November 19, 2016

It's finally autumn. Definitely a chill in the air today. But you couldn't tell by us. We had a great time. Once again, we seemed to paint in themes. Scroll through and see—and then be sure to read on. You're invited to a concert at DePaul. Our own Steve will be singing—and you know how good those concerts are! Anyway, speaking of themes, we start with Tony's lovely portrait of his mother as a young woman. What's interesting to note here is that this delicate drawing is all done in paint. No graphite sketching as a baseline.

And from there, we move to John, who is known for his drawing, but only works in pencil. This large sketch is now finished and he's adding color using colored pencils. Isn't the chandelier gorgeous?

Greeta is revisiting an old portrait too. It's her as a young girl, styling her Shirley Temple curls. She wasn't satisfied with her first attempt of years ago. But this one looks like it's going to be a huge success.

Greeta has finished her night cityscape. We know how difficult purple is, yet she's handled it perfectly, grading to warm sunset colors. Zoom in and see the red on the arch and highlighting the building edges, not to mention the reflections.

Elaine is also painting a city scene, but it's not nearly as colorful. She's using red and green to model this Chicago scene. A couple of pigeons perched on a relief figure on the arch over the door of the Art Institute caught her eye. It's all grey, but she's hoping to make this a sketch and highlight the pigeons. Not that she's a fan of pigeons, by any means.

We're all into cityscapes lately, aren't we? Bill revisits his Irish street scene. Using oil pastels, he's retouched the buildings, adding focus and color.

Same city street, but much more subtly portrayed. Here, Bill is emphasizing the gray flat light typical of many Irish days. By the way, do you notice the horizontal bars across the sky? This was not intentional on his part; rather, it was photographed against venetian blinds and a sunny sky.

Here's another incredible piece of architecture. Bill is painting a beautiful Irish church on lush green grass. The details are lovely.

Alan is also painting churches with lovely details and wonderful architectural features. He is using ink and wash to describe the details. Just look at the stained glass windows and the dappled sunlight on the roof. 

Here, Alan is painting a landscape on watercolor paper. Look closely at the bricks—the colors are beautiful. And the red and yellow colors? They are painted with something called Brusho. Brusho is a type of crystal pigment that bursts into colors when you add water. Very vivid (but just a bit uncontrollable), they are the perfect touch here.

Did we mention that Alan is our very own mad scientist? If there's something new to experiment with, Alan knows about it. Here, he's trying alcohol ink on Yupo. The colors are brilliant but they have to be used on non-porous paper like Yupo. They bleed right through watercolor paper.

More alcohol ink abstracts by Alan. These colors are incredibly beautiful.

One more of Alan's abstracts below. We love the delicate color combinations and the movement.

Inspired by a visit to the Shedd Aquarium, Erika is using standard watercolor paper and paints to capture the beauty of jellyfish underwater.

Madeleine's water is painted from the top, but it's soft and lovely. Look at the ripple in the still water, the stone bridge and crisp boats. This definitely sets a mood, doesn't it?

... as does Sara's skyscape. This isn't the best photo and we'll replace it soon (notice the sheen on the wet sky). We love the clouds and the composition with the horizon line set low in the frame.

While the previous two paintings brought spring and summer to mind, Ken's Corn painting is definitely autumn. Look at the brown, crisp leaves and how perfectly rounded and shaped they are. We can't wait to see the kernels come in.

Susan's still documenting autumn in the city. Notice the airy changing colors and the solid buildings contrasted behind them.

Another autumn cityscape by Susan. We love the branch framing the building. And we especially love the W flying on the vehicle. We can't get enough of that—Go Cubs!

Michael paints a spare and minimal still life of a vase and flowers. We are enamored of the colors and the brushwork and how he's shown so much with so little.

And then, Michael brings his minimal style to Christmas. Below is a present and Santa Claus.

Michael finishes with more Christmas wishes, framed by the moon and the sun. We're already getting in the holiday spirit.

Upcoming Events

DePaul Community Chorus—Here's a chance to hear Steve and the DePaul Community Chorus. It's a free concert on Sunday, November 20 at the DePaul Concert Hall at 800 W. Belden in Chicago. They will be singing songs inspired by the writings of Shakespeare. Click here to learn more: Shakespeare 400—DePaul Community Chorus