Tuesday, April 9, 2019

April 6, 2019

Happy Spring! As you can see, we're all feeling the spring vibe. Isa is painting flowers. She's added violet to the blue orchids to give them form. She's also using a new tool, a sponge, to add texture to the background. Look closely at that background and how the sponged sienna complements the light blue beneath. Don't you love complementary colors?


Still in the floral mood, Isa began work on another flower. This time, she's fascinated by one of our favorite colors. Yes, that's Opera! It'll be interesting to see what she does with this, since Isa has such a sophisticated color sense. Come back and see!


Elaine O. is out of her comfort zone. She's also painting flowers and using a touch of opera—neither of which are things she's known for! She says she may have to do this again to get the feeling she's after, but we're intrigued how this features all the stages of the petunia, from opening bud, to partially open, fully unfurled and ready to deadhead.


Elaine T. is also into nature. She's painting some of her favorite trees from Kohler Andrae Park while she eagerly awaits the chance to visit them in person. Seriously, look at how each tree is unique and carefully observed. These are truly tree portraits.


Here's Farley of the Woods in all his canine glory. Farley is Elaine T.'s faithful camping companion. Look at the expression on his face. He's happy, in control and in his element. We also applaud Elaine T.'s decision to paint Farley as a vignette instead of including a full background.


Elle's granddaughter is coming right along. Right now, Elle is working on modeling the face and hand, but already we can see character and personality—the marks of a successful portrait.


Sara has returned to the triple portrait that sparked her recent portrait series. This is a hard one. Not only is it a triple portrait with all three sitters on different planes with different lighting, but Sara knows all of them. All that portrait work has made a difference. Here is a quick study...


...and another one. We are impressed with Sara's use of color and highlight to create the facial structure and express the sitters' personality.


Portraits are the theme of the day! Ken finished this painting of a woman featured in Julia Cameron's photography book...


...and began to lay out this one. It's a portrait from the same book, but Ken is using his mosaic technique to paint her. Already, it has the feeling of old Roman mosaics (and a bit of the old Illustrator splash screens). Come back next week to see how this progresses.


Ever the rebel, Steve (who normally paints people) finished his architectural painting. It's amazing how much texture and detail he's managed to include with a monochrome subject, flatly lit on a grey day.


Tony's architectural subject is a little closer to home. This is the Wilson "L" station. Again, it's worth a closer look to see all the detail and to enjoy the way Tony has caught the feel of the light (isn't that shadow great?).


More places! Susan is painting a New Zealand Harbor, full of Kiwis enjoying water sports. We love the soft, watery colors she's used, giving the scene a sunny sparkle as well as the sense of water. 


Speaking of sailing ships on the high seas, Emilia finished painting the ship she had only sketched out last week. We're fascinated at how different a feeling this has from Susan's. Yet both convey their subjects (and the water) very well. Look at Emilia's reflections on the water!


In a different vein, Emilia bought a new blue art tool and drew Pegasus on black paper. This is marker and gel pen; the black paper really gives the lines a graphic quality.


Are you seeing a theme here? It seems Emilia, like Picasso, is entering a "blue" period. This is the beginning of her newest painting of a turtle. She's eschewing the typical greens for soft, watery blues and purples. Come back next week to see how this comes out!


Richard finished his cloth study with fruit. He especially noted that the background makes quite a difference to the painting. We agree. This is Richard's "graduation" painting and it's quite an ambitious one—with the folds, color mixing and composition.  Congratulations!


What's next for a newly advanced "old master"? Richard is doing urban sketches from out the window. He's emphasizing brushwork while he explores perspective.


Here are the perspective lines of a courtyard building across the street...


... and the same building again. Isn't the quality of the brush stroke lovely? It's like sumi-e work.


Once again, with more detail. Escpecially cool is that all of these were done on one long sheet of paper, like a scroll. It really adds to the viewing experience.


See you next week!

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