Younger Edith

 

 She’s a teen here but looks older….partly the photo and partly my problem. There was quite a lot of bio info in the article and as I painted I thought a lot about her life. Born a week before the beginning of WWI …..amazing to think of all that she has lived through 

Alan Spring 2

 The first 3 are 30 minute cobbled still lifes. This is where you just sit in a room and pick 3 to 5 objects and just imagine a still life then draw it and paint it. It was recommended that I use water soluble pens. I’ve been using a Tombow lately but it puts down lines that are too thick for my liking with this exercise. I used it quite a bit in my last building paintings. So I used a Universal One and a Snowman. The Snowman has a thicker line. These are painted in my 5 X 7 sketchbooks on 140# coldpress.

Here I’m sitting in the kitchen using a Snowman pen  

Sitting in the living room using a Universal One. 

Objects from the dining room. 

We have a friend in Mississippi who is a potter.  He took a picture of his kiln when he was firing pottery and I thought it would make a good subject for a Yupo painting. I have a 9 X 12 tablet of synthetic paper that’s not yupo but acts like Yupo and is cheaper. It’s harder to take it all the way back to pure white which makes it hard to get what I wanted but I thought it was interesting. 

To the woods

 That stripey thing from last week has become a forest

This is a 9x12 tree.  Put in a stripey background and then went over it with a wet brush.  It was like painting white on dark paper.

 This is a 5x7.  I filled the background with indigo and perylene maroon and let it sit overnight so that not all of it came up leaving a ghostly pattern.  Once I had the tree in I put some dark green over the background to give it more contrast.  

Watercolor surgery….

 In both paintings, she’s getting a little facial surgery. I’m ok with his face finally,but his arm llooks slightly diseased. I’m trying to get the effect of dappled sunlight in the bottom one, but it’s very hard with skin. The top one still has a ways to go but it might be a closer resemblance than last week’s….whoknows….

Edith

 

From a black and white photo in Grinnell. College magazine   The college has dedicated a new building in her honor.  She is the first African American to attend Grinnell and at 110 years old she was able to attend the dedication.  Edith Renfrow Smith is a retired CPS teacher  She lives in Chicago  

In the garden

 Maybe a little too much, but I've never been a Miesian.

 These are all 5x7 inspired by some trees in the Lurie gardens (can't you tell?)  Went in first with viridian and rose to get a blackish background.  Then put indigo on top because it wasn't dark enough and vermillion. burnt sienna, and then that imperious lady, perylene maroon, to make complementaries to moody indigo,.  Then covered the whole mess gently with water and pressed gently down with a Viva paper towel, and this is what I got.  Seems too good to waste on a bunch of trees, but we will see.

SS A Quiet Date 03.22.25

 Since last year, my husband and I go on a monthly mani and pedi procedure at our Andersonville nail salon. The mid month date is a healthy appointment to maintain my partner's lower extremities as a requirement of his diabetic type 2 status. I painted this to reflect on a lifestyle of 2 retired senior immigrants, which I never dreamed of doing when I was just a teenager in warm Philippines. The impact of our photo on my fellow instagram circle was positive: " a bonding moment", for most of the comments. The shirts and hairstyles of our 2 nail technicians are just a byproduct of my traveling imagination! Happy Painting to All!

March 22, 2025 — Elaine O.

It was a day for celebrating—Ken's birthday (thanks for the delicious cookies!) and Sara's new grandbaby—not to mention finishing a painting and a pad of paper. I like the ceramic pitcher and feel as if I've (finally) gotten the sense of the dragonfruit, so I can move on to other produce with my head held high. There's a lot to like about still life painting, isn't there?

11" x 14"

Alan Spring 1

 I’ve been working on some different techniques for the examination of the 1400 block of Belle Plaine. I finished the Yupo version and sprayed it with high gloss fixative. I quite liked the result. The little burst of flame is just a reflection of the lamp.

I took an 8 X 12 canvas board that I treated with gesso. Then I did some drawing with a Tombow pen. With the Tombow, the ink diffused when touched by water. I was trying to go for a little darker time of day. I also added some texture by adding some touches of acrylic paint to give it a rough look and added some relief to some of the limestone details. You can really see it with an enlarged view. I finished it with a high gloss fixative because, like Yupo, the paint is still just floating on the surface. 

I’m going to try some “cobbled” still lifes. This is where you sit down and pick some items that you can see in the room and imagine a still life in your mind. I planned on using several different types of ink pens from highly diffusing to low. I just did a quick sketch of  the building image I’ve been working on using a Universal One ink pen which diffuses when hit with water but leaves a pretty solid line as well. 

It’s just a little sketch in my sketchbook but leads me into the cobbled still  lifes that should be fun. 

Meet Claire Diane!

 Say hello to Claire! She made her due date, arriving at 11:30pm on St. Patrick’s Day. Mom and baby doing fine, dad and grandparents are exhausted, and sisters are over the moon!