April 18, 2026 — 2026

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"

Alan Spring 2-2026

 In response to Ken’s statement that there are no beautiful automobiles in America, I give you the Chevy Van. I’ll mat it like a triptych when I buy some more mat board. 

The big one is 9 X 12 on 140 # coldpress and the little ones are 5 X 7.  Tires are hard to paint  

And for something completely different this is a mountain pond on Yupo. 

I need to do something about that blue streak and maybe tone down the value of the purple rocks on the mountain face. I like the top third and the bottom third but I somehow need to link them in the middle. 

Aileen revisted

 Since I didn't have much to lose I did a makeover on Aileen like I did on the hillside which became a volcano.  And I daresay I like this version of her much better.  Instead of doing my usual tentative little strokes I put on some big swatches of solid color, mostly on the left side and let it dry completely before I came back in.  It's still obvious that I was mostly interested in the background, but I think her face has more gravitas, and she has more of an attitude like well, maybe her people have been wronged, or maybe somebody stepped ahead of her in line.

Aileen and the volcano.

Well I tell you, I felt pretty good when I took Aileen home Saturday afternoon.  Oh I knew she was off but I thought I had made a good start on what could become a new series.  But pulling it out of the bag Sunday morning I realized it wasn't very good.  It's obvious all I was interested in was her hair, the background, and her blouse.  The only interest I had in the poor girl's face was getting her eyes and nose in the right place and giving her some kind of Mona Lisa expression, which turned out to be just passable if you are very generous and don't look at it very long.   

 Felt a little forlorn about Aileen and my loss of a path forward, and I looked at this hillside from last week which had gotten away from me and I thought I saw something.  Wasn't sure what it was and I came in recklessly with a very wet brush and swung it around like I was cleaning out a dusty shed and I discovered that it was a volcano.  Not bad huh?

March 4, 2026 — Elaine O.

Welcome to my kitchen! Well, just the beginning of just one counter. I originally was drawn to the way the appliances on the counter looked like a museum display under the lights. Now to see if I can live up to the inspiration. 

Playing around….

 I did a quick new version of these two lovebirds, with a larger, more dramatic sky. Not sure it’s the direction I want to go in…here’s the other version for comparison …inexplicably they appear larger in the first version below, but they are actually the same size in both paintings. I’m favoring the first version (below) because the emphasis is on them….i also like the less dramatic water and sky….

Oh, and here’s the recent self portrait— directly painted…I didn’t even comb my hair…

A motley crew

This one got away from me.

This one never went anywhere.

 And this one. Well I have some hope for it.