From there, Ken began work on his study of another portion of the alley.... just below the scene above.
Alan is also painting places.... part of a place, in this case. This is part of his series featuring tops of buildings. Be sure to read to the end as Alan is the subject of today's Masterpiece Series feature.
Here are more buildings, done on Alan's favorite support, Yupo. He took an old painting and washed off the paint (something you can do on Yupo as it's a plastic). Some of the old color stained and the graphite remained, so he used the sketch as the basis for this painting of a street in New Orleans.
Greeta finished the painting we saw last week. It's her A Day With Manet series and features the paintings in the Manet exhibit, and modern day onlookers. You'll notice we left a bit of the surrounding floor. This is the floor in the McKeon building and it's spectacular! We were so enamored of it that we took photos... and many of us said we'd have it in our house!
More beauty shots of the floor. The photos don't have the gloss, color and vibrancy of the original, but it's the best we can get in a photo.
Imagine the blues a bluer cobalt, the greens a sparkling lime, and the browns a rich sienna. Then, add a killer shine and you'll come close to how the floor really looks.
But we digress. This is the last of Greeta's Day with Manet series. It's the only one that features the same visitor twice, but we think the dress makes it worth it. We are sad to see this series end...
...but we're glad to see Greeta break out a new sketchbook, dedicated to people she's seen. Here's a woman she saw walking down the street to a jazz festival in Mississippi. She looks stately and picturesque, and you can feel the dress flowing, can't you?
Greeta began a sketch of these two girls, dancing at a festival. The movement is evident from the clothing's shapes. We're excited to see this sketchbook progress.
More dancing women! Susan returned to this painting of three sisters dancing at a church dance. She layered and darkened the background to push the background dancers further into the background and focus on the subject of the painting. We love how she's left the light streaming through the windows.
More people in places. Elaine O. began this painting of a man at a table. She loves the composition, with the man in profile, centered in front of a window, and surrounded by objects of value to him. Yes, that's a motorcycle and he's using an old manual typewriter.
We were joined by guest artist Mya today. We're blown away by her brilliant color and beautiful composition. Her grandmother claims this is her first painting ever (with professional paints), which makes this even more impressive.
Masterpiece Series
And now, the latest installment in our new feature, Masterpiece Series. Each week, we focus on one artist, showing a series they have done.... either in a row or over time. Today's artist is Alan and this is his series featuring Tops of Buildings. This series developed over time. He began with an alley he spent many happy hours smoking in. Intrigued by the clouds, he painted the sky (and the buildings) in a variety of croppings and with different media. This is Masa paper, a rice paper that gives the crinkled texture you see below.
From there, he uses pen and ink, watercolor and more on cold press, hot press, rough and Yupo papers.
The next leap forward happened when Alan was on vacation. He began consciously painting the tops of buildings, framed by trees and skies. We like the way he painted several on a page.
Finally, Alan broke down and painted an entire house!
Art Exhibition
We have work on display in the glass cases lining the halls of the Larry McKeon Building at Truman College. You can see the displays anytime the building
is open (it's the building with the parking garage).
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