October 5, 2019

We were busy putting together an exhibition today—more about that later—so the few of us who were there had limited painting time, but you'd never know it to look at what we accomplished. Susan used her time to add final touches to last week's painting of the Beethoven concert. She deepened the background and added definition to the stained glass window to focus attention on the musicians. Don't you love the golden glow around them?

Ken is also adding to his painting from last week. He's been hard at work on the foliage and the wires, poles and transformers that define this Chicago alley. And he's beginning to add sky, which is making everything come together.

Sara's back from vacation and she's painting this scene of autumn foliage... as seen from the waiting room of an airport. This is beautifully composed with the focus of the painting being what is typically considered background. It's carefully framed by the windows, mullions and the traveler, all of which are backlit and softly neutralized.

Isa has also returned to her iris and finished it. The softly layered greens of the background push the subtly colored iris forward. Isa enjoyed this so much, she's begun another iris in this series. So far, all she's done is the basic sketch and some masking (none of which showed up in the photo, sorry!), but come back next week to see more.

Elaine O. began a new painting this week—actually, it's a sketch, based on a black and white magazine cover. Despite working on this for only a short time, she's happy with it. We like the energy and life this sketchy style brings. Interestingly, Elaine O. is the featured artist in today's Masterpiece Series and the series involves portraits. Keep reading to see more.

Diana has moved on to the complementary colors exercise and she's crushing it. Here, she examines each of her basic paints with its complement....

...before mixing them to create sophisticated shades and subtle neutrals.

Finally, Diana uses her complementary color knowledge in this painting of her goldfish. She surrounds the orange fish with complementary colored water to make each color sing. And we love the texture of the water.

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 Elaine O. and this is a series of portraits. She wanted to improve portraiture skills so she began painting people she didn't know so there'd be no investment in getting a perfect likeness. Hence, the title, People I Don't Know.  The only requirements were to sketch quickly (no tracing, etc.) and to have the person look like the reference, if possible. If not, to at least look like a person. Here they are, in the order she painted them.

Most of her references were small black and white photos or ads. And, as it turned out, most of the people who attracted her interest were people she wanted to learn more about. 

The sizes and techniques may vary (lots of experimentation with new materials here!), but this series really gives rise to confidence painting people. Oh, and it's worth noting that most of these people actually DO look like themselves!

Moving Sale

There's still time if you're interested in a great moving sale. Steve will be selling lots of fine household and garden wares (and much more) over the weekends below, weather permitting. Hope to see you there!

Art Exhibition

We mentioned that we were mounting an exhibition.... and you're invited! Truman College will be holding a community day on Saturday, October 12. Many of the events are being held at the Larry McKeon Student Services Building at Truman. And we'll be painting in the lobby on Saturday morning, if you'd care to drop by and watch us at work!

We also have work on display in the glass cases lining the halls. If you can't drop by Saturday, you can see the displays anytime the building is open (it's the building with the parking garage).