny day. Unfortunately, today was not that day. We had a cold, windy and rainy start to our morning—so we were forced to add our own warmth and color! And we did, as you can see below.
Today was also Open House Chicago. This architecture festival, sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, is basically a giant, city-wide, weekend-long open house. All across the city, visitors get free access to incredible buildings. From historic mansions, skyscrapers and museums, to private clubs, hidden rooms and sacred spaces, it's a wonderful opportunity to explore architectural treasures.
Yes, Chicago is home to some of the world's most incredible architecture. And what better way to kick off the weekend than with paintings of architecture? Here we celebrate beautiful Chicago buildings, from Ken's colorful downtown skyscrapers....
... to Elaine's northside church entryway. Strangely, neither of these are on the tour list—as beautiful as they are, too.
Susan celebrates architecture, too, but her lighthouse is in the Philippines, not the shores of Lake Michigan.
And her beachside windmills are also in the Philippines, not the Windy City.
Like Susan, we all seem interested in painting water this week. Abla's fall scene continues to develop, with water and brilliant fall color.
Mohammed's Hawaiian waterfall is delicately and skillfully rendered. You can see the foam at the bottom!
Sara's sun-drenched colors invite us to linger in the garden for a sad, final goodbye to summer.
But John's drawing of a storyteller and his stories remind us that fall is here and what's better than curling up inside with a good book?
Also drawing inspiration from the great indoors is Vivian. Her tablescape is intriguing and beautiful. It's abstraction at its best.
Despite our fears that Hector might ruin his tree bark abstraction by adding a touch of black (yes, black paint!), he bravely set to trying. And it was exquisite! Look at how much richer and deeper his painting is—of course, we're talking a judicious use of black in skilled hands!
Our newbies are also into nature... and color! Look at Oscar's leaves—both the "big leaf" and the lovely golden leaves below. Those amazing colors are actually in the originals. We love this season.
Equally colorful are the "three-way" fruits. This is one of our favorite exercises, where the same subject is painted very wet, very dry, and in a combination of techniques. Here Oscar paints peppers and Kristen paints a mango; who would have thought something so educational could be so beautifully colorful?
Kristen zipped through more of our exercises at record speed. Here she does the infamous egg, not once, but twice—and the second one in an amazingly soft technicolor blue. Unfortunately the photo doesn't do it justice, and she assures us that eggs really do come in this color.
All of our beginners are prolific this term. Bill re-painted his pomegranate seeds, achieving the deep glistening color below.
He also did three versions of the fabric study, although we only show one here. Just look at the brushstrokes and color blending he's managed to attain.
Madeleine uses the same scarf for her fabric study, but what a difference in style! Her delicate study looks like a classic ink and wash, doesn't it?
And once we've done the fabric and the fruit, what's left but the long-awaited fruit and fabric! The final exercise is an actual still life and marks the passage from newbie to "old master." See how Bill and Madeleine use the same set up but produce such uniquely personal paintings.
Artist of the day. There was only one book on our library table, but it was available for the taking, not just looking. John brought a booklet about Chinese brush painting. There were samples and instructions and we hope to see the influence of the book in future paintings.
See you next week as we begin our new term—no break this time!
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