March 21, 2015

Nothing like the first day of school, is there? We were all back, meeting and greeting old friends, catching up on what's new. We celebrated Ken's birthday with beautifully colored cookies. Susan handed out beautifully colored t-shirts as a souvenir of her vacation to the Philippines. They were emblazoned, front and back, with her paintings of Philippine tourist spots. Yes, this was a particularly boisterous session. For the first time in our memory, we drove our teacher out of the classroom and into the solarium for a little peace and quiet with our new students.

And of course, despite the snow, it's spring! No wonder we're so exuberant, as you can tell from our paintings. We seem drawn to water, interestingly enough. Here Steve bids a final farewell to winter with a beautifully quiet and serene snowscape.

 

While Abla begins a spring scene, complete with flowing water and flowering trees.

 

Sara's ready for spring, too, with a classic beach scene....

 

 

...and some flowers. The very essence of spring.

 

 

Susan is also into water. As we mentioned, she's back from a long vacation in the Philippines and she's documented her time there with the marine scenes she's drawn to. Here we drive along a mountain road, looking down at a river winding though the canyons.

Speaking of precarious, here's a rickety bridge crossing some water. Waiting on the other side is a campground nestled in the towering pine trees.

More mountains and water, this time with a view of rice terraces.

Susan is known to take a sketchbook and a full paint kit along on her vacations. Here is her sketchbook with the view from her hotel room.

Why do we sketch? For a start, it helps to flesh out ideas. Here is a sketch of  "hanging coffins" on the side of a mountain.

And here is the final painting of the Hanging Coffins of Sagada. Notice how the final painting more carefully focuses on the center of interest.

Makes you want to sketch, doesn't it? Peek into the sketchbook below and see the notes about time of day, colors, weather conditions. It brings back the scene more clearly than any photo.

Madeleine, too, is documenting a vacation. Her tropical paradise was in Costa Rica. Don't the rich deep shadows emphasize the warm sun and put you in a vacation mood?

Another reason to sketch? As a guide for a painting, as Madeleine is doing here (another vacation... this time to Cuba).

Meanwhile, Bill concentrates on the flora and fauna around him. Back in Costa Rica, we see cows and cow herons in a sunny pasture.

Back in the snowy Midwest, he paints a tree portrait, concentrating on the texture of the peeling bark.

Speaking of texture, who can resist Mohammed's cat? In fact, the whole painting is all about texture. You want to pet the cat and snuggle down into the soft blanket, don't you? It just spells "cozy."

Returning to our subject of "water," Tony paints three little brothers (he's the one on the right—and the likeness is uncanny!), about to cross the ocean from Greece to America. We love the nostalgic feel of the delicate color choices and the composition.

While we were on break, some of us took advantage of the time to experiment; particularly Tony and Bill. Below, Bill also does people, but he concentrates on the faces, adding a touch of cubism.

Tony did an intricate cityscape sketch, then took it to a printer to have it copied onto watercolor paper. This gave him the chance to paint in a variety of options, without having to re-draw each time. Here is the sketch....

... in monotone indigo blue ...

... in a deep rose...

... and in a rainbow of colors.

In a similar vein, Bill also took a sketch and copied it prior to painting. Amazing how different each version feels, isn't it? Look at the diptych below.

... and at this triptych—all of the same sketch.

And when we think of experimentation and colors, we fondly cast our minds back to our days as newbies, producing color wheels and plaids. Ah, those were the days! Our current crop of newbies looks quite promising. Here are Ana and Veronica's color wheels. Worth noting is the fact that they got all of these colors from just three colors. They are good, aren't they?

Here is everyone's first exercise.... the infamous plaid. Again, we look at Ana and Veronica, a mother/daughter combo. Same paint colors, same brushes, same paper—even the same genes. And yet, see what different results they achieve. That's the painter's hand!

More than just an exercise, we see the value of the plaid as we move from our newbies to our old master, Ken. His cityscapes take the simple plaid to new heights.

From the warm soft feel of flannel above, to the sparkling gemlike rendering below,

... to the beginning of another masterpiece. We can't wait to see how this finishes.

Overall, Elaine has it right! It's a huge "thumbs up" to all our artists.

 

See you next week!

February 28, 2015

It's the last day of the term for us—and it's beautiful! Sure, it's cold, but the sun makes it feel warmer than it is outside. And despite the sunshine, we had a smallish crowd today—thanks to vacation starts and stops, sinus infections and surgeries. Those of us who showed up, though, all had something to crow about...

 
Okay, sorry about that one. Couldn't resist. We are starting and ending with non-watercolor works of art. Here's an incredible stained glass rooster by Alan. Notice the rooster's tailfeathers and how much the glass looks like watercolor. And that's actual sunlight shining through the art glass!

The happy mood continued as we all painted "feel-good" things with a song in our hearts. Sing along (to the tune of These are a few of my favorite things) as we look at "donuts and roses and flowers and kittens...." Seriously....

Hector's donuts may be of the plastic Playskool variety, but they certainly make us smile.

Sara couldn't be with us, but she sent photos of flowers she painted long ago. They are both beautiful and springlike and give us something to look forward to. Plus the softly mixed colors are exquisite (still one of Sara's trademarks).

Seems like we haven't had a cute kitten painting in months. Here's Mohammed to remedy that situation. Layla is painted in a perfect mixture of abstraction and realism, but there's no denying how soft, warm and loving she is.

Of course, we can't skip trees.... more of our favorite things. Abla's finished her majestic urban winter tree. It's simply beautiful. No wonder she's painted herself into the picture as a sort of signature.

