Grandson Wyatt. His first beard. It amused me that he grew it while he still had braces….but ended up not including them. Hope I’ve learned the lesson after this…Use a bigger piece of paper😳
Friday, July 25, 2025
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Can’t see the forest….
Here’s a painting I did a few years ago . It’s on a piece of crummy sketch paper, but i really like it and that’s what I’m trying to recreate in a larger format.
So these are all the trees I’ve been painting and this is my reference photo. And it just dawned on me this minute that the first painting is not confined by a window frame…and I know, none of the paintings look like the reference photo…and the reference photo looks nothing like the first painting that I really like…I’m just a confused person….does anyone know what happened to Alan and Greeta?
FALL 1
ADLTART 1003-SC (37050)
Watercolor Painting Sat 9:00AM - 12:00PM TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901 Sep 6, 2025-Oct 18, 2025
ADLTART 1003-SC2 (37051)
Watercolor Painting Sat 12:15PM - 3:15PM TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901 Sep 6, 2025-Oct 18, 2025
FALL 2
ADLTART 1003-SD (37052)
Watercolor Painting Sat 9:00AM - 12:00PM TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901 Oct 25, 2025-Dec 13, 2025 (off Nov 29)
ADLTART 1003-SD2 (37053)
Watercolor Painting Sat 12:15PM - 3:15PM TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901 Oct 25, 2025-Dec 13, 2025 (off Nov 29)
On-line registration is open now
Monday, July 21, 2025
In progress
No trees I am afraid. I love the flowing undulations of the Lurie Gardens. Maybe too many different colors and maybe it could use some tall plants close up.
Tree is going to need some work to fit in, but I need to fill in more background to find out how that might work.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
July 19, 2025 — Elaine O.
Here's the dilemma when you have a really good reference photo. Do you try to paint it, knowing it may never be as good, or do you just let it be its own beautiful photo self and paint something else? I took a chance painting a photo of my Mom's bathroom window. I'm about 75% finished here and I haven't ruined it yet. Next week will tell, I think.
approx. 9" x 12" |
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Winter in Summer 71995
The first version of this neighborhood scenery sometime in February 2025 drew comments on the dog and her walker. The rest of the painting was a major application of white or lightest values to show it was a heavy snowfall. I was not able to show the silhouettes of the houses across the street nor did I highlight the bodies, the leaves and the trunks of the 2 trees. Thus, when I prepared my painting stuff into my 2 paint bags, I picked up this February painting with a plan to improve the values and create an acceptable Andersonville snowball winter story. During the Saturday class of July 19, I converted the 12" X 9" into a square 9" X 9" by cutting the top 3 inches of the paper which showed the painting of the curtain like mini canopy of the pine trees of my house & my neighbor's. The removal made the composition easier to arrange. I added the bike & stop sign at the top right empty space. I defined the houses across the street and added the blue car on the left. I added the turquoise shadows of the dog and the walker. And then I have the revised snow scene of July 19! Happy Painting!
Monday, July 14, 2025
Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.
Pat didn't like that big butt under the trees so under her leadership I converted it to gently undulating grasses, or something.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Summer Dance 71225
Pat and I agreed that my Starbucks photo of the Friday patrons that I took would make an interesting composition for my July 12 watercolor! However, as soon as she left me, I reviewed my recent memories of Philippine Independence celebration in downtown Daley Center on June 12. Two performers, wearing colorful highland natives costumes and who danced spiritedly with the sound of a gong only seemed more interesting than a group of coffee drinkers. I painted the 2 dancers who wore flesh colored underwear beneath the layers of tribal clothing. After I sketched and colored the 2 dancers, I felt that they deserved a rainbow of background colors rather than the bare stage of the Daley Center outdoor stage. I used watercolor paints from my pans of new watercolor. The addition of colors directly from 2 or 3 tubes of watercolors
added vitality to the imagined scenario of a couple in the middle of a domestic dispute. Happy Painting to All!
Monday, July 7, 2025
Monday, June 30, 2025
Two paintings …
Both of these turned out pretty well. I might try a more careful version of the top one, but being careful might ruin it….
A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair;
Sunday, June 29, 2025
June 28, 2025 — Elaine O.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
My Beautiful Philippines
I painted the Golden Anniversary of The Celebration of Philippiine Independence from Spain inspired by a downtown flag raising event last June 12, 2025 from a Noontime Cultural Show at Daley Center to a Parade with stopover at Millennium park to the final destination at Buckingham fountain. I wore a red dress, one of 3 colors of Philippine flag: red, blue, yellow. I started the scenario with my figure wearing a bright red dress. And then I met a problem of emphasizing the other major figures of the parade instead of me; a past organizer. When I felt that I should relate what I saw and enjoyed at the fervor and majesty of the moment plus the native bamboo and tropical colors, then I knew I got a painting. I included a poem circa 1992 which I wrote when I was a young immigrant professional!
