North Pond

 Pretty much finished. Able to let the trees be light like spring time and resist the impulse to get involved in the cafe. From a FB post. Photographer:  Chris Cullen. 

Alan Spring 3-2026

I worked on this little sketch I made while waiting for the Yupo to dry. It’s just a sketch but I need to find a different background color. This is the third one so far. 5 X 7 on hot press. Don’t really like hot press. 

I spent a little more time on this self portrait on Yupo. I think it’s done unless I want to add more lines to my face. 

Finished the barrel painting on Yupo. I thought that it was the perfect medium for this. I finally got the technique for painting the reflected leaves down. Made it more fun than work. 

Back to 140# Rough for this painting of a corner of New Buffalo. Even though it’s structurally precise, I’m going to try to paint as loose as I can. 

April 25, 2026 — Elaine O.

Here's the finished painting of my kitchen counter (sans cord tangles and a few little things like the spoon rest). Considering that the actual appliances are white, who knew I had so much stainless steel? Going forward, I'm thinking of weighing how easy something is to paint before I buy it....just in case I decide to add it to a still life down the road. 

10" x 14"

From there, I started this cityscape. Not much to see yet besides the drawing, but I notice I'm using the same composition as the kitchen interior. Coincidence or some deep meaning?

10" x 14"

A Supersized Spiderwort

 The colors very muted here. I actually used Quinacrodone Gold diluted for background.  Apple has “improved” my photo ap  I enjoyed painting on the Khadi paper but a smoother type would probably have been a better choice for this subject.

It’s Spring….

No real masterpieces here,  but they do capture the exuberance of the season imo. Darkening the backgrounds in 1 and 4 really helped to pop the flowers. And I added a little opera and cobalt violet to the tree. And I hacked that forsythia back to almost nothing yesterday…

 

learning experiences

Did this about a month ago as a study for my blues which I don't understand very well.

Then I thought I would add some yellows through reds to see how they mixed with the blues.

Then because it was yupo I messed with it, but this one looked too ordered.

Then I messed with it again but now it looked too chaotic.

So then I ordered it up a little.  Just right?

Did this one a year ago and I always liked those weedy things in the foreground so I thought I would try it again.

The background is too loud and the weeds could be wilder.

So I am working on this one.  The dark blue line needs to be more irregular and the weeds less solid.  There will be at least one more.

And this is a cormorant taking off from the Chicago River that I dashed off at the end of class.  The others are all 9x12 but this one is 5x7.  I may do some more on the subject.  It would give me more work with blues, and it looks so normal.

 

April 18, 2026 — Elaine O.

I've spent a fair bit of time on this and I think I'm getting closer to my intention. But I still have a little work to do before I can call this finished, so next week for sure!

10" x 14"

two adventures

I put down an abstracted dark background of indigo and sepia, kind of a grid pattern, but then I didn't get back to it right away and that's why she has those grid lines through her face.  Kind of interesting I think but once again I am more interested in the background than her face.

This was originally like an exercise with different shades of blue (my weakest color) and interaction with warm colors.  But then because it is yupo, and it was sitting around my studio, and I had a full palette of paint, and half of my brushes sitting there, and the sun was blasting it, and I was wearing sunglasses, I had at it.  Order has the upper hand right now, but like I said I have a full palette, and brushes, and water, I am going after it again. 

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark... and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
 

The Puddle

 I think the dog stole the show.  I may play around with this, but I’ve lost interest. The texture is in the back when it should be in the foreground and the values seem too similar. 

April 11, 2026—Elaine O.

More of the countertop landscape is slowly making an appearance. Still some work to be done, but we're getting there.

10" x 14"