two adventures

I put down an abstracted dark background of indigo and sepia, kind of a grid pattern, but then I didn't get back to it right away and that's why she has those grid lines through her face.  Kind of interesting I think but once again I am more interested in the background than her face.

This was originally like an exercise with different shades of blue (my weakest color) and interaction with warm colors.  But then because it is yupo, and it was sitting around my studio, and I had a full palette of paint, and half of my brushes sitting there, and the sun was blasting it, and I was wearing sunglasses, I had at it.  Order has the upper hand right now, but like I said I have a full palette, and brushes, and water, I am going after it again. 

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark... and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
 

The Puddle

 I think the dog stole the show.  I may play around with this, but I’ve lost interest. The texture is in the back when it should be in the foreground and the values seem too similar. 

April 11, 2026—Elaine O.

More of the countertop landscape is slowly making an appearance. Still some work to be done, but we're getting there.

10" x 14"

Alan Spring 2-2026

 In response to Ken’s statement that there are no beautiful automobiles in America, I give you the Chevy Van. I’ll mat it like a triptych when I buy some more mat board. 

The big one is 9 X 12 on 140 # coldpress and the little ones are 5 X 7.  Tires are hard to paint  

And for something completely different this is a mountain pond on Yupo. 

I need to do something about that blue streak and maybe tone down the value of the purple rocks on the mountain face. I like the top third and the bottom third but I somehow need to link them in the middle. 

Aileen revisted

 Since I didn't have much to lose I did a makeover on Aileen like I did on the hillside which became a volcano.  And I daresay I like this version of her much better.  Instead of doing my usual tentative little strokes I put on some big swatches of solid color, mostly on the left side and let it dry completely before I came back in.  It's still obvious that I was mostly interested in the background, but I think her face has more gravitas, and she has more of an attitude like well, maybe her people have been wronged, or maybe somebody stepped ahead of her in line.

Aileen and the volcano.

Well I tell you, I felt pretty good when I took Aileen home Saturday afternoon.  Oh I knew she was off but I thought I had made a good start on what could become a new series.  But pulling it out of the bag Sunday morning I realized it wasn't very good.  It's obvious all I was interested in was her hair, the background, and her blouse.  The only interest I had in the poor girl's face was getting her eyes and nose in the right place and giving her some kind of Mona Lisa expression, which turned out to be just passable if you are very generous and don't look at it very long.   

 Felt a little forlorn about Aileen and my loss of a path forward, and I looked at this hillside from last week which had gotten away from me and I thought I saw something.  Wasn't sure what it was and I came in recklessly with a very wet brush and swung it around like I was cleaning out a dusty shed and I discovered that it was a volcano.  Not bad huh?

March 4, 2026 — Elaine O.

Welcome to my kitchen! Well, just the beginning of just one counter. I originally was drawn to the way the appliances on the counter looked like a museum display under the lights. Now to see if I can live up to the inspiration. 

Playing around….

 I did a quick new version of these two lovebirds, with a larger, more dramatic sky. Not sure it’s the direction I want to go in…here’s the other version for comparison …inexplicably they appear larger in the first version below, but they are actually the same size in both paintings. I’m favoring the first version (below) because the emphasis is on them….i also like the less dramatic water and sky….

Oh, and here’s the recent self portrait— directly painted…I didn’t even comb my hair…

A motley crew

This one got away from me.

This one never went anywhere.

 And this one. Well I have some hope for it.

No More Portraits Under Pressure

 

Moved to a different photo. Still doesn’t look like him. Time to paint some flowers or trees. 

March 28, 2026 — Elaine O.

Small changes—yet, it's taken hours to imagine and sketch a person who is still not quite right. And then, something's happening where the paper around her won't take paint right. All in all, this takes the painting from a "masterpiece" to a "learning experience." Still, there are things I like and I'm happy with the memory.

Pont-Neuf, Having Just Missed the Train, 14" x 10"

By the sea….

 

This turned out not too badly. I’m trying to get that look of the weird sunlight that pops thru the clouds before the storm. Maybe it needs more sky, less beach to get that across.

Last round, Ken suggested I take his nose  off of her knees, but the separation definitely changes the mood imo. Maybe that and the dark troubled sky …definitely a friendlier vibe in the bottom one…and better weather. Not really in love with this pose. I tell you there is so much paint on these two…I really should just transfer from watercolor to gouache.

Alan Spring 2026-1

 Still have more skaters to do. On 8 1/2 X 12 Yupo it’s more like what I was going for even with some logic errors. More to do sometime. 

  

Still working on my little exercises on 140# cold press. 

January sunset. 

Chair with pillows and blankets. 

March 21, 2026 — Elaine O.

So close! I just have a few tiny tweaks left—oh, and I still have to resolve that whole lower right corner. I think this needs a person waiting for the train. Next week for sure!

14" x 10"

Mark Your Calendar! Photography Exhibition

Our creativity doesn't stop with watercolor. You're invited to a photography exhibition featuring our very own Elsa.

 It's Friday, March 27, from 6-10pm only, so mark your calendar!

More hills

July

November

Hard to tell

March 14, 2026 — Elaine O.

I know it's a little difficult to see what's going on yet, but it's a train station in Paris. It's pretty minimal in color but I'm really drawn to the perspective lines of the tracks, platform and tiles. 

14" x 10"

Falling down a hill

Mostly working on the blue in the sky on this one, but I like the the way the hill stood up for itself.

 This guy is going to have to step out of the shadow of his big brother and I may just have a way to help him out.

Life’s a beach….

 

I

I started painting in all beach activity and stuff, and then realized there was no way I could finish that….so I took most of it out. I think I’m going to paint it again, with just them. 

Here they are again. I painted this once before and was not successful and again, in the top painting, I’m not too successful: it’s too dark and blotchy, so maybe the third time is the charm. At least it’s a better start. I don’t know why I’m drawn to this image,it’s not particularly good, but there’s something that’s interesting to me. And there’s kind that weird light you get at the beach when it’s cloudy. 

O’Keefe

 Did not really get her but really love the structure of her face. 

Alan Winter 10-2026

Having watched the Olympics, I fell in love with Short Track Racing. I thought it would be perfect for Yupo-that the movement could be captured easier. I was wrong. I’m going to try looser on other skaters. 5 X  12.

Back to sketches. 

Bowl of soup. Bowl should be round and factory finished not handmade. But…..the soup was good. 

Pair of sneakers. 

Winter flowers. 

Uncle Ken's Blue Period.

This is a painting I did maybe a year ago, one of those paintings where it suddenly announces, mid brush stroke, that it is done.  I especially like that midpoint on the tree where the trunk gets mixed up with the sky.  5x7

I wanted to do a larger version of it and here it is.  I like various parts of it but to me they don't work well together.  Except for the sky which I like a lot.  9x12

These are three horizontals I did to get the feel of various blues.  I've never given blue its due, a few swatches a little water and that would do for a sky.  What I particularly liked about the sky behind the tree was the way it granulated, so I decided to try something with a lot of sky.

 

So here it is so far the sky is ok, and I think I can work with that, well, hill.  The painting and the photo I took, do not have that pink, so I am thinking the reason for the off colors is not our photos, it is Blogspot. 9x12

March 7, 2026—Elaine O.

I'm done—and happy with it. I'm also hoping we're done with this weather for the season, but it sure is pretty and peaceful in retrospect, isn't it? 

10" x 14"