Alan - Winter 3

This is 12 X 14 on Rough. I was trying a little graduated wash and I always have trouble with that. But I liked it overall  

I’ve been looking at an artist using alcohol inks on Yupo lately so I thought I’d try an abstract of the above sunset. It’s pretty complicated but I thought it was a good start. I also used some different India inks which didn’t work out like I expected. I might clean it up some and do regular watercolor on top of that. We’ll see. 

Another tree…and a chair…

 

So I’m really working on wet into wet color mixing on the paper because I’m reading one of Hazel Soan’s books and she says it’s the secret to vibrant watercolors. It’s all about the ratio of pigment to water. So far I like the arm of the chair best…

LaSalle Street

 Possibly the most interesting cul de sac in Chicago. 

My architecture is wobbly. Those colors upper left are some sort of reflection that appeared in the photo. If I learned one lesson here , it’s that I never have any luck using ultramarine as a block of color …  never smoothe. This is small … 6.x8. Might do again larger. 

Still on vacation

Just fooling around,
 

Slow week for Uncle Ken

One of the lovely tomato flowers from that lovely summer 

Probably the less said about this the better.  I started out with that galaxy thing in the middle, but it didn't have inertia enough to reach the edges of the paper so I divided it into sections, but then I could never get them to play well together,  Just a sacrifice sheet for now, but maybe someday I will get a Eureka moment.

January 4, 2025 — Elaine O.

It's a new year and I think I've started a new series. Here's yet another still life—this time, I made the entire background cool and blue with the intent of making the clementines pop.

11" x 14"

Alan Winter 2

 I got a lot of ideas one cold late fall afternoon down by the lake at the end of Addison around the golf course. Since our painting area has been disrupted by Christmas stuff, I’ve been working in my sketchbook with my minimal urban sketching tools  which includes brush pens so I don’t have to worry about water.

Here is a more than quick sketch of the clubhouse for the golf course. The perspective is a little off and the clock should be higher on the tower, but the overall look is what I was looking for. 5 X 5 on hot press  

After golf I often stop in at the Clock Tower Cafe. 5 X 5 on hot press. 

If you look to the west from the parking lot you will see Lake Shore Drive across the athletic fields. 5 X 10 on hot press. 

These are a lot of fun requiring only a small space to work and a good light source. 

A tree….

 Having a little trouble getting back into the painting mode, but I did this tree, which is really a study in color mixing wet on wet. I first painted it using neutral tint for the shadows. It was kind of blah. Then I read this article on mixing darks right on the paper using complementary colors. It gave it a little more pizazz and a lot more contrast. Not crazy about the wispy branches. I should go in and paint about 1000 more…Happy new year, hope everyone is staying warm…

Three more bears

Making their images bigger because I am moving on to 9x12.  This baby bear started of as completely non representative and I kept it that way.

Mama bear started out as non rep but that bottom center shape kept getting stronger and I turned it into a yucca plant of maybe seaweed.  I like it but I have this nagging fear that it looks like something that was bought at a starving artists show to hang over the sofa in their Arizona-themed front room.

 And papa bear has started out from a photo of a tomato flower.  I think I have most of the paint in the right places now I just need that yupo nudge to contort it.

December 28, 2024 — Elaine O.

I've added the final touches to my still life and I'm really happy with it. The colors are a bit more lively in person than on screen, but that seems to happen a lot. Anyway, I considered a complementary cloth but I really liked the swaths of warm colors surrounding the cool bowls and grounded by the warm black. 

9" x 12"

I'm intrigued enough to try it again but with a blue cloth. Here's the start.

And while I was waiting for a layer to dry, I did a quick blind contour and found a different composition and different colors that I liked. I think a) this still life series isn't over yet, and b) I need to make a run to the fruit store!