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Monday, June 23, 2025
A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
Thought I would do a little touching up with this after class. But it turned out that it needed a lot more work. One of those times when I was in tune with the painting and it told me exactly what to do.
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Matting math….
So here they are, all matted and framed and hanging on the wall. They look great, just ignore the reflections…cutting mats is not any easier than it used to be. I still do the math three times and get three different answers, even with a calculator. And using a mat cutter after all these years is like trying to remember your high school French. But thanks to Pat, I know how to do it! (Remember those awful mat cutting classes?) Now I’m going to have the girls develop fairy tales to go along with their paintings!
June 21, 2025 — Elaine O.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Summer painting…
This is a small one off I painted directly in class. It’s the Queen of Denmark rose in my yard. Actually I painted it next to Joe…
They do kinda of go together!
Still working on this little princess…someone in class suggested I do her skirt similarly to Nora’s in the painting below. I like that idea.
But the background is troubling me…
I darkened the tree shadows on this and also shaded her skirt. Maybe it’s done now…
Monday, June 16, 2025
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
5x7. Crop of one of the trees I found in the Art Institute. Likely we start a bigger one afterwards
Sunday, June 15, 2025
June 14, 2025 — Elaine O.
It's been a while but it certainly did feel good to be back painting. I'm calling this still life finished. More bad sizing surprises but they're mostly around the edges, so it's croppable. I'm not sure I totally succeeded at the crystal bowl, but there are things I like. And, for some reason, the peacock feather amuses me. Actually, upon reflection, I might go back and nestle those lemons in the bowl a little more.
13" x 9" |
And, with a little time to kill, I played with my watercolor pencils in my sketchbook. I used three colors and all kinds of techniques on this little orange, and I like it a lot better after stepping away for a day.
5" x 5" |
Interesting observation, though—What's my sudden fascination with citrus fruits and warm colors? I also have a bag of key limes at hand. I already used one bag to make a key lime pie. It was delicious, but now I wish I'd painted it before eating it.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
A visit to the Art Institute
Since nobody else is posting I will post again to fill that vacuum because you know how Mother Nature feels about vacuums. Had a little visit to the Art Institute this Sunday and wandered into a little nook chock full of John Constable and his ilk. Trees, trees, trees, magnificent trees, magnificently painted trees, proud and plaintive. I took photos, came back the next day and took more. I have about eight of them and I am going to do sketches of them on 5x7 yupo. I had second thoughts yesterday, won't I be just copying? But of course I don't have the ability to do that. I will just start out that way and after that I will leave my ship to the tides and the storms like I always do.
I just finished the first one this morning, and of course I think it's great. Here it is.
And speaking of the Art Institute, you have to make a trip out there soon and see this:
https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/10569/raqib-shaw-paradise-lost
Sunday, June 8, 2025
ce ne sont pas des arbres
This is a version of the same thing only in red instead of green. The first version had more branches, more yellow, more details but it was well, boring. I mixed things up a bit and made the brushstrokes more evident, and I hope I have moved it from boring to um, interesting. 5x7
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Painting day!
Well, since it was unhealthy to go outside and breathe today, I finally found some time to finish this small painting I started a million weeks ago. Ok, maybe it looks more like Henry Kissinger than Joe, but overall I’m pretty pleased with it. I like the sense of light I was able to achieve. I also like the hassock, although those pencil lines are the crop marks for the frame, so it won’t be quite as prominent.
Sunday, June 1, 2025
Mr Eclectic
5x7 just some ordinary vegetation. a cool bush in Lurie Park.
Added that winter coneflower to give it some depth and to counterbalance the march of the trees on the hill, still 9x12.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Paint Along
Everyone in class was given the same B&W photo and time to draw it. Then teacher had us all watch as he painted. He’d paint for 10 min then we’d paint for 20, etc. until we finished.
Still working on mine, Trying to get my subject to be the correct gender. The luscious shirt color is DS Perylene Maroon.Monday, May 26, 2025
Sunday, May 25, 2025
May 24, 2025 — Elaine O.
Oh, no! Can you see it? We have sizing issues on the paper edges! I'm still going to finish this still life, but remember, boys and girls—DO NOT SAVE YOUR PAPER "FOR GOOD!" Use it. Use it now. They keep making paper.
14" x 11" |
Just to be clear, I think this block may have been water damaged—I noticed it on the Dave at Versailles painting, stopped using this block and forgot about it. So, it's not totally the fault of the paper sizing, but my advice still stands.
Monday, May 19, 2025
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Sorry, no cats this week.
I was putting paint down and adding water and blotching with a Viva towel, repeat and repeat, and at some point it looked like that, and I thought that looks pretty good, so I stopped. 5x7.
I took a cropping of the previous image meaning to apply the same treatment as above, but you never want to repeat yourself, and I think I have gone astray, but I haven't given up on it yet. 5x7.