December 3, 2016

There was a definite chill in the air today. It's winter in Chicago! If we didn't know how hardy and resilient Chicagoans are, we might suspect that's why we were missing some of our artists. But we know better. Meanwhile, we begin with another sign of the season. If it's December and it's winter, it must be Christmas. And so, Susan painted a lush poinsettia... before she had to leave early for a Christmas party!

 

But that doesn't mean we can't take a look back at the last of the fall foliage. Alan uses the changing colors as inspiration for his continuing experiments with Brusho. Brusho is a kind of  dry crystal pigment. Just add water and it bursts into color! Below is a painting using pure Brusho on translucent Yupo.

Before Alan moves to traditional watercolor paper to paint a tree with ink and wash in traditional watercolors.

Here are two interesting paintings by Alan. Same subject.... same Brusho colors.... just a different support. First, here's Yupo....

... and here's the painting on traditional watercolor paper. Notice the difference in how each accepts the pigment. Which is your favorite?

Alan finishes his landscape below. He's using both Brusho (for the bright colors) and traditional watercolors. We love the composition and the colors in the stone wall.

Madeleine is also painting a landscape with stone accents and a lovely composition. Notice the ripples and reflections in the foreground and the pops of color in the boats against the trees and stone bridge. So calm and serene.

Here, Madeleine has begun to paint a texture-rich painting of thatched Irish rowhouses. Besides the thatched roof, there is a lot of texture in the wall and street. We're anxious to see how this progresses (or if Madeleine will quit now and call it Irish Cottages in a Snowstorm).

Bill is also painting landscapes. Here he revisits a painting he did of the Botanic Garden. We love the colors in the leaves and the reflections in the water.

 

 

Here, Bill finishes up the Irish church he started last week. Look closely at the lovely texture in the roof and how he used drybrush and an unexpected color to achieve this. We love what he's done here.

Finally, Bill paints an incredible sky over a Cozumel resort. It's even more beautiful in person than on screen. He's planning to add more details and values to the buildings in the foreground. Come back next week for an update.

Elaine concentrated on the building (actually, just a small portion of the facade of the Art Institute). Her only nod to sky are the two small pigeons perched on the carving and the arch. She's also used only two colors for this sketch, but they are not what you'd think. Perhaps in a nod to the season, she's used red and green. Get closer and see for yourself.

From cold stone in winter, Elaine moves to a baby in summer. As you can see, she hasn't gotten much farther than the drawing and a light wash of color, so we'll check back next week for more.

Greeta is also painting summer... in this case, a painting of her as a little girl with her father. We love the straw hat and especially the hair. You can just see the sun glistening on her red hair. Beautiful!

 

Alan isn't  our only experimenter. Here is a page from Greeta's sketchbook. She's sketching a still life to try out water-soluble markers for outlines. Zoom in—this is exquisite.

 Winter spells the end to the corn season.... except for Ken! He's taking his corn series one step further with this painting of dried corn stalks. We love the color palette!

One more "dried corn" painting for Ken. But here, he's moving to the abstract, painting only the interesting shapes he sees.

Michael finished three paintings today. Each one has a story and is far more complex than originally meets the eye. Here is an apple, which rules man and woman.

This minimal banana is also majestic and impressive. We can see how it is the ruler of all fruit.

And finally, Michael paints a Chinese temple with a single worshiper, lighting a single candle.

We mentioned earlier that some of us were missing. Sara, for instance. But she has a great excuse—she's in Paris! And while she was visiting the Musée d'Orsay, she thought of us! As you know, we have our occasional Saturday group sketches, and many of us carry and use sketchbooks. Sara noticed and shared some sketches from Pierre Bonnard. As you can see, he also carried a sketchbook...and used it!

Here are some of his "feeling" sketches. Notice the gestural quality of his sketches...

... and how the marks express emotion.

 

Here is one of Bonnard's sketches, this time of a woman bathing...

 

... and in a more finished version.

And with that, we leave you with best wishes for the holiday season with this photo from the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Yes, it's our own Ken, wearing his Santa cap and Cubs hoodie. What says Christmas in Chicago better than this?