In another attempt to explore texture, Alan painted some tulips on a piece of masa paper. Different parts are painted on each side of the paper. It's an interesting process—the paper is crumpled, soaked, flattened, painted on one side with leaves, pasted to watercolor paper and finished on the other side of the paper.
And here's the last piece of masa paper Alan ever plans to use. While he may not be fond of the paper, we love the effect he's achieved here. The reflections are beautiful.
Bills' back to Ireland here—and back to perfecting painting stone. Look closely at the stone house, stone walls, fences and rocks. You'll see all the wide range of colors he's used to get to these soft greys. Now, we're looking forward to all the lush Irish greens still to come.
You'd think Elaine would be painting grey stone, too, but no, she's painting portraits. We like the way she's focused on the important bits—the kids—and only described as much of the background as needed to establish place. We also might have chosen a different flavor of ice cream than multi-colored neon, although these two seem happy enough.
Here's one to examine closely for a variety of reasons. Glen imaginatively paints a carousel horse breaking free against a circus background. Look at the colors—they are perfectly suited to the whimsy of the scene. And the mane and tail are softly flowing in the breeze. Love it!
Greeta's painting livestock too, but her cows are real. And they are lounging on a beach in California. We are enjoying these tremendously and are glad Greeta's discovered cows!
Greeta is featuring another of her specialties, fruit, in this soft, sweet scene. Zoom in to see the soft pearly gray walls and the delicacy with which she's handled this scene.
Isaac's teacup takes center stage, along with the tulip balanced across it. We love the addition of the window and how the light is shining through the leaves. The teacup is beautifully shiny and the warm dark background is a great choice.
You can't tell from the images here, but Isaac's gone from a small painting above to a large self-portrait below. The green is masking fluid, so don't get distracted! Look instead at the bold application of sepia. It is granulating and spreading to perfectly describe the face planes—just look at the chin and neck. We can't wait to see this progress.
Ken—or as he's now calling himself, Kernel Cob—is finishing up his corn series below. This is number 12 in the series and is the most abstracted of the series. It definitely feels like autumn with the warm, rich colors.
...But then Ken visited a farmers' market, bought a few ears of corn, and fell in love all over again. Here, he's peeled back the leaves to reveal the kernels, perfectly suited to his mosaic style. We think there may be at least 4 or 5 more corn paintings to come! (PS—he arranged, lit and photographed the corn and then he did eat it!)
Look at all the lovely greens! You can tell Madeleine is painting Ireland. In fact, you can see her and Bill strolling through the countryside. We especially love the trees in the background.
This building and street scene are quintessentially Irish, aren't they? Madeleine is documenting her trip with some incredible paintings. We're convinced these paintings will evoke more memories than any photograph could.
Here's another wonderful vacation picture. Sara paints herself sitting in a barn doorway in Wisconsin. What can we say about this? Beautiful composition, vibrant colors and skillful modeling—this evocative painting has a very Wyeth-like feel.
Yes, it's beautiful, tropical and colorful—must be Steve! Another hint? Look at the texture on the feet and the branch. We can't wait to see the dark feathers go in and applaud Steve's background choice. He has given us just enough detail that we know exactly what we are looking at, but not enough to distract from his subject.
Susan was at a funeral last week and, like many artists, used her art to come to terms with her grief. In the end, though, this is not dark or depressing, just a simple documentary. We love Susan's style of collaging the story elements.
Coming after the painting above, Susan was determined to paint a "happy" painting. Here she is also trying her hand at a field painting. She's going to do this again, larger. We concur!
Our newbies are at different stages—working on various exercises and cranking out the extracurricular paintings. So follow closely. Here is Erika's giant leaf. She's including the original just in case you find it as incredible as we do! Notice the texture, the veins and, again, the background! We all seem to be getting backgrounds right this week.
Erika is moving on to a pair of pears, using complementary colors. Another interesting background choice!
Luciana has the "giant fruit" concept down pat. You can't see any background at all... just the gourd. And she has the colors spot on, not to mention the textures and the groove at the right.
Here's she's moving on to the wet/dry exercise, combining wet and dry strokes in the same florals.
Luciana's flowers are beautiful! They'd make a good fabric, wallpaper or even a greeting card, wouldn't they?
Pia uses wet-in-wet (actually, more like wet-in-damp) to create the soft edges of this sunset. And look at the reflection! The colors, the blending and edges are amazing.
Yes, it's the giant fruit. Pia has painted a pumpkin. Besides spot-on colors, she's added rich texture to the stem and fruit. This is "giant fruit" done right.
Having nailed the exercises, Pia moves on to extracurricular play. She's a master colorist and we love the bloom at the top right.
Look at the textures in the palm fronds and bark. Pia has this down! We're looking forward to next week!
Today is Bill and Madeleine's opening reception at the Ten Cat, from 4–7. And at 7, it's the Cubs game! See you next week for a report on the opening and good news about the Cubs game. Maybe we'll all be painting Ws as well as flying them!
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