March 30, 2019

Okay, all that talk about spring really being here this time? We have to take it all back. It's cold out there—with the possibility of freezing temperatures overnight! Nevertheless, we look at Tony's painting of Montrose Harbor and a blissful feeling of calm sweeps over us. With a soft, muted palette, Tony has captured a sense of tranquility and peace.

Steve is using the very same colors to paint a Parisian cathedral. He's beautifully captured the sense of standing before this intricate church on a gray-ish, rainy day. Those of us who visited Paris assured us that this is exactly the right feeling.

Elaine O.'s temple has a very different feeling. The weather is different; the building material is concrete with quartz instead of stone and these churches are halfway around the world from each other. Still, both artists managed to convey the sense of reverence and majesty these buildings invoked in them.

Susan is also trying to capture a feeling. In this case, she's trying to depict the sadness of a discarded carved wood sofa as it sits abandoned, littered with soda bottles and overgrown with plants. Still, she can't help but make it seem happy.

Speaking of happy, Elaine T. finished her little rider on the motor vehicle carousel at Kiddieland. Even if you don't remember Kiddieland, you can't help but feel the joy and excitement.

Another happy place for Elaine T. This is a tree from Kohler-Andrae State Park in Wisconsin. It looks as majestic as the cathedrals, doesn't it?

And since we're talking about camping, we can't neglect Farley (below). Elaine T.'s beloved dog was the best camping dog she ever had. Look closely at Farley's eyes. He's completely content and lord of all he sees. This is a dog with personality!

Elle's back and she's right in step—it's like she never left! Here's a lovely portrait in our popular "grandchild" genre. The delicate modeling is perfectly suited to a child's soft skin. And we love the textures of the sweater, hair and background.

Sara is continuing to inspire us with her series of portraits. Below, she finishes the Wyeth copy she started last week. The skin in the watercolor on the right is positively luminous!

Another Wyeth painting served as the model for this. Sara says this series is really helping both her drawing and painting skills. We can't help but agree and notice how well she models form with color and shape.

If you've been missing your Baby Nora fix, you can rest easy. Here's Nora as part of Sara's series. Look how quickly and easily Sara's caught her expression and personality? And how her baby skin is so perfect... but not overworked in the slightest.

Here's today's effort for Sara. Pat brought in an art book full of portraits and Sara did both the sketch and the direct watercolor in one morning. We're including the original painting, as well as Sara's copies, for your review. Impressive, no?

More historical women, this time from Ken. He's continuing his work on this woman based on a photograph by Julia Cameron. This is the famed Wood Nymph portrait, in case it feels familiar to you.

 It may also feel familiar because Ken has painted her several times before. Here's an old version from about 10 years ago. In this, she's more intense, but equally cool and interesting.

Richard's back today, too and he's painting cloth. Not just any cloth, this is a cloth with fruit in the cloth—and he's done a lovely job of painting both the print and the way the fabric folds and drapes.

But that's not all! Richard did some homework of a flower, anticipating spring. This is the right view, by the way. It's not upside down; it's a hanging flower!

Emilia used her morning to do the preliminary drawing of a sailing ship. It may be a little hard to see, but it's incredible and it will be exciting to see it painted.

And Emilia also did some homework. Just look at these lovely detailed drawings. She's using fineline markers for these and they are exquisite.

Be sure to come back next week for more exciting watercolors!

March 23, 2019

Welcome back! It's the Spring II term—and it's actually spring. Although it was still frosty today, the sun was bright and beautiful and we feel like we've rounded the corner. We're excited and our paintings reflect it. We begin with Ken, both because it's his birthday, and because he's rounding a corner too. Ken's finished the last of his Not That Damn Cat Again series...

... and moved on to painting faces. Yes, Ken's jumping back on the portraiture bandwagon! He's returning to painting women from Julia Cameron photos. And we approve heartily.

Sara continues to lead the charge in portraiture with her series. She's having a great deal of fun moving from sketches to directly painting in watercolor. We show both paintings together; on the right is a pencil outline and exploratory wash sketch, and on the left is a direct watercolor painting—no pencil sketching first! Here's her grandfather, begun last term.

Here, Sara is painting from paintings, rather than photos. The original here is from the 1600's or 1700's but, cropped close, it looks very modern, doesn't it?

You definitely recognize Henry VIII, don't you? Both studies capture the sitter very well indeed.

Finally, Sara moves on to an Andrew Wyeth. Again, cropped close, the model looks very modern...and very interesting. No wonder so many of us are intrigued by portraiture. It's challenging, but very rewarding. We suspect this series will continue for awhile, as Sara's having a lot of fun.

Susan is also painting people, but this is a person in a location, instead of a portrait. This is a study of a woman using a rocket stove. Currently used in Africa, this stove is economical and ecological. Susan has been commissioned to paint three paintings for a calendar, including this one which reflects the patron's interest in using these in the Philippines. Congratulations, Susan!

Elaine T. is also painting people in places. And her people are all having fun—we think! This is a ride at Kiddieland. People actually sit in the balls and are spun around.

But, as you can see, riders have a wheel in the center so they can spin their balls themselves, along with the spinning of the ride. We can feel the movement (not to mention the dizziness) and love the color and motion Elaine T. has captured.

From there, Elaine T. continues to stroll down Chicago memory lane with this giant boot. It happened to be a side support for a ride called The Galleon. And the motorbike is part of a carousel that featured bikes and cars instead of horses.

Elaine O. is painting places, but with no people in sight. This architectural study is the Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette. It's made of cast concrete with quartz and it's very white and positively luminescent.

