September 15, 2012

There was a nip in the air this morning and it felt just like the beginning of fall. Perfect for some back-to-school painting.

Start below with Marva taking one last look at a beautiful green Irish summer. Then we move into some interesting themes. First, the portraits. Sara starts with her annual self-portrait. Vivian adds her son to her self-portrait, and Susan goes even one better. She paints a painter painting a portrait of her. (Confused? Just look at the painting.)

The next group is a series of square paintings from Robert, Ellen and Elaine—not a typical format, and here we have three! Moving on, we visit birds and flowers, fruits, fabrics and trolleys, winding up with a perennial favorite...the color wheel! So much to see and enjoy. But we're not finished yet—keep scrolling for a sketching invitation and some painting prep tips.

I know we mentioned our new fascination with sketching and promised you some Graceland sketches. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring them, so we'll be sharing next week instead. Come back then.

You're invited. Seems like we just had our summer solstice sketching party and here it is the vernal equinox already. So you're all invited to ring in autumn with a sketch. Join us on Sunday, September 23 at Ken's Marina City "sketch pad" (LOL! Get it? Okay, sorry.). We'll sketch from the balcony and the roof and socialize afterwards. Here are the details:

• When: Sunday, September 23 from 1pm–3pm
• Where: 300 N. State, Apt. 2131 (East tower)
• Phone: 312.467.7021

 

Stretching paper. Did you notice all the unlikely mind-melds going on today? From portrait variations to square paper? Well, here's another. Two of our members decided to try a traditional method of preparing their water color paper—stretching. Most of us use watercolor pads, simply for the convenience. But in olden days (and even through today), many watercolor painters stretched their paper. Janet and Ellen both chose to do so this week.

Janet used the traditional method. She soaked her paper and used gummed packing tape to affix it to a board. Once it dries, the paper is drum tight and easy to paint on. Ellen experimented with a more modern approach. She had a single loose sheet that she taped dry to an old acrylic cutting board with blue painter's tape. See the setups below and watch carefully as the paintings progress and dry flat, ready to be cut from the boards and framed.

 Traditional paper tape

A modern variation

 

See you next week!