Is She in Despair or Is It Just Yoga?

 Have had this image for a long time…..imagined how when I painted it, the paint would smoothly flow between skin color and shadows.  Instead she’s looking bruised. I think she’s in despair at how I painted her. Time to play around with the skin color section of of Watercolor  Painter’s Pocket Palette.

Variations on a theme…

Well, you know when you get an image stuck in your head and you keep thinking I can get this, just one more try…overall I probably like the one from last week best as well as the bottom one here. I didn’t put the window frame over it because I really like the way the top half is painted. Actually I like the way the top half is painted in all of them…it’s just the shadow that I haven’t quite mastered…

Here are two other paintings I’m working on. Actually the top one is done, it’s 6x10. The bottom one is 5x7 and still a work in progress. But I do like how those figs are painted…
 

September 28, 2024 — Elaine O.

Moving along slowly, but surely. The damp weather probably caused the slow drying time, but I'm learning to patiently wait. And it helps to have a second sketch going to fill the time!

14" x 11"

We Have Visitors!!

Guess who dropped by today? Bryan and Allison...along with Baby Holly! She's absolutely adorable and, as you can see, her parents are happy, healthy and glowing with joy. It was wonderful to catch up and, for those who missed them, they promise to be back. We can't wait to see them again and foresee many baby paintings in their future.

This rock formation is in Chaco Canyon, northwest corner of New Mexico.
 

The second painting is a rock formation in Joshua Tree NP. I think this is the best

landscape painting I have done so far.

The third painting is of Michigan Lake in winter. I wanted to do something that is fairly monochromatic

but is still a good representation of the actual scene.

The final painting is a Winslow Homer watercolor. I am trying to upgrade my work by copying

someone someone who has a complete understanding of the medium. 

Alan Fall 1

 Inspiration can come from the damndest places. When my friend in Michigan came over to work on our cottage opened the hatchback of his SUV I was amazed by the pile of tools and cords. So…I took a photo of it and turned it into a painting on Yupo. I just liked the chaos of it.  It’s 11 X 14 on Yupo  

Returning to my sketchbook, I sketched a farm scene I had taken a photo of and washed it over with watercolor. 

It’s 5 X 10 on hot press. 

Bye the way, if you look at the gouache resist painting I posted last time on a bigger screen and zoom in you’ll get an idea of the tremendous texture of that technique. 

Not quite perfect….

This is about 7x9 on a 9x 12 paper. Thinking about contrast and drama, always. The mom’s face needs to be in shadow more and maybe the space behind her darkened. Maybe the baby’s needs more shadow on the right.

This is 5x7. I saw lovely shadows on the apt building across the street, but I just didn’t get the contrast I want. I think I’m going to try again. Not sure if the window frame helps or hurts… or maybe I need more framing on the sides…

A couple of postcards, again working on contrast, but a normal kind of contrast that provides structure more than drama….

“Lazy Fruit on a Picnic Blanket Before the Storm.”  Another old sketchbook painting repainted. It cracks me up! I’m going to try to visit next Saturday. Will my ID work when im not registered? 
 

September 21, 2024 — Elaine O.

It's back to slow painting. Portraits and architecture seem to need more care than landscapes or still lifes. After all, if you move a tree or a piece of fruit... no big deal. Displace a column or a nose, on the other hand, and the whole building or face collapses. That said, here's the slow beginning of a beautiful Parisian church facade.

14" x 11"

Went to class Saturday and all i came back with was these two lousy postcards.

 Well blown up they look pretty good to me, but in person they are only 4x6.

A Hodgepodge of Subjects…

 I did this before but I like this one much better. I used neutral tint for the shadows. I might have to frame it. It’s in a sketchbook, maybe 6 x 10?

The top study is small, may 4 x4.. the head and hand look a little disembodied, but I like the way the face is painted. The second one is larger, maybe 8x10. I like the pose but there’s a lot of grays and browns in the clothes. I may have to jazz it up or mute the whole thing except for the two heads…

I’m going thru old sketchbooks and repainting unfinished or bad looking sketches. This was once a giant pear on two blocks,. Now it’s a squash on two books.. this is an old Arches sketchbook and the paper is so Lucious to paint on. It just absorbs layer after layer of color. 

Oh look, I even did an abstract this week, although really it was more of a color study…this is on Fabriano sketchbook, which isn’t bad,but not nearly as absorbent as the Arches. Neither claim to be 100 percent cotton but you can clearly see the difference between the two papers. The color kind of sits on top of the Fabriano.