But we return to summer fun. Greeta painted a group of girls frolicking on the beach. The water's spray feels cool and refreshing, doesn't it?
And then, she turns to more summer fun on the water. These boys are fishing on a lake and Greeta's using a new favorite color for the foliage... Indian Yellow. It's beautifully warm and transparent.
You'll enjoy this look into Greeta's sketchbook, where she selects her palette for each painting and does a small study. This is a great idea!
Steve spent his day testing new paints. Most of these swatches are from Daniel Smith—genuine rocks and minerals ground up in a binder. Look at some of the names of the colors and notice the granulating quality of the swatches.
From there, Steve began sketching... faces, hands and flowers. For someone who used to be wary of painting hands, he certainly has a grasp of them now!
Sara went back to add value contrasts and tweak the eyes on this painting....
... before she began her latest portrait. As usual, she uses her sketchbook to do a direct watercolor study.
And then, another. This is softer and more concerned with the subtle values in her model.
Finally, Sara began the full painting. She's going to balance the values in the eyes to match the hair, but for the most part, she's finished. We love the attitude on this woman. And we're amazed at how well and how quickly she's painting these portraits. Speaking of which.... keep reading until the end when we feature Sara's self-portraits over the years.
Ken is another artist who is into portraits, and studies. Below, he goes back to his last portrait to add highlights and shape to the subject's face, and sparkle to her dress and veil.
These are small studies for his next painting. Again, these are from the Julia Margaret Cameron photos.
Even though they are studies, there is a lot of life and energy in these.
Alan also revisited his painting from last week to tweak the eyes on his dog.
Moving on, Alan did this landscape on Yupo. Definitely a master of the surface, he is able to get lovely effects.
As if that weren't enough, Alan began his next series.... painting the birdhouses near his cottage. This colorful wren-home is a gourd.
Notice the hole? Yes, this is technically a bird-house, too. We love the texture of the bark.
Elaine's structure isn't a birdhouse at all. This is the Elks building on Diversey and Stockton in Chicago, silhouetted against foliage and city skyscrapers.
Marva's big sky is something you'd see out west at sunset, with all the rich colors and the light reflecting on the mountains. Just beautiful!
Susan repainted her Balut painting. This time, she added a landscape background (in keeping with her Gemini theme; two paintings in one, foreground and background) with the elements of the snack in the egg shapes. We see the contents of the balut from the side, from the top, and being sipped. You can also zoom in and read all about balut!
We have a theme going here. After the balut and last week's kwek-kwek (quail eggs), we move on to tokneneg...hard boiled chicken eggs that are dipped in orange colored batter, deep fried, and dipped in sweet and sour sauce. It's another Philippine street food. And Susan has envisioned the eggs as hot air balloons floating against a landscape of land, sea and sky. She's even added chickens to the baskets of the two balloons on the left.
Carolina is doing the fabric exercise and she brought in the most delectable length of coral satin. You can't quite see how beautiful the color is from the photo, but she matched it perfectly. She brought the fabric to prove it... and it's a spot on match!
For her final exercise, Carolina did the giant fruit. To be truthful, it's a giant plastic gourd, but she did a beautiful job of getting the streaks of color of her subject. The photo is actually upside down, but the stripes and colors are magnificent at any angle. She's now officially graduated... and a new old master.
Sara's Self-Portraits... over the years.
As we mentioned last week, Sara does a really cool thing. Every year around her birthday, she paints a self portrait of herself. We know you can go back to see her progress.... in age, wisdom and painting skills. But she brought them in so we could enjoy them...and share them with you...all in one place. We'll let you scroll through chronologically, but want you to notice how relaxed and smiling she is post-retirement. Also, notice how manically happy she is when her first grandchild appears.
As usual, we present you a class photo... with a twist. We're posed amid the retrospective of self-portraits Sara has done over the years...
Where's Sara, you ask? See if you can spot the real Sara among all the Sara wanna-bes below!
This is the last class of the term. We'll be back on September 7. See you then... or you may want to consider joining us. Info follows, along with upcoming events.
Register for next term.
Want to join us? Registration is open. Check your calendars and think about it. After all the summer madness, you'll want to be part of our fun and relaxing group. Fall I and II dates are:- Sept. 7 — October 19, 2019
- October 26 — December 14, 2019 (off November 30)
For registration information—come on, you know you want to join us—visit Truman College Continuing Education.
Art Exhibition. Ken will be showing at the Ten Cat Tavern. Drop by to see the art and maybe play some pool. Be sure to come to the opening reception on Saturday, July 27.
Where:
Ten Cat Tavern
3931 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, ILTen Cat Tavern
When:
Exhibition: July 13–September 1, 2019
Reception: July 27, 2019, 4–7 pm
Art Exhibition. The 17th annual Art in Motion raises funds for the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Art Therapy and Therapeutic Recreation programs and features original artworks by patient artists...including our very own Isa. Isa's art will be featured in an evening fundraiser. While there will be no free pre-viewing, discounted $25 tickets will be available for the fundraiser. Leave a comment if you are interested. Click here to learn more about the event. And mark your calendars as follows:
Where:
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
355 East Erie - Chicago, IL
10th Floor Sky Lobby
When:
Friday, September 6
Fundraiser and silent auction: 6–9 pm (Requires paid admission ticket purchase. If you're interested in the possibility of a discounted $25 ticket, leave a comment)
Where:
Duet Salon
4615 1/2 N. Damen
(right off the Damen Brown Line Stop)
Chicago, IL
