Ken's painting animals, too. He's back to the Not That Damn Cat Again series, but his emphasis is less on the cat and more on the quality and texture of the paint. Doesn't that stripe feel just like fur? Mission accomplished!
In what may be the last in the series, Ken is painting the same subject, but with a reddish nasal stripe. Again, this feels like a warm furry blanket.
Susan's back from vacation and she's also painting animals, but her subject is a delicious spicy fish. This looks almost too good to eat, doesn't it? We enjoyed identifying the lemons, peppers and spices and the way this is both realistic and abstract.
While she was on vacation, Susan took her paints with her. She was so busy, though, that all she managed to paint was this lone bougainvillea plant.
We're glad to welcome Steve back too. He spent a good deal of time trying to find a substitute for Opera (it's a beautiful, vibrant—but fugitive—paint color) when painting skin. If you look at the chart below, he's combined all his yellows with all his reds. He's mixed them on the palette and glazed them. And guess what? He couldn't find anything that worked as well for him as Opera.
...So Steve added a final glaze of Opera to his study. Sometimes, there is no substitute for a good thing.
Sara's continuing with her experimental series. She's painting portraits, both with pencil lines and watercolor wash and as direct watercolor. Her goal is to paint portraits with the same freshness and energy she brings to her sketches. Here, she's finished the portrait she began last week....
...before moving on to the delicate portrait below. This is based on a black and white photo of an oil painting.
This may be our favorite (so far). The image doesn't fully capture the glow Sara's color choices impart, but we can assure you that this is truly beautiful.
Now, Sara's continuing her series, but she's looking for poses other than the full frontal ones she's painted so far. We see the pencil/watercolor sketch is looser than ever as Sara makes the mental switch to "seeing in paint." This is really a valuable exercise.
Elaine O. is also working on a experimental series. Her subject, however, is Snow. Here's a portrait of a Chicago street at night. The colors aren't quite right on the computer screen, but the real painting captures the peaceful feeling of a freshly-shoveled street in the evening after a snowfall.
Elaine O.'s next painting is the impetus for the entire Snow series. The reference photo is of an early season snowfall; white snow swirls and almost obscures the buildings. Meanwhile, patches of leaves (red, yellow and green!) still cling to the trees. This is difficult in watercolor, so this calls for more experimentation. Below, Elaine is trying several techniques—so far, we see white gouache spatter—and we'll wait to see how the other techniques look.
Richard is using the plastic grapes as a subject for his three-way fruit. (Don't laugh! Those plastic grapes are surprisingly attractive.) This is the wet-in-wet version. Richard has maintained a lot of control in this technique.
Yes, this is the giant fruit exercise. Richard has chosen the inside of a fig. It looks beautifully abstract, doesn't it?
Emilia paints a delicate family of fruits. The translucent plastic grapes appear as a "fruit hat" atop an apple. Look closely at the delicate shadows. They are beautifully observed, aren't they?
Then, Emilia makes a radical leap from the delicacy of the still life above to the graphic quality of the pen/marker sketches below. Come back next week as Emilia is planning to combine the media. Should be interesting!
Hedda experimented with complementary colors. Among the sophisticated colors, she managed to achieve the paper towel color and her skin tone. Happy accident!
On the magazine clipping expansion exercise, Hedda proved to be quite an overachiever. She's added color to the monochrome clipping, making it seem like an intentional illustration.
Zipping right along, Hedda chose a lemon for the three-way fruit. You'll have to look closely to see how well she's modeled the subject in the dry-on-dry and combination lemons below.
And, if that weren't enough, we leave you with this harbinger of spring. Yes, this lovely watercolor is Hedda's. It's quintessentially watercolor, both in subject and style.
Upcoming events and important announcements
And now, get your calendars handy. You are invited to the following ... in date order.
Open Sketch date It's an open sketch/photography session on Saturday, March 9 from 12:00–3:00pm at St. Gregory the Great Church. This is a great opportunity to see a magnificent architectural treasure and enjoy sketching, so bring your cameras, sketch pads, pens and pencils. A docent will also be on hand to answer questions if you have any.
Where:
St. Gregory the Great Church
5545 N. Paulina
Church entrance is on the corner of Gregory and Paulina;
one block west of Ashland and one block south of Bryn Mawr
When:
Saturday, March 9
12:00–3:00pm
OneSight Vision Care Clinic
Truman College, Chicago is partnering with OneSight to provide free prescription glasses to 800 current students.
The Free Vision Care Clinic is on March 11, 13 and 14, 2019.
Where: Truman College, Chicago
To make an apppointment:
1) Preregister in front of the cafeteria on one of the following days:To make an apppointment:
- Monday, Mar 4, 1-5pm
- Tuesday, Mar 5, 11am-2:30pm
- Wednesday, Mar 6, 9am-1pm
- Thursday, Mar 7, 9am-5pm
- Friday, Mar 8, 10am-2pm
2) Be sure to bring a current Truman ID.
3) You will also need to sign a waiver.
3) You will also need to sign a waiver.
If you have any questions about the vision clinic, please contact Angie Hill, Facilities Coordinator, at (773) 907-4457.
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