Alan's trees are as finely textured, but they are summer trees, painted with tremendous control on Yupo (notorious for being difficult to control). You can see the warmth of the sun and the fine details on the bark.

Stands to reason that he'd also enjoy hot press paper (below) as he begins a cozy interior. This is Napoleon House in New Orleans and we're loving the cozy warm browns.

Ken's Wacker Drive windows are some of his favorite things. And we are enamored of the warm "flannel" look he manages to impart to cold steel, glass and stone.

While we're talking about favorite things... can you ever go wrong with children? Mark paints two small children as they play music together. Probably playing our song :-)

Greeta's grandson is obviously one of her favorite things. Just look at the little cutie. Those eyes!

Greeta also manages to capture the joy and energy of Janis Joplin  (below). This stamp could easily become one of our favorites (yes, Janis is really on a stamp!).

Elaine paints her husband on vacation.... a favorite theme of hers (and a favorite person).

We end as we began, with "non-watercolor" art. John has moved from colored pencil to digital as he illustrates a story of his own invention, set in Peru (as you may be able to guess from the llama).

 
Artist of the day. We begin at the beginning of art with Ken's book on prehistoric art. No names or famous artists, but the cavepaintings are beautiful and full of life.

Taking a break. We are at the end of our term and we'll be taking a slight break. We'll be back on March 21, just in time to celebrate some of our birthdays, so you know we'll be in a good mood. If that's too long to be without us, feel free to explore our archives or visit Ten Cat Tavern while Ken's show is still up.

See you in March!

February 21, 2015

What a beautiful day! Very, very cold, yes...but not nearly as cold as it's been, so we are happy. I think you can tell from our paintings. Looks like we all had a touch of cabin fever, too. We seem eager to be out and about. Keep going and you'll see what we mean. Ken's continuing Wacker Drive series makes the cold wind canyons glow like jewels. Or like an intricately painted Ukrainian easter egg. And look at the windows top left. The screen shot doesn't do them justice, but they truly shimmer.

Who'd have guessed the painting above starts out with a grid like this?

Mark is also painting architecture, but his house is smaller, cozier, and has a snug cottage feeling. Can't you picture a warm fireplace inside?

As we all know, Mark is a big fan of negative space. Below, Bill's mixed media abstract owes a lot to his use of negative space, especially around the border.

Bill also re-visited his urban landscape (with elevated train) from last week. That's one of the benefits of painting in series. Once you know the subject, you are free to interpret. Here, for instance, the emphasis shifts from the movement of the train to the city itself. Beautiful!

Madeleine's architecture is far from the cold and gritty city. And she matches her style perfectly to the subject. These clean, crisp cottages are the epitome of  the word "pristine." Makes you want to start planning a vacation to Costa Rica, doesn't it?

And speaking of series and "epitomes," we feature Ellen's next two paintings. It's love around the world. She's painting the young lovers in various settings. Here the Chicago skyline provides a magnificent backdrop.

And here, we move from the city to nature. The same subjects are in a forest against fall foliage. To be honest, they seem oblivious to the backgrounds, don't they? They only have eyes for each other. Awww... young love!

Greeta is also painting fall, but the setting is Graceland cemetery. Notice how she combines architecture with natural elements like trees and grass? Nice combination!

Another combination of elements, but a different season. Do you recognize the bridge in Monet's garden in Giverny? The impressionistic style suits the subject so well. And who'd have guessed that such a limited palette could be so exuberantly colorful?

Alan is also using a limited palette and combining nature with architecture. Yes, he's using Yupo! Can you believe the deep rich value and texture he's getting with the bark? Set against the soft atmospheric stone, this is going to take Yupo to new heights. Don't be surprised if more of us become converts.

Another tree.... a totally different feel. This exquisite painting features a snow-covered tree in the middle of a downtown street. Zoom in and look at the tree. It feels very Van Gogh, doesn't it? And it's framed perfectly by the lovely soft skyscrapers on the right. We love this painting!

We like our trees, don't we? Here's another one, but this is a summer tree far from the city. The warm sky is the perfect complement to the warmly textured bark. The painting feels like Rousseau and says summer.

 

We love our pets... as much as we love trees, it seems. Here's a character-filled portrait of Alan's dog Jake. We've had confirmation (from an objective source) that this is a very accurate portrait. And it's on Yupo. Who knew you could work like this on Yupo?

Combining many of our themes of the day, Bill's Costa Rican scene is of cows and cow herons (so called because they hang around with cows in a symbiotic relationship). Look closely for the birds. They don't look like the tall birds we picture as herons.

We end with paintings that make you smile. Ellen revisited an old portrait and added a flurry of brushstrokes to the hair. So apropos for Mardi Gras (even though it was originally for Halloween).

Finally, who doesn't love monkeys? Especially this mother/baby pair. They certainly have personality, even though they are a stone carving. Stop by and visit them next time you're at the Art Institute.... a great destination if you've got cabin fever!

Artist of the day. We had books by and about our own Pat Otto and Kris Dodd. You've seen them before, but it was fun to go back and see Kris' retrospective and Pat's trip to visit her mother and the catalog from her Caged Dresses show. We're hoping there are more books by and about us in the future.... hint, hint, Ken!

Raffle winner! Besides the library table, we had a raffle. Ken won a sketch pad and colored pencils and raffled them off. Ellen was the lucky winner... and we're looking forward to her sketches. Stay tuned, everyone.

A message for all of us who couldn't attend today: Whether it's vacation, illness, recuperation... or just a general reluctance to brave the cold... we missed you! Look forward to seeing everyone next week for the last session of the term.