Alan is also a big fan of the yellow/purple combination, even though his produce of choice is the onion rather than corn. He's back to his favorite paper here, Yupo, after a period of experimentation.
Let's take a quick look at some of Alan's experiments. Remember back when Steve was trying the watercolor canvas? He gave a packet to Alan. Results below! Alan kept the same subject and the same colors. Here, he uses the canvas as is. Look closely to see the canvas texture.
Here, he's coated the canvas with gesso for a smoother, cleaner result.
Finally, Alan paints a city skyline at sunset. He especially likes the canvas for its ability to lift cleanly.
Alan turns to illustration board here to start this painting of a barn nestled in the Michigan woods. It's cold pressed board and especially designed for watercolor; it yields much better results than the cardboard-y illustration board he tried a few weeks ago.
Bill finished this soft watercolor of the Irish countryside. It seems minimal in color, but look closely at the range of colors Bill used to create this effect—especially the gray stone.
From Ireland to Sheridan Road, Bill's architectural study moves from stone and gently rolling hills to steel girders and dark glass. He's equally successful at both.
Back in Ireland, Madeleine paints another of our favorite subjects—people. This dual portrait silhouettes full length people on a bridge against hills and a clear sky. We love the jeans!
Elaine's painting touches many of our themes. It's a portrait; it's an experiment; and it's set in a vacation location. This little cutie is basking in the warmth of a San Diego winter. The paper is new to Elaine, but she's liking it so far.
First time self-portraits shouldn't look this good! And yet, Isaac's painting would make an experienced portrait artist proud. Painted from a small camera reference photo, he's created a large painting with lovely highlights, shadows and color choices. He's handled all the "hard" bits with ease and to top it off, it looks like him!
Ellen has missed a few sessions (life happens!), but she's finished her gondolier. Remember how she started with yellows and other warm colors? Very few yellows remain visible, but there is a resulting golden glow that we love.
Sara is also hitting all our sweet spots with this vacation self-portrait. Great color, great composition. So many things could go wrong with the intense blocks of color and black—yet Sara handles it with aplomb. Look at the tiny sliver of color from the red cup against the monochrome right side. Brilliant!
Back to one of our favorite themes, Sara paints a still life of produce—heirloom tomatoes in this case. The colors and highlights are spot on and this simply says summer to us.
Look closely to see the produce in Greeta's painting. She's gone back to darken some of the walls in this witty painting of a still life.... being painted as a still life.
Having conquered produce, Greeta's moving on to livestock. This summery painting of a family of cows on a beach uses Greeta's favorite set of complementary colors, blue and yellow/orange.
Gotta love the way we think in series and love to experiment. Glen revisits his carousel horse but on cold-pressed paper. He's much happier with the paint handling in the sky and modeling on the horse. We agree!
We've noticed an increased interest in birds lately. And when they look as incredible as Steve's, we are not surprised. This is based on a small reference photo and we can assure you that the bird really is this color! And we love the contrast between the richly colored and textured bird and branch against the suggestion of a tropical backdrop.
Surely you didn't think you'd escape fall without another painting of autumn leaves! But did you expect one as lovely as Susan's? The colors, skyholes, and calligraphic branches make this painting quintessentially autumn. These trees are on Ashland Avenue in Chicago in case you want to visit.
Wondering what our newbies are doing on the last day of the term? We're here to tell you that they are doing amazing things! Erika introduced us to dragonfruit in the painting below. We're both intrigued and impressed with the beautiful colors, brushwork and background.
We love Pia's still life below. The grapes are shiny and lovely. The composition snuggles the fruit into a nest of fabric. And look at the fabric! It's so richly colored and beautifully textured, we want to touch it. It looks like suede, doesn't it?
It's the last class of the term, but we'll be back next week, beginning with no break! Our newbies will graduate to old masters and we're hoping to see them back. They are amazing!
Those of us who attended Bill and Madeleine's opening reception at the Ten Cat last week had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and we spent a lovely afternoon in the garden, enjoying good art and good company. What could be better? If you want to see the art, it's still up in the windows of the Ten Cat. Drop by—the address is 3931 N. Ashland Avenue in Chicago.
Oh, and one more thing.... go Cubs!
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