Here Alan has finished the wren birdhouse he started last month. It's made from a gourd and we love the colors. This is standard watercolor on watercolor paper, if you're guessing the media.
Here, Alan uses his sketchbook and watercolors to paint this lovely line and wash painting. He's experimented with a Chinese brush to achieve the pine needle texture. And again, the simple colors are beautiful.
Yes, this birdhouse is watercolor on Yupo. Knowing Alan, I'm sure you were wondering when the Yupo would show up.
This is also Yupo. It's very large and Alan has managed to get lots of texture in his center of interest.
This is Alan's work in progress for the day. It's watercolor on watercolor paper and it features two birdhouses. Confused? Hanging from the top birdhouse is a baby's onesie. It's been sewn shut at the bottom and serves as a clothespin holder. But birds have managed to build a nest deep in the onesie, making this a birdhouse, too!
Sara's been busy this summer. She's been enjoying her lovely garden and filling a sketchbook in the process. We're only showing you a sampling of her daily sketches. As you can see, she dates the sketch and writes a bit about her subject.
More in Sara's garden sketch series. She's been concentrating on composition and capturing the essence of the elements without drawing every petal and leaf. She's definitely got the composition aspect down!
And here, Sara's managed to describe the flowers with a minimum of lines. This is a great series... something she'll love to look back on, both from a gardening and a sketching perspective.
Then, Sara painted some of her sketches. Again, she tried for minimalism in brushstrokes and rich, saturated color.
Of course, Sara would paint trees! She's known for them and we love both the vantage point and the deep, rich colors in this painting.
After a summer of nature sketching, Sara returned to her portrait series today with this direct watercolor of Edward Hopper.
Elaine T. used her time away to camp and luxuriate in nature. And now, she's returned from Mother Nature to this portrait of her mother. Like all the other portraits she's done, she saves the face for last. Scary stuff... but come back to see how she finishes!
Ken is nearing the end of his series of paintings from Julia Cameron's book of photography of women in historical dress. This is Beatrice Cenci, done in various shades of sienna (raw and burnt), with two complementary blue accents.
Ken contrasted the smooth face of this woman with the textured background and hair. If you're wondering, Ken did indeed leave bits of white paper in the hair!
Today, Ken worked on the last (or next to last) of the series. Again, he's mostly using complementary colors (viridian and rose). Notice the subtle striping in the hair/veil? By the way, her eyes are closed; she's not a strange ghoul.
Once again, we look inside Greeta's sketchbook for her latest series. She visited the Manet exhibit at the Art Institute several times and she's painting other people looking at the paintings. Below is her daughter looking at a portrait. Notice how she's exploring composition and color and leaving herself notes on the side?
Then, Greeta paints the actual painting, based on the loose sketch above. The hair, coat and frame are especially lovely, aren't they?
Another Manet admirer by Greeta. This is the one she worked on today, so come back to see the finished painting.
Elaine O.'s been doing a lot of sketching over the summer too. And today, she's working on a study for another portrait. That's not a pacifier in the baby's mouth—it just isn't finished. Again, you'll have to come back to see what happens as Elaine O. is another painter who leaves the trickiest bit for last.
You know how we love to experiment? Elaine O. found this black watercolor paper. It's advertised as being intended for use with watercolor, but the process reverses. So, in effect, you go from dark to light and paint highlights and not shadows. Well, it's intriguing, but Elaine O. thinks it is best suited for acrylics, metallic paints and gouache. But this is just a first impression. She still has a dozen sheets to play with!
Isa spent her summer vacation exhibiting at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab fundraiser as one of the exhibited artists. Here is a shot of her spread in the catalog. You may recognize some of the paintings below. We're thrilled to announce that she sold two of her paintings. Congratulations, Isa!
Back at work with her floral paintings, Isa began to paint this beautiful iris. Look at the delicate texture she's achieved at the petal edges. She's revising her reference photo for better composition, so we're eager to see more.
Susan can also boast of some summer success in the art world. The following three paintings were commissioned by a buyer in the Philippines for a calendar featuring environmental concerns. The rocket stove is economical and non-polluting.
In this painting, Susan's message is conservation; specifically to save the mangroves. Notice how she's captured the essence of her subject by painting the roots.
The final painting in the calendar commission urges children to add reflective tape to backpacks. Safety first! Susan even got a relative to model for this one.
Susan did the "back-to-school" thing a little earlier than the rest of us. She took a class at Blick and painted this Venetian landscape.
In today's painting, Susan continued her food series, painting a family favorite called Lechon de Pobre (pork for the poor). And your eyes don't deceive you—that's a sardine swimming in the broth with tomatoes and rice. There is no pork to be seen—the sardine is the Lechon de Pobre.
We welcome newbie Diana to this session. Actually, Diana's a returning student from a few years ago, so it's no wonder she seems so advanced. Below is her beginner plaid. Look at all the lovely colors! She had to use two pages to get them in—but we want to show them together so you can see them all as a group.
From the plaid, Diana began the color matching exercise. The swatches on the left are clipped from magazines. On the center and right pages, she's matching the colors in the swatches. Already she's managed the hardest of them all, so she's in great shape for the future.
Did you catch the common thread in all our work? Yes, it's that we tend to paint in series—either painting the same subject or genre for a consecutive number of paintings, or returning to a subject or genre that fascinates us again and again. You may remember Sara's series of birthday self-portraits over the years. (They were featured in our last post of July 20, 2019 if you want to go back and check them out!) Well, that was so well-received, we're going to feature a different artist (and a series of their choice) over the next few weeks. Come back next week to see one of Elaine T.'s series. Whichever she chooses, you won't be disappointed.
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