September 22, 2012

We had a freaky number of unintentional pairings today—from the glamourous shoes in the video to two Saras, two color wheels, two birds, two vacation spots, two bodies of water, two different animal species sharing the same composition, and two mother/son paintings (you saw the other one last week!). We even had two artists sharing the same paintbox. You'll never guess which two by looking, though—Ellen kept to the cool side of the pallette while Elaine O went warm. Kind of like Chopsticks, but with paintbrushes instead of a piano.

Now, without further ado, we invite you to scroll through the paintings to see what we're talking about. Sketching party invitation and information follow (hope to see you there!), along with the summer cemetery sketches—and a couple of other things.

It's a sketching party and you're invited. Continuing our tradition of ringing in each season with a sketching party, you're cordially invited to celebrate the autumnal equinox. Join us on Sunday, September 23 at Ken's Marina City "sketch pad" (sorry—couldn't resist). We'll draw some incredible views from the balcony and the roof and socialize afterwards. Here are the details:

• When: Sunday, September 23 from 1pm–3pm
• Where: 300 N. State, Apt. 2131 (East tower)
• Phone: 312.467.7021

Summer sketches. Speaking of which, here are the sketches we promised from our summer of cemetery sketching. While not everyone remembered their sketchbooks today, we'll show what we have and add more as the weeks roll by and memories improve.

 

 

 

 

Oh, just a couple of other things....first, it's not too late to support Steve in the Out of the Darkness Community Walk to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

• Go to www.outofthedarkness.org Find the fund raising page by entering "Steve Meyer" in the search box or get to the team page by entering "Ed O'Brien's Crew Members"
• Just click here to Support Steve!

Secondly, Halloween is coming. And what better way to celebrate than with Rocky Horror Picture Show? Join Elaine T as the criminologist at the Music Box Theater, 3733 N. Southport Ave (3 blocks south of Irving, north of Addison). Her group has been performing Rocky Horror for 25 years now, so you know they have it right! For tickets, upcoming dates or more information, go to www.midnightmadness.org.

See you next week!

September 15, 2012

There was a nip in the air this morning and it felt just like the beginning of fall. Perfect for some back-to-school painting.

Start below with Marva taking one last look at a beautiful green Irish summer. Then we move into some interesting themes. First, the portraits. Sara starts with her annual self-portrait. Vivian adds her son to her self-portrait, and Susan goes even one better. She paints a painter painting a portrait of her. (Confused? Just look at the painting.)

The next group is a series of square paintings from Robert, Ellen and Elaine—not a typical format, and here we have three! Moving on, we visit birds and flowers, fruits, fabrics and trolleys, winding up with a perennial favorite...the color wheel! So much to see and enjoy. But we're not finished yet—keep scrolling for a sketching invitation and some painting prep tips.

I know we mentioned our new fascination with sketching and promised you some Graceland sketches. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring them, so we'll be sharing next week instead. Come back then.

You're invited. Seems like we just had our summer solstice sketching party and here it is the vernal equinox already. So you're all invited to ring in autumn with a sketch. Join us on Sunday, September 23 at Ken's Marina City "sketch pad" (LOL! Get it? Okay, sorry.). We'll sketch from the balcony and the roof and socialize afterwards. Here are the details:

• When: Sunday, September 23 from 1pm–3pm
• Where: 300 N. State, Apt. 2131 (East tower)
• Phone: 312.467.7021

 

Stretching paper. Did you notice all the unlikely mind-melds going on today? From portrait variations to square paper? Well, here's another. Two of our members decided to try a traditional method of preparing their water color paper—stretching. Most of us use watercolor pads, simply for the convenience. But in olden days (and even through today), many watercolor painters stretched their paper. Janet and Ellen both chose to do so this week.

Janet used the traditional method. She soaked her paper and used gummed packing tape to affix it to a board. Once it dries, the paper is drum tight and easy to paint on. Ellen experimented with a more modern approach. She had a single loose sheet that she taped dry to an old acrylic cutting board with blue painter's tape. See the setups below and watch carefully as the paintings progress and dry flat, ready to be cut from the boards and framed.

 Traditional paper tape

A modern variation

 

See you next week!

September 8, 2012

Boy, you can tell you're an adult when you're glad to get back to school! Despite meeting for cemetery sketching, it seemed like a long break and we happy to be back--painting, catching up, experimenting and learning.

 

So what happened while we were off? Robert and Ken painted prolifically. Susan has a painting in a show at the Cultural Center. (Scroll down for more information about that.) But mostly, it seems we all caught the drawing bug. Besides the cemetery sketching (and tune in next week to see some of those sketches), Ken's hosting a equinox sketching party, and there's been a run on drawing workbooks at Amazon.

 

But most importantly, we haven't forgotten how to paint while we were off. Keep looking to see faces, places, fabrics and more--plus news about Susan's show and more of Robert's series. It's good to be back! 

 

 

If you're downtown before October 14, drop by the Cultural Center at the corner of Michigan and Randolph. Our very own Susan Silvano has a painting in the Renaissance Court 20th Anniversary Members Show. Everyone is welcome and there are plenty of paintings to see and enjoy.

 

Painting in a Series

 

All the best artists do it--and so do we! Robert's sketchbook series continues and we're really seeing the value of this series thing! While we don't have every painting in the series, you've seen some of them in past posts, and the summer set above. You can also see some of the summer set below, all together. It's fascinating to see their evolution and how each painting influences the next. These are just plain cool--no other explanation necessary. They're just fun to look at. And, wouldn't it be something to see all of them animated? Almost educational--but in a good, PBS way!

 

 

It's good to be back. See you next week!