A Hodgepodge of Subjects…

 I did this before but I like this one much better. I used neutral tint for the shadows. I might have to frame it. It’s in a sketchbook, maybe 6 x 10?

The top study is small, may 4 x4.. the head and hand look a little disembodied, but I like the way the face is painted. The second one is larger, maybe 8x10. I like the pose but there’s a lot of grays and browns in the clothes. I may have to jazz it up or mute the whole thing except for the two heads…

I’m going thru old sketchbooks and repainting unfinished or bad looking sketches. This was once a giant pear on two blocks,. Now it’s a squash on two books.. this is an old Arches sketchbook and the paper is so Lucious to paint on. It just absorbs layer after layer of color. 

Oh look, I even did an abstract this week, although really it was more of a color study…this is on Fabriano sketchbook, which isn’t bad,but not nearly as absorbent as the Arches. Neither claim to be 100 percent cotton but you can clearly see the difference between the two papers. The color kind of sits on top of the Fabriano.

September 14, 2024 — Elaine O.

After a week suffering through the world's worst cold, I barely managed to sketch out my next painting. But when I went to start adding color, I found my mixing area full of old paint. Time for some palette cleaning! Hence, this sketchbook piece of some dead flies. As you can see, they aren't symmetrical or perfectly formed because the little nuisances have been squished. Still, they do have a lovely sheen and exquisite wings, don't they?

approx. 8" x 5.5"

Alan Summer 12

 Another attempt at gouache resist using a different technique. 

First I painted a simple still life. I liked it except for the bad bananas 

Then I put on a coat of white gouache being careful to leave space for the ink. 

Then I put a thin layer of india ink ovet the entire thing. 

Then I washed off the ink and gouache in the sink gently brushing. I might have taken off too much. The white gouache mixes with the watercolor and kind of stabilizes it and makes it more opaque. 

For the last step, I increase some values and add some detail. 

Here’s the one that starts out with the painted gouache still life and puts the india ink on top of that. It looks kinds like a woodcut.

I learned a lot from this technique but it’s really time consuming (a lot of waiting for things to dry) and when you make a mistake with the ink there’s not a lot you can do about it. I would do it again while I was painting other things or as a way to change a painting I don’t like. 

Going small.

 Those viney things are too dark and indefinite, but otherwise I think it is okay.

And here are some postcards I have been working on.

Alan Summer 11

 OK. Another stab at gouache resist following Elaine’s technique. 

First a simple still life painted with gouache on 140# rough. 

Then brush on a thin layer of India ink. 

After letting thoroughly dry and using a soft brush I ran the painting under running water and removed the ink. I might have removed too much. 

Then I went back in with watercolor and added some darker values. After that dried I used some white gouache to add some highlights. 

I think this woodcut looking style would be better suited for older buildings or some landscapes. 

I am going to try this again using a different gouache resist technique. It’s a lot of work with lots of decisions to be made.  We’ll see if it’s worth it. 

Too much?

 On Saturday I was really perturbed by those curvey vertical lines trailing viridian, so today I put risky turquoise on the viridian side and raw sienna on the the other side, and gave both sides a lower left to upper right drift and now I think it has a stronger foreground/background look which gives it more order which it needed.  Almost done I think.

Copy catting….

 I’m spending my recuperation time copying paintings that I like, mainly for their color and sense of contrast, which creates great drama imo. It is  really hard to get the dark darks in watercolor, and maybe watercolor doesn’t lend itself to that sense of drama. So what are the traits of watcrcolor that can be exploited to create that sense of drama? Besides trying to answer this burning question, I’m doing fine. It’s amazing how they can stick a bunch of metal parts in you and it feels no different, except it doesn’t hurt to walk anymore!

September 7, 2024 — Elaine O.

I still haven't decided on my next painting, so I'm searching for inspiration in my sketchbook. I've played some more with separating/granulating colors, using the honesty plant and just trying to create some of my own mixes.

Back to direct watercolor, I've tried quick portraits...

...and a cityscape. This is a church door in Paris. I loved the bright red against the stone facade, with the black accent in the iron fencing. I'm considering doing this as a full painting.

It was good to be back painting with the group! Oh, for reference, all of the above are about 8" x 5.5". 

It’s Weird But I Like It

 Using my cheapie disposable fountain pen from Blick, just contour drew one of the pots in my garden. Got to use my new Daniel Smith perylene maroon. 

Alan Summer 10

 I was, of course, fascinated by Elaine’s gouache resist technique. Here’s what happened to me. I started out with a simple gouache still life. 

I let it dry completely and I washed over it with India ink. I let that dry completely overnight. 

Then I washed the ink off in the sink. 

You might be able to see that the paper (decent paper) was destroyed in the process. I highlighted areas where there’s hardly any paper left. Then I balled it up and took it to the trash. I might have been using really cheap gouache, I might have put too thick a coat of ink, I might have rubbed too hard (although I don’t think so), or something else. I went online and found a Blogger post by a woman named Sonjia called paperpaintprint who does this too but she paints a rough watercolor then goes over the places that she wants to save with white gouache. If she really wants to save a color, she’ll paint another layer of gouache over that part. After completely letting it dry, she uses a brush and running water to wash off the ink in the sink. After it dries, she touches it up with watercolor. It looked great but I can’t figure out how to point you to her blogger post. 

I’ll try again. 

So I walked around my neighborhood to do a little urban sketching. I found these morning glories that live across the alley from me. 

             

      5 X 5 hot press

        

I tried a little more abstract.

      5 X 5 hot press 

Then I found some black eyed susans down the street. 

     5 X 5 on hot press. 

Not happy with any of this. Back to gouache resist for another try. 

Blue Poles

 This is the first paint centric on big paper.  So far so good I think, but I have been wrong before.

Closet Cleaning

 Well, now I know what I have….and it’s way too much. This is a rerun from a series I did during the pandemic. Photo by Wendy Fischer Hartman who has published a book of her street photography. This guy is on the SW corner of Michigan and Washington…there’s a glimpse of the Cultural Center across the street .  Keep my eye out for him when I’m downtown but no luck so far  

August 31, 2024 — Elaine O.

Before we get back to serious back-to-school painting, I've been experimenting, palette cleaning and using up supplies. Here's the honesty plant again, using two colors that seem to hate each other (seriously, they separate even as you mix then!) but make beautiful washes together.

approx. 8" x 5.5"

Then I found a sketchbook paper that actually hates masking fluid. I did a light wash, then masked, then applied the background. So far, so good. When I went to remove the mask, it scarred the paper underneath and tore strips from the background, too. And I was being very gentle.

approx. 8" x 5.5"

Then, there's palette cleaning. Besides the palette dirt, I have a few colors that are almost used up and won't be replaced. I don't want to waste the paint, so I did some direct watercolor portraits. Both of these have little regard for actual local color. I'm just using up paint and working on portraiture. Both are approx. 8" x 5.5".

And now it's time to refresh my palette and prepare for some "real" painting when the gang gets back together.