Equally beautiful, but across the ocean is the subject of Steve's architectural study. This is Monte Marte Cathedral in Paris. Notice how he's captured the warmth of the stone building material.

Isa is painting an interior instead of the outside of the building. She's added masking to the scene outside the window, so we'll have to wait for it to dry before she can paint more. Come back next week to see the frosty outside, as seen from inside the warm, cozy room.

Without wasting any time, Isa began this painting of an orchid. You can see masking fluid defining the arched stem of the upper orchid. And look at the beautiful use of color in the bottom row of orchids. The tones of blue and red blend perfectly to create shape and form.

Emilia has finished her final painting as a beginner—and what a graduation picture it is! In this modern still life, the water bottle features a metal cap and cloud-like surface which is perfectly complemented by the orange clementines. Like Isa, she skillfully blends shades of blue and red in the fabric. It not only has form and shape, it shines!

We're excited to welcome Tony back. Tony is doing something we often talk about. He's re-doing some of the beginner exercises, hoping to learn even more, based on what he knows now. So, yes, Tony is our official newbie. Here, he's trying new colors on his palette, softly blending them in a combination of the plaid and color wheel.

Below, Tony is channeling his inner Van Gogh while he explores complementary colors. Notice how he's chosen the most challenging of the three pairs? Also, notice how well he's handling them.

No upcoming events.... no save-the-dates... just be sure to come back next week for more watercolors. See you then!

March 9, 2019

It's the last class of the term—don't worry! We'll be back after only one week's break—and we were in fine form today. We chatted, painted and laughed. We even watched April the Giraffe on live cam (She's about to give birth). And in an utter coincidence, Dana painted this adorable giraffe. It's a tiny painting, but packed full of character. Is this giraffe the cutest thing?

With a few minutes to spare, Dana painted her old car. We can assure you that this looks very like her car—the eyes are only a little exaggerated from the actual sunshade. Like the giraffe, this car has a definite character; it's not just any old generic car.

Elaine T. manned the giraffe cam feed and also returned to her Kiddieland series. The little bumper car at top is as cute as they come. And the cars in action at the bottom capture the very essence of the bumper car experience. They are fun and colorful and convey the sense of motion and excitement of the actual ride. We love everything about these, down to the happy colors and the lively shadows.

Elaine T. begins another Kiddieland ride. Looking at both of these, we can't help but marvel at her perfect choice of colors. These colors make us happy just to see them; they are exactly what a day at Kiddieland felt like.

Isa has finished the interior portion of her floral still life. It makes us feel warm and happy, too. The flowers seem alive as they look out the window at the scenery. And the background color and brushwork add to the feeling of anticipating the end of winter.

Elaine O. is still clinging stubbornly to the last remnants of winter. The following thumbnail studies are her attempts to find the best way to paint a snowstorm. Starting at top left, she uses gouache spatter. Next, clockwise, she uses masking fluid to reserve snow. Bottom right uses heavy gouache spatter and the last study is in pointillist style, leaving the the white of the paper as snow. They're each very different types of snowfall. What's your favorite?

Susan's as far from winter snow as possible. Here's a waterfall in the Philippines (actually, five of them) with happy tourists frolicking in the sun. Again, the colors are bright and happy, befitting the scene.

Steve is also doing a vacation painting, but this isn't tropical. It's Monte Marte Cathedral in Paris and Steve is attempting an architectural study. In just a short time, he's gotten his sketch in place and has added the base layer of color. Come back next time for more.

Sara is still working on her portrait series and she's getting faster and better with each one. Here, she's moved to faces that aren't just full frontal. Again, she begins with a pencil outline and exploratory wash sketch before moving on to the actual painting.

This is a profile and includes the reference photo Sara is using. Although she finds the hair difficult, we are amazed by the effect she's been able to achieve.

This is Sara's grandfather and we are especially fond of the color choices she made. Yes, the shadow is purple... chosen specifically to prove to Ken that purple is NOT a hideous color. The actual painting is lightly blocked out using raw sienna to indicate value. Come back next time to see the finished piece.

For someone who doesn't like purple, Ken has moved the red fur close to purple, hasn't he? Or maybe it's just the juxtaposition with the green fur. Regardless, this version switches the red and green from the last painting. It's interesting how value is more important than color in these.

Richard finished his giant fruit exercise. Yes, that fiery abstract is the inside of a fig.

Richard's next exercise is the cloth study. This is a simple gray woolen scarf, but made more graphic and exciting by the paint style. There's an origami feel to the folds, too.

Emilia paints the "family of fruits" exercise in a totally different style. These are painted from life (no plastic fruits for Emilia!) and they are soft and delicate. 

Hedda is doing the three-way fruit exercise. This is worth a close look. First, here are the dry-on-dry and combination styles. We are especially smitten with the colorful shadows and the test swatches on the side.

Here's Hedda's wet-in-wet take on the lemon. See how she's used the pencil line to corral the exploding yellow, while keeping a highlight and shadow.  It's one of the best wet paintings ever!

Finally, Hedda's giant fruit painting. Yes, it's a pear and yes, the texture is wonderful.

Class photo

 What better way to mark the end of the term than with a class photo? Here we are, all happy and looking forward to a week off. We're also excited that we'll be back on March 23—except for Dana, who won't be back then. We'll really miss her. We hope you'll all be back, too.

Upcoming events

DePaul Community Chorus
Here's a chance to hear the DePaul Community Chorus—FREE! Steve won't be singing this time, but it'll still be amazing. The program features Hummel's Mass in D.

     Where:
     DePaul Concert Hall
     800 West Belden, Chicago, IL

     When:
     Sunday, March 24, 3pm

See you on March 23!