All's well with our world. The heat wave has broken, everyone's healthy, and there's so much happening, it's hard to tell where to begin.
No movie this week, so we'll start right in with the paintings. Scroll through and enjoy. We'll chat afterwards. Then, we'll share an important announcement and discuss an interesting art question.
The painting stories of the day, as you can see, were color and produce. Our beginners have moved to some of our favorite exercises—the three-way and the giant fruits. In terms of color, we seemed to be enamored of the warmer colors on the color wheel, exploring apples, cherries and warm green grapes. There was a great attraction to yellow, from Greeta's heirloom tomatoes to Isa's delicate orchids to Ken's neon trolleys. And what would summer be without scenery, stories, friends, families and pets? Wasn't this just the essence of summer?
You're invited! As our term winds down, Ken's had a brilliant idea for the long summer break. Inspired by the summer solstice sketching party, he's resurrecting an old class practice—cemetery sketching. Beginning in a couple of weeks, we'll be meeting casually at Graceland cemetery to sketch. There's something for everyone—nature, architecture and even people—followed by lunch. Anyone is welcome to join. Tune in next week for time and meeting place. Hope to see you there!
Who influences you?
Story illustration by John R.
Last week, we all pondered a very interesting question, "Which artists have had the greatest influence on you?" Since John asked the question, we thought it only fair to look at his inspiration first. Louis Binet is an illustrator from the 1700's. Like John, he was a story illustrator. Particularly inspirational was his habit of including a lot of the storyline in the illustration, even inventing bits! Also, if you look at this week's painting, you'll see another influence, Arthur Rackham (also an illustrator). Notice how the figures in the center of interest have been subtly outlined to draw focus? That's a Rackham characteristic. Yes, we can certainly see the inspirations—and we have to say that John's certainly chosen his art heroes well.
Of course, the big news was the heat, but even bigger news was how we've been dealing with it. Two of our number dropped by the hospital ER this week—neither for anything heat-related, thankfully. Sadly, one of the two was our own beloved teacher, as you can see by the token empty chair in our video. She's still feeling exhausted and somewhat under the weather (ha! couldn't resist a weather reference there), but you can't tell by looking at what we did. Neither excessive heat nor a loose hand at the helm could stop the painting. Just look below.
We start with some of our favorite exercises—color matching and the 3-way fruit/vegetable. From there, we feature some our favorite escapes from the heat—cool fruits of summer, verdant landscapes and beach scenes, colorful trolleys to get away from it all, pets and folk tales, and self-portraits. Notice the beginning of a wonderful tradition—Sara's annual self-portrait. It's going to be fun to watch the progression from the beginning sketch, through the quick study, and on to the first brushstrokes of this year's masterpiece. Keep watching!
And the bonus at the very end? A review of the Lichtenstein exhibition at the Art Institute. Actually, it's more of a personal take than an actual review, but it's a thumbs up!
Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective
It's the Art Institute's newest blockbuster so, of course, we saw it and talked about it. What follows is one person's opinion, not a group consensus.
I have to admit that I was a bit ambivalent at first. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even think I'd like it! In my defense, all I really knew of him was the iconic comic book paintings (and all the publicity seemed to feature that style, too), but I simply wasn't on the bandwagon. In fact, I was so ambivalent that I stopped first to see the Renaissance drawing exhibit (and I highly recommend that!) to be sure I saw something I liked.
Finally, I saw the Lichtenstein Retrospective. I'm very glad I did. There was so much more than I expected—rooms and rooms of paintings, drawings, sculpture and more. The rooms are used to organize his artwork in series around his studio, nudes, landscapes, brushstrokes, explosions, mirrors and, of course, the pop art cartoons.
All in all, I'm not ashamed to admit I changed my opinion of Roy Lichtenstein. There's a lot behind those simple halftone dots. He used them purposefully with deliberate intent throughout his lifetime (almost as systematic and cerebral as Seurat, actually). My favorites were the landscapes, though; I lingered there awhile. They're wonderful—and I wasn't even aware he did landscapes! (See a sampling below.)
Another scorcher today...but what do you expect? It's summertime, after all! And our paintings reflect that. We start out with the familiar exercises—color wheels, color matching, paper towels, skin color, collages. And then we move right into the essence of the season—trees (along plazas, paths and lakes), fruits of summer, lakes, folk tales, sunny trolley cars, siestas, a tropical village on a hill and even an air-conditioned mall for the urbanites among us.
And keep scrolling to the end for our special feature. We got such a good reaction last week that we've done two this time!
Salute to Impressionism
And here's our salute to impressionism! First, we examine a popular technique of featuring a painting in the background of another painting. While this goes back to the Renaissance, it was particularly popular with Impressionists. Here's an especially attractive use of the technique (below). The background portrait goes beyond mere decoration to actually further the story—it's a painting by the sister of the woman in the foreground (also an artist!). Even if you don't know the full story, you know there is one and you can't stop looking. It's that good. Reminds you of some of Gaugin's Tahiti paintings, doesn't it?
Wondering what happened with the Summer Solstice sketching party? It was a huge success—enough that we're hoping to ring in all the seasons with a sketch! See below for an impressionistic take on the party. Like Renoir's Boating Party, this is a fresh and vibrant plein air celebration of a celebration. Doesn't it make you wish you were part of the fun?
Story behind the painting
And lest you think we're getting too "art history," here's a painting with a story behind it. It's another artistic tradition—the memorial painting. Below, Isa celebrates her dog, Roxie, in a beautiful and sensitive work that captures the essence of a much-loved pet. This beautiful remembrance touched a chord with everyone and sparked reminiscences of other pets we've painted and lost (we even had a laugh at a memorial painting of a favorite car). Take some time to enjoy the exquisite texture of the fur and the grass; smile at the sparkling personality in Roxie's eyes; and remember a favorite pet of your own.
