A tree and a meadow

I think this needs something more but not sure what.

I think this one is done.

 

 

July 26, 2025 — Elaine O.

Here it is in all its glory—a bathroom window. I loved the light bouncing around all the reflective surfaces, framing the solid backlit plant. I tried to rely on color rather than value to get that effect and I think it worked. At any rate, I am very happy with the way this turned out.

The Bathroom Window    9" x 12"

After all that dancing visual patterning, I wanted something calmer and simpler (and easier?). Same bathroom, but a more serene corner. This may be a study. I like the composition, and I like the blue-green color, but the paint has some opaque white in it and it feels chalky and splotchy. I do like that liquid soap bottle, though!

approx. 10" x 13"

Makes me wonder if I've found a new series—bathrooms?

Almost There

 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😳

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?

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Watercolor Painting     Sat 9:00AM - 12:00PM    TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901    Sep 6, 2025-Oct 18, 2025                 

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Watercolor Painting     Sat 12:15PM - 3:15PM    TR Bldg 1 - Rm 3901     Sep 6, 2025-Oct 18, 2025
                
    
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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.

 

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"

 

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!

Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

Compared with my earlier trees, who I think looked rather stately, these are a bit rougher and more paint centric.

Kind of looks like they are dancing don't it.  I might have to step in briefly to make those two right trees more grounded.

 Pat didn't like that big butt under the trees so under her leadership I converted it to gently undulating grasses, or something.

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!

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain.

Too smooth?

 Too rough?