Saturday, March 30, 2019

March 30, 2019

Okay, all that talk about spring really being here this time? We have to take it all back. It's cold out there—with the possibility of freezing temperatures overnight! Nevertheless, we look at Tony's painting of Montrose Harbor and a blissful feeling of calm sweeps over us. With a soft, muted palette, Tony has captured a sense of tranquility and peace.


Steve is using the very same colors to paint a Parisian cathedral. He's beautifully captured the sense of standing before this intricate church on a gray-ish, rainy day. Those of us who visited Paris assured us that this is exactly the right feeling.


Elaine O.'s temple has a very different feeling. The weather is different; the building material is concrete with quartz instead of stone and these churches are halfway around the world from each other. Still, both artists managed to convey the sense of reverence and majesty these buildings invoked in them.


Susan is also trying to capture a feeling. In this case, she's trying to depict the sadness of a discarded carved wood sofa as it sits abandoned, littered with soda bottles and overgrown with plants. Still, she can't help but make it seem happy.


Speaking of happy, Elaine T. finished her little rider on the motor vehicle carousel at Kiddieland. Even if you don't remember Kiddieland, you can't help but feel the joy and excitement.


Another happy place for Elaine T. This is a tree from Kohler-Andrae State Park in Wisconsin. It looks as majestic as the cathedrals, doesn't it?


And since we're talking about camping, we can't neglect Farley (below). Elaine T.'s beloved dog was the best camping dog she ever had. Look closely at Farley's eyes. He's completely content and lord of all he sees. This is a dog with personality!


Elle's back and she's right in step—it's like she never left! Here's a lovely portrait in our popular "grandchild" genre. The delicate modeling is perfectly suited to a child's soft skin. And we love the textures of the sweater, hair and background.


Sara is continuing to inspire us with her series of portraits. Below, she finishes the Wyeth copy she started last week. The skin in the watercolor on the right is positively luminous!


Another Wyeth painting served as the model for this. Sara says this series is really helping both her drawing and painting skills. We can't help but agree and notice how well she models form with color and shape.


If you've been missing your Baby Nora fix, you can rest easy. Here's Nora as part of Sara's series. Look how quickly and easily Sara's caught her expression and personality? And how her baby skin is so perfect... but not overworked in the slightest.


Here's today's effort for Sara. Pat brought in an art book full of portraits and Sara did both the sketch and the direct watercolor in one morning. We're including the original painting, as well as Sara's copies, for your review. Impressive, no?


More historical women, this time from Ken. He's continuing his work on this woman based on a photograph by Julia Cameron. This is the famed Wood Nymph portrait, in case it feels familiar to you.


 It may also feel familiar because Ken has painted her several times before. Here's an old version from about 10 years ago. In this, she's more intense, but equally cool and interesting.


Richard's back today, too and he's painting cloth. Not just any cloth, this is a cloth with fruit in the cloth—and he's done a lovely job of painting both the print and the way the fabric folds and drapes.


But that's not all! Richard did some homework of a flower, anticipating spring. This is the right view, by the way. It's not upside down; it's a hanging flower!


Emilia used her morning to do the preliminary drawing of a sailing ship. It may be a little hard to see, but it's incredible and it will be exciting to see it painted.


And Emilia also did some homework. Just look at these lovely detailed drawings. She's using fineline markers for these and they are exquisite.


Be sure to come back next week for more exciting watercolors!

No comments:

Post a Comment