The Road to Nowhere

 I’ve been there but can’t place it now. There r clues. That’s a bridge house behind the bus shelter then that curvy road …is that the lake out there…...Maybe Uncle Ken will know. At first there was just a dark shadow but a figure revealed itself. This must have been at dawn. Where r all the cars?  

I’m still a little teapot…

 I worked on this one a lot, perhaps too much…but I think the composition just has too many elements. Actually now that I look at it,  if I cut off the right side - the orange teapot and bar — it might work….

Here’s the next one…a promising start…but aren’t they all promising in the beginning?! But I do like the simplicity of this composition.

Here’s a quick study from my sketchbook. I was copying someone else’s painting and I like how it turned out. Although it’s sort of annoying that this takes 20 minutes and it turns out better than my “real” paintings….

Done and almost done

That little upper triangle was not much liked by my Panel of Experts because it diverted their attention.  I was thinking that I wanted it some different color than green to show the gap between two fronds and to affirm its leafness, But how important was its leafness if it was usurping attention?  Not much I decided.

This is a cropping of a photo of a big catalpa tree in the beer garden of the Ten Cat on the night of November 20, 2015.  What attracted me to the photo was its broodiness, which got lost as the painting proceeded, but shit happens no?  Not quite finished.

 

Alan Winter 8

 I thought that this sketch was a little pale so I upped the values a bit. 

I painted this portrait of my granddaughter’s dog Achilles on 140 pound Fabriano coldpress. Fabriano is nice to use because it’s cheaper than Arches and it scrubs off easily. I used a mop brush and my new #4 rigger. The rigger is a great brush with a really fine point and a big barrel so it holds a lot of paint. You can use the point for fine lines and use it like a regular brush and turn it on its side to paint larger areas. Great brush that doesn’t run out of paint like smaller round brushes. But I painted the ladders with a larger angled brush. He’s a sweet boy but will knock you on your ass if you’re playing rough. 

I also painted her other dog-Bambi using the same brushes and mostly the same colors. I had a little trouble because she was basically the same colors as the garage she was in. But I kinda liked the softness of it vs the strength of the other one. 

February 15, 2025 — Elaine O.

Another small still life. This time, I chose a familiar subject to revisit a support I haven't used in a while—aquabord. It's a masonite panel with a clay surface that accepts watercolor, although differently than paper or even Yupo. I'm happy enough with the result that the next step is to give it a coat of wax and prop it up somewhere—probably a kitchen. It seems kitchen-y, doesn't it?

6" x 6"

What can I say…

 This really is finished this time. I made one tiny change that made a world of difference….

From last week’s s class… I worked on it a little more and it’s not so bad…but kind of so-so.

Here’s my drawing for the next one and a thumbnail sketch to guide me. I’m trying to develop a process instead of relying on happy accidents. Ian Roberts has reappeared in my FB feed. He’s an oil painter who is big on composition, in fact he wrote a book called Mastering Composition and he’s a heavy proponent of the 3 value thumbnail sketch. He has lots of free videos that are short and heartfelt. 

Birding From Books

 These are larger 6x6…. A Lesser Goldfinch and a Song Sparrow from Amy Tan’s book. Deciding I prefer smaller and grouping them rather than singles. 

turning over an old leaf

 I've been working on this leaf all week, a few earlier leaves were washed away in order to come up with this one.  

Alan winter 7

 I did a little work on the beach scene. Can’t remember what I did but I did something. 

Then I decided that it would be a good subject for Yupo so I did that. Yupo did some strange things and I did some strange things and I liked it but missed the panorama view. I just bought some 6 X 15 Yupo paper and it will work great for panoramas. 

Then I did a quick pen and ink with watercolor of a plant that’s been sitting on my kitchen table for weeks and I thought I’d get it before it was no more. 

Perspective is wrong but it was really quick. I could work on this some more. 

February 8, 2025 — Elaine O.

I'm calling this finished. I wanted to go all-out technicolor to match the dragonfruit. I also wanted to have some fun with the composition and the curation of objects. I think the colors are bright and varied and I'm happy with the composition. Even the objects work for me. (Originally, my plan was to only include the dragonfruit, the cloth and the plastic toy, but I liked the colors in the background, so I kept them, and I'm glad I did.) However.... I wonder if I've taken it one step too far?

11" x 14"

I foresee a trip to the fruit store for me as I'm still enjoying painting still lifes—and eating them!