Spoiler alert.... if you are one of the lucky recipients of Ken's annual holiday greeting card, you may want to avert your eyes lest you spoil the surprise! Here is his study for this year's card. It features his current fascination with stained glass and mosaic.
Madeleine is also into texture. Look at the bricks, tiles and windows of the street in Bruges. Notice the figure? It's Madeleine, ushering in one of the themes of the day. Come back to see the name of the shop next week—you'll love it!
Alan also paints familiar figures against tourist attractions. Here's Greeta by the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC. He's painting this on his favorite support, Yupo. Look at the skirt!
Greeta is painting figures and memorials as well. This powerful image features the Vietnam Memorial and the child makes a profound statement in this beautiful painting.
We're all interested in people today—and sketching. Back to mat board, a surface he's had great luck with, Mohammed is sketching a woman with a book.
Vivian is sketching, too. She's taking this older, smaller sketch and using it as the basis for a larger watercolor. We love the energy in her sketch and are looking forward to the painting.
Abla is also sketching... and working on the wonderful tree trunk. We are in love with the color, the texture, depth and modeling. This is going to be worth waiting for!
More people. More trees. And water! Elaine's added water to this scene of a paddle boat race on a Wisconsin lake. It's a view from the winning boat—the close cropping lets you feel the pressure as the second (and third) place racers make a final bid for a win.
The water in this beautiful national park is smooth and misty with only a moose enjoying the
sunrise. This looks much better in person than the photo. Marva truly is a master landscape artist.
... as you can see below. Marva is beginning a landscape scene from even farther north. The sky already looks crisp and frosty. Keep watching to see the final painting.
Everyone is attracted to water today! Whether it's being churned up by paddle boats, misted, frozen, or smooth and reflective like Bill's painting. This is beautifully composed and uses a very limited palette to evoke a definite mood.
Didn't we say we loved reflections in water? In another beautifully composed painting, we peer through autumn foliage and trees, to a cottage reflected in a still lake. Alan painted this beauty on hot press watercolor paper.
Back to Yupo, Alan uses a cottage as background for a Dodge pickup truck (you can see the name). This truck has caught on fire in the past and the texture of the burnt and rusted hood is in sharp contrast to the smooth background.
We are not big fans of pigeons.... except in this lovely painting of a pigeon-infested storefront. The pigeons add a decorative element and the muted palette and wet-in-wet technique adds to the moody charm.
Another face-on view of a building. But this is has a very different feel. Sara uses pen and ink to create this crisp architectural rendering of a suburban house. And the clear sunny colors make us want to drop by this sweet, welcoming home.
Speaking of welcoming, Greeta finished this still life. The turban squash gives this the feel of a thanksgiving cornucopia and the softly sketchy background adds just the perfect touch.
Rosemary does one of our favorite exercises—the three way fruit. Except she's using a leaf instead of a fruit or vegetable. Here are all three styles, along with the model. From left to right, the mixed model, wet-on-wet and dry brush. We love the sparkle of the dry scumbled brushstrokes.
And we welcome back world traveler, Susan. As always, she takes her sketchbook along and we love to see the results. Feel free to blow these up and see the notes she's added. These sketches bring back vivid memories of a place.... more than any photo. As you can see, she's been to Rio de Janeiro!
Here's a view from her hotel window. We love how she uses both pages of a spread when the panoramic subject dictates.
A controversial cathedral and another hotel and tour bus.
A view of Buenos Aires....
... and a tango performance and lesson!
Back home, Susan uses her sketches as the basis for full paintings, as in this scene (look back at the second sketchbook image).
Here, she documents the architecture, landscape and lifestyle of people she met on the trip. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a painting must be worth a thousand photos.
Come back next week! It's the end of our term and our year. It'll be fun!
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