The Four

One of the downfalls of my abstract paintings is I start out well enough but then when I have most of the stuff in I tend to tidy stuff up finish it up and it loses it's spunk.  I think of it as order vs chaos, and I am putting too much order into them and they're boring.

So I am going to watch myself on these four and try to keep them more free.  I think if I do four at one time I'll be better able to watch myself.  

The original plan on these to begin with I would use four colors to put in the foreground: Sepia, perylene maroon, olive green, and something else, and in the background: indigo, cadmium red, gamboge, and something else.  Anyway I had a plan at first, and this is what each one looked like after the first session.

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And this is what they look like after 2 to 4 more sessions.  I think they are all almost done as long as I don't try to sneak in any tidying.  I think that is the key.  Remember Glengarry Glen Ross where the bigshot real estate guy has this slogan: Always Be Closing, ABC?  My slogan is Never Be Closing, NBC.  I never think about ending any of them, like this part is finished now let's do this next one, and three or four more and then it will be done.  I just paint on and on and suddenly it occurs to me that this one looks done and setting my brush down right there and then.

That's my theory.  Thank you for your time.

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June 6, 2026 — Elaine O.

It's been a while and all I have to show is some sketchbook experimentation/exploration. I was intrigued by some of my test strips where I color test watercolors. Then, while waiting for other watercolors to dry, I casually outline those color blobs with ink. Here are a couple, for example.

I like the look of them and wondered what would happen if I tried this deliberately. So I sketched a scene with lots of bits and colors and went in with grey ink outlines when the paint dried. Nothing special.... just playing.

Honestly, I think this looks better with fewer details and larger surfaces of color. I don't know that I'll do this technique again, but I had to try it once!

Blackburnian Warbler

 I did not meet him in person. 

Alan Summer 2026-1

 Finished the booze painting on Yupo. Added some dark values into the bottles and lightened some of the whites and creams.

Finished the Clock Tower on the lakefront. I did it on Yupo because I wanted brighter values in it. I zoomed in a bit from my previous version and, while I like it, it’s not really what I’m looking for. 

So I’m doing a larger Yupo version with a looser brush. A long way to go.  Maybe I’ll live with the tilt.  I’m trying to let the paint flow on this larger version  

While I am waiting for the paint to dry on the Yupo version, I’m trying a little pen and ink version in a sketchbook.

It’s always good to have another painting to do when you’re working on Yupo. 

Lost in space….

 I don’t know…is it Monday, or Sunday? I’m off my schedule, have a house guest who’s now in the hospital (she’ll be fine I think) so I can’t seem to concentrate on this little painting. Really thinking about values and color temperatures …

Also trying to get back into the habit of drawing each morning. Have some nice FaberCastell pens that I’ve been saving — for what I don’t know! Kind of fun to put some color in!

But I was cheered to get this late card from Nora. I love our outfits and the fact that it says “Mouthers” day!

Ernie Banks weeping willow

 

This is how that lovely rugged old tree trunk turned out.  A letdown from that bold early version which I admitted I didn't deserve because it was just a lucky blotting with a paper towel.  I guess I like the foreground, but the background is not pulling its weight.  I think I will add some more willow branches.  A lot more.

Justa Cuppa

 After the last Truman class, we went to lunch at a pub. Alan ordered tea.  The server said she’d bring a pot. He just wanted a cup but they only do pots. This went on for awhile and she finally said she’d make him a cup herself and not charge him thinking it was about $,  which it was not. It showed up in a glass and stainless cup and the sunlight reflected his shirt on the surfaces so I snapped a photo. This is in the hot press book. Maybe I could have left out the tea bag. 

Alan Spring 5 2026

 I don’t know what else to do with this bottle painting on Yupo. I wasn’t going to put any verbiage on the bottles but it needed them. I don’t know if it’s done but I’m keeping an open mind about that. 

I finished the clock tower at the lakefront. It’s on 140# rough but I’m going to try a much looser version on Yupo. 

Touched up this trading card view of sunset on a Michigan lake.  

Tree trunks

 You know sometimes when a tree sprouts on uneven ground on the banks of a placid pond and two branches come out askew but it doesn't seem to hurt either branch at all and they go on and get all crusty and strong together.

This tree is on the banks of that pond with all the weeping willows on the north end of Graceland not far from where Ernie Banks rests.

Well as you know us artists, all we ask is a sailing ship and a star to steer her by, and this is my star.  Haven't done that much, slopped down paint, blotted it up. Repeated a couple times and the last time I pulled up the paper towel this is what was left.  

And this looked pretty good to me, even though I did so little work on it.  

I've been jammed up with doctors and nurses and hospitals, nothing that worrisome I think, but very time consuming and distracting, so I am trotting this out just to make an appearance on the blog.

May 16, 2026 — Elaine O.

I finished by populating my city street...and now I'm not sure if I made the right decision. But what's done is done. There are things I like (that street lamp, surprisingly) and things I might do differently another time (like using a ruler to eliminate some of the wobbly elements).

10" x 14"