We’re still in Michigan at the cottage. I’m done with Gulf Coast stuff but Greeta might have more to do.

This is a regular watercolor of a crazy flower that was in our backyard. The owner had never seen it before but said it was on a ginger plant.   It cured me of wanting to paint flowers.

This is Greeta’s painting of the inner harbor at ocean springs. 

This watercolor is of the instructor of a watercolor class that we took. 

elaine t, May 30

I finished Mr. Clown, but didn't do more than contemplate what the next project should be. Maybe something from the show Killing Eve, which I love...

May 30, 2020 — Elaine O.

I'm calling this finished! I'm slightly dissatisfied with a few things, but I'm at the point where my paper can't take any more fine-tuning in those areas. So I'm taking that as a sign that I need to stop and move on. I may try this again sometime, but not right away.

Big Cat Six - the mane event

I really liked the photo but then as I began to paint it I realized that he was mostly all hair which is kind of formless, but I guess that means I can do whatever I want to do.

Sara’s stuff

Here’s the painting I started last week. It’s done. I like some things about it, but I really lost the family resemblance between us, so it’s a little flat.

This one has grown on me. I covered the background in oil pastels, so it kind of makes the figures pop.

Here are a couple of garden sketches from this week. This second one I was trying to simplify shapes into lights and darks, but it went kind of wacky.

May 23, 2020—Elaine O.

I haven't gotten a lot done this week at all. I'm still working on the portrait. Just when I thought I may have gone too dark on her face, I added the background and realized I needed even more color. There's a lot  to be said for working the entire painting all together.

elaine t, May 23

The first study is either my salvation, or my vice and eventual downfall: Godiva Dark Chocolate Liqueur. A big splash into my morning coffee is a good start to the day!

The second will be more detailed than a quick study. It's Mr. Clown, a favorite puppet when my boys were little. Mr. Clown is becoming a favorite in videochats with my grandson too!

Big Cat Five - Stephen

I'm not sure what to say about this Jaguar so I'll wait and see what the forum thinks.

Sara’s Continuing Saga

So I stopped worrying about getting a likeness and just painted the damn thing.

My sister actually looks more like her here than I do. I look vaguely familiar as someone else. (I keep thinking I look like Greeta, but I haven’t seen her in so long, I don’t really know! Where are they I wonder?) I realized my feature proportions are off. But this was a good experience. Since my reference photo was so tiny and blurry, I really had to study the shapes. It’s a little overworked but I like the way my sister is painted.

But I realized what I liked about that photo was the composition —the way we’re pressed together in the corner of the frame. (Sort of like my sister is trying to push me out of the frame!) So I sketched it out again, not really worrying about likeness.

And quickly transferred it to watercolor paper and started painting it today, really just concentrating on how I’m painting it & not so much about likeness.

I’ll just call it Two Sisters (no relation to Chekhov’s Three Sisters...)

May 16, 2020 — Elaine O.

I liked the reference photo from last week's sketch so much, I decided to do an actual painting. Here's the start; the likeness is closer on this one than on the direct watercolor sketch.

Because it's a portrait I am invested in and want to get right, I spent some warm-up time during the week sketching and painting portraits of people I don't know. Before I recycle magazines, I flip through and sketch the people. Here are a few, first an ink and wash sketch, and then direct watercolor.



Interestingly enough, I think I get a better likeness with the direct watercolor than drawing with a pen. I've also noticed a tendency to see people as slanting left to right and thinner than they actually are. Maybe this is my next 30-day project....



Other than that, I've been setting up and playing with my new tablet—very carefully, until the case and screen saver arrive! So far, I'm most excited to have a working e-reader again. Here's my new friend (cuter in real life, I promise).