Hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.
Yes, we're back! We've only been apart a week, yet we had so much to talk about, it's a wonder we got anything done. But, as you'll see, we were very productive. Lots to show and tell; plus, you'll be thrilled to know that we've embarked on some exciting new adventures (all around the globe, actually) and simultaneously discovered some great new themes. Let's get started and you'll see what we mean.
Bill is also painting a still life, although his subjects will soon become a tasty guacamole. Yum!
Bill has become intrigued by the Urban Sketching phenomenon. Here he paints a Chicago scene, describing a flight of pigeons from a city building—and, in the process, typifying our sudden fascination with birds and buildings. Yes, we're on a new kick! Follow along.
Ken continues his fascination with architecture. Here, he finishes number 15 in his series ...
... begins number 16 in the same series....
... and takes a break to begin work on his eagerly-awaited annual holiday greeting card.
Susan, too, joins in on some urban sketching, although her setting is a luxury villa in the Philippines (formerly home to Imelda Marcos and her collection of shoes).
Tony is on the bandwagon, too. Here he begins a serene, snowy winter scene.
Meanwhile, we discovered that he's already a skilled urban sketcher. Here, Tony plein air sketches the temple of Hadrian, a Roman ruin in Greece.
This exquisitely delicate sketch of the Parthenon is also his. Can you believe he's only been sketching for about four years?
Besides architecture, Tony sketches animal life from Greek pottery, horses and dolphins ....
...and a lovely still life of grapes on a rustic tabletop.
Vivian is also painting tabletops, but hers are less rustic and more urban. She's overpainted the tables with a rich brown, making them more industrial, but allowing the rich underpainting to show through. And what would an urban tablescape be without wads of gum on the table underside? These are particularly well-done. We know you can't tell from the photo, but these feel so 3D we are tempted to grab the putty knives and start scraping.
Madeleine's taken us to the botanical garden in this delicately stylized and whimsical painting. Here's a woman with a definite style.
Marva does water, too, but with an emphasis on brushwork instead of line. There's so much color and movement here, we can't help but feel the waves crashing and the clouds moving.
Elaine's water is much calmer, and she introduces people into her landscape—okay, just one person and the colors are slightly off, but you get the idea...
While Mark's loose and lovely painting of loaves and fishes features denizens of the deep and some beautifully renedered rope. Just look, too, at the skilled use of blooms to signify bread in the background.
Moving from fish of the sea to birds of the air, Alan paints an amazing eagle. Yes, you're seeing this right. The eagle is on his back having his wing fixed. Can't you just sense his pent up energy while he waits to fly away?
More birds here! Abla's bluebird perches on some delicate magnolia branches against a luminous lavender sky...
... while Mohammed's focus is more on the birds than the blossoms. In both of these paintings, though, the branches frame and contain the action beautifully.
Inspired by a park in China, Sara adds persimmons to her branches. (Sorry, this first sketch is much sharper than the photo would indicate).
After determining his color palette last week, Steve moves quickly to paint a Hawaiian bromeliad. Isn't this the essence of a classical botanical illustration?
Artist(s) of the day. Our library is back! Today we had two wonderful books. Bill brought a book that has inspired him, Gabriel Campanario's Art of Urban Sketching. It features hundreds of sketches by hundreds of artists from around the world—all of many different subjects in many different styles. Hmm.... kind of like today's class.
Our second book was The Voluptuous Return, a small book of watercolors by Mississippi artist Walter Anderson. We were simply blown away by the radiant watercolors and the exuberant brushwork. If ever you're in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, be sure to visit the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. From what we've seen (and based on testimonials from Greeta and Sara), you'll be truly amazed.
See you next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment