And if that weren't enough, we had a special surprise guest speaker—Johanna Silva from Winsor & Newton. While it's always a pleasure when Johanna comes to visit, this time she came with news of two new products from Winsor & Newton—watercolor sticks and watercolor markers. That's right! New delivery systems for the highly-pigmented, intense colors W&N is famous for. We also received a sample of each to try out. Since the samples were French Ultramarine Blue, watch for us to enter a "blue" period in the weeks to come.
Unfortunately, in all the excitement, we forgot to take demonstration photos. But we do have photos of the samples, as you can see. They are very lightweight and compact and look like they will make a great addition to plein air kits.
Despite the excitement, we did manage to get some painting done. While we didn't have time for a proper showtime, there are photos to share, starting with Ken's cat eye. In this return to a popular series, the colors are more realistic and the texture is emphasized.
Madeleine is back from vacation and also painting cats. This one is from Ephesus.
And that's just the beginning. Madeleine has used her time off to paint all kinds of wonderful vacation scenes, like Turkey.
Not to be outdone, Bill joins in with an impressionistic hillside cityscape from the Netherlands.
They have done still life paintings, both cool and golden warm...
...and buildings—alone,
...with people,
Elaine has also finished her building, featuring crisp autumn sun on the Bahai temple.
Rosemary paints a still life painting, making use of complementary colors.
Glenn is back and he's on trend with a dual portrait. Notice the details, especially around the hair and eyes? Done with Winsor & Newton markers, no less! Glenn came back to class with a set of them and we all marveled at his new toys. Imagine our surprise when Johanna demonstrated them minutes later.
See what we mean about trends? Tony begins another study for a dual portrait.
And Ellen is working hard on her dual portrait. She's been busily doing studies to find the best background. Here is an incredible painting of ballerinas in performance. The limited complementary colors are used to great effect. Look at the orange as it defines the stagelights on the dancers.
Another limited-color study, this time a self-portrait. We love the Lautrec-ian lighting of both of these.
Back to the latest painting, she's adding a rich, deep ombre background, textured with salt. Perfect against the floating tulle skirts.
This, too, is part of a dual portrait, but Sara concentrates on just one of the heads in this study. With a detailed underdrawing and minimal layers, she's already achieved a great likeness.
Never underestimate the value of a good drawing. Steve has spent quite a bit of time drawing and masking. Those yellow lines are masking fluid, so he can boldly start adding color.
Isaac has also masked the edges of his flower (see the glossy green edges?) and has concentrated on the softly atmospheric background. Lovely!
Vivian is all about foliage, too. Her single leaf against the snow is really coming along as she adds shadows. In such a minimalist painting, the delicately asymmetric composition plays a huge part in guiding our eye and focusing our attention. This is a perfect example.
Another tree, this one by Nicola. This tree is vibrantly colored and richly textured. Even the sky uses blooms to describe summer clouds in motion.
Melissa almost finished one of the most valuable exercises we've ever done—the color wheel with tints and tones and shades. The white lines between color patches is a lovely touch.
You're invited!
Where:
Ten Cat Tavern
3931 N Ashland AvenueTen Cat Tavern
When:
Exhibition: February 6–March 22, 2016
Reception: February 20, 2016, 3pm
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