April 21, 2018

Happy spring.... for real this time! It was a bit grey, but we think we've really turned a corner on this winter thing. Remember how we were all about nature and big skies last week? We're still interested! We begin with Yi's finished sunset. She's added the foreground mountain, house and treeline, but the focus remains on the incredible Maxfield Parrish-like sky. Look closely. This is exquisite.

And then, Yi moves from the fiery sunset to a delicate morning glory. She's only begun, but the drawing is in place and she's beginning to add soft blue washes. 

Isa is working on flowers too. These lovely roses are made of fabric and attached to a ribbon. You can't tell, but let us assure you that the brilliant color is spot on. What may be helpful is that Isa is using cold pressed paper instead of the hot pressed paper she used before. She likes it much better.

Ken is painting nature, hoping his tomato series will last until he gets real tomatoes growing. Notice that the mosaic elements on the tomatoes are circles instead of squares. This combines mosaic with pointillism (or maybe even printer dots ala Lichtenstein) and gives the tomatoes a whole new feel.

Susan paints people in nature. This is a garden resort from her recent trip to Asia. People come to these theme gardens to propose and take romantic pictures. Here, Susan and her husband share the ambiance with friends. It feels warm, friendly and tropical.

So does Steve's painting. He's added his merman to the water, removed the masking fluid from the wave froth and added reflections and depth. This is another one to zoom in on. You can actually feel the sun on the water, see the curve of the wave and hear the surf splashing.

Like Steve, Sara is a big fan of multiples. Here is a preliminary sketch for a painting of Uncle Andrew doing his Rafiki/Lion King bit with baby Nora. The gridding allows for perfect proportions when resizing. Notice the hands. These are some of the hardest things for artists and this pose is all about the hands. And Sara has them nailed!

Painting the same models or poses gives an artist comfort and familiarity—and makes for a better painting. Madeleine is working on two paintings simultaneously, but they both feature relatives that she is very familiar with. This beautifully composed painting is of her husband, daughter and grandson....

...and here's her grandson in Washington DC. We know it's early yet, but even the light washes look great. Come back to see how these progress.

Just as we paint people we know and love, we paint places to memorialize them, remember good times, and re-live vacations. That's just what Bill is doing here in Bruges. He's captured the grey day, along with the distinctive architecture.

Elaine is also painting a cityscape, but hers is much closer to home... and uses a totally different style. This is an eye-catching facade on Clark Street in Chicago. It's done in a loose illustration style, which started when she experimented with an ink brush pen (after she had to give up on a dried out Sharpie). It's not photo-realism, but it captures her memory of the crisp, sunny winter day.

Mae is also into architecture. Look carefully, though! This isn't painted out of whole cloth. It's an exercise where we clip a bit from a magazine, paste it onto watercolor paper and expand the scene from the clipping. The goal is color matching, but this is so much more than that. Most of us couldn't tell where the clipping stopped and the painting began...

...so we outlined the magazine part for you. Mae is good, isn't she?

Here's another of our favorite exercises—the paper towel and skin. Mae has a page of lovely swatches as she does the exercise. 

And then, just  for extra credit, Mae used this page to play with colors and scenes. We love the panels and the feel of a graphic novel, not to mention the individual panels. We can't decide which we like best.

Tal is also doing extra credit. This is an avocado tree he's grown from seed. It's only a year and a half, so it's still years from a guacamole harvest, but it's perfect for painting. The leaves are well observed and painted and the pot is nicely rounded, but the most interesting effect is the way Tal has created a spotlight to highlight the tree. 

And here's another of our favorite exercises—the three-way fruit or vegetable. Tal has painted a zucchini three different ways. From the top, very wet; then very dry; and then a combination of the two. They all look great and we're always surprised to see the different feel each style produces.

There's still time to catch our show at Ten Cat. It will be up another week or two and here are the details. Now that the weather's getting better, what better destination for a walk in the sun?

The Ten Cat Group Watercolor Show.  We are still at Ten Cat! The paintings are on display in the windows and you can stroll by and see them. See the postcard below for details.

      Where:
      Ten Cat Tavern

      3931 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL

     When:
     Exhibition: February 18–April 30, 2018