Weekly Inspirations III

 

 

36a)  Charles Burchfield, Untitled, 1918

36b)  Edvard Munch - Dark Spruce Forest, 1899

 36c)  Georgia O'Keefe, blue hills n  landscape

 

37a)  Pierre Bonnard, Le Grand-Lemps, c.1892 (oil on canvas)

37b)  Charles Burchfield, Autumn Branches, watercolor

37c)  Victoria Crowe, Beach Tree, Winter, 1975

38a)  Nathan Ford

 

38b)  Raoul Dufy

38c)  Emil Nolde, Girl with a Red Hat

39a)  Charles Burchfield, Dreaming of Christmas

39b)  Gabriele Munter

39c)  Charles Burchfield, Christmas Tree

 

 

 

 

40a)  Eyvind Earle 

40b)  he, tianjian,  rise of the brill

40c)  Fairfield Porter, Winter Clouds, 1967, oil on canvas

41a)  Marlene Dumas, Distrust

41b)  Marlene Dumas, Distrust

41c)  Marlene Dumas, Bloodshot

Elaine O—January 30, 2021

Done. It's our front door with climbing rose vines creeping up the stairs. It feels like it looked on the sunny day we finished adding the street numbers in the top light. For all the planning, fine-tuning and color matching we did before we added that final touch, though, it's not all that visible! We'll revisit when the weather gets warmer.

 

Front Door        10"x8"

 

I remember painting a similar view many years ago, so I though it might be fun to compare them. I can only find this fuzzy thumbnail. Hmm.... in the past 20 years, it seems the neighbors re-sided their house, our rose plants took off and our little plastic planter died... but I can't be sure I've gotten any better as a painter!

Our House        12"x9"

I also started a new painting, but didn't get much farther than the drawing and initial washes, so we'll wait until there's something to show. Other than that, this week, we've had snow that blew and drifted on the window screens.

approx. 4" sq.

And I experimented with an earth triad of yellow ochre, burnt sienna and indigo. I did a color wheel, then a landscape (a copy of a Gauguin)...

spread approx. 3"x6"

...before trying those colors on portraits. I am surprised at the range of colors I could achieve. Also, intrigued by the way the sedimentary colors granulate.

spread approx. 3"x6"

Sara at the window

 I’m just giving in to this whole looking out the window thing. Here are four  sketches I did of what I see...the page is 9x12. The medium is black Pilot gel pen.

I think this is done. I understand now why some artists title their paintings Study in Yellow and Blue...this is 12 x 16 on hot press. It’s watercolor with color pencil and watercolor pencil. It reminds me a bit of Edward Gorey drawings.

The last fish 3

This fellow is almost done.  I'm going to lighten the yellow and do something with the water, maybe darken the turquoise and maybe lighten the ultramarine.

 

elaine t / My COVID face / Jan30

 Jeepers it's been 10 months of isolation and it's taken a toll on me.

The Conversation in Cebu

 The Conversation painting was inspired by a visit to Cebu, an island in central Ph, which was discovered for Spain in 1521 by Portuguese explorer Magellan. The island capital city is also named Cebu. The Ph became a colony of Spain for 4 centuries until 1898. Ph became the seat of Christianity in Asia. American occupation plus Japanese invasion followed until Ph independence in

1946. Cebu, the birthplace of my late father, is a historical place, a domestic shipping port with international airport & a tourist destination known for "lechon" delicacy or roasted pig. My family toured the oldest city in the Ph with century old houses preserved as heritage sites. Our foursome visited an ancient house filled with vintage items: antique furniture, oil lamp, glass pitcher, orange colored glass creamer sugar set, the icon of Santo Nino, patron saint & a table covered by an elegant crocheted piece. The painting felt like a jigsaw puzzle of interlocking shapes & of complements of darks & lights.The tablecloth was a joy to paint, aided by masking fluid. Unlike my female relatives who could both crochet & chat with ease & abandon,  I never learned to crochet, in my youth, due to my sweaty hands. Finally, I was able to create crochet in watercolor! Happy painting, fellow artists!

Pear Old Fashioned

Had a little problem with my gallbladder last week but I finished this one that I called “The painter enjoys a cocktail.”

It’s a little cluttered but I liked the sense of it. 

 

In case you want to make one: Cheers. 

SPICED PEAR OLD FASHIONED

Ingredients:

2 oz Bourbon or Blended Whiskey

3/4 oz Pear Liqueur

4 dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions:

Stir all ingredients with ice until chilled, then strain into an Old Fashioned glass over ice. Garnish with a flamed orange slice and a cherry. 

Since my gallbladder removal, my doc advised me to give up alcohol for a couple of weeks. So I started another picture of my grandson, Charles. So I got the basic colors and shapes in and I’ll try to enhance and fine tune it. 

Greeta - Facebook Screenshots

Thinking about more color on parts of stone and why is the man’s right foot so enormous.......

The only person here who turned out looking anything like the photo is the mother. And my depiction of the father takes me back to the pictures I saw of fathers in elementary school books. 

 Photos by Wendy Fischer Hartman from Pictures of Chicago on Facebook. 

The Accountants

 Today's art work is inspired by a 5 year old photo taken in front of a shrub with white flowers in my Ph garden. My husband Tony was then in his  chubby middle age State of Illinois auditor physique. He lost recently 30 lbs from recent non covid health issues. Our granddaughter Pao was at that time 13 years old, blooming in her too short shorts. Pao is now taking accounting classes, wants to be a CPA someday & found a new love of her own generation!  This is the first time, my Saturday showtime painting matched teacher also named Pao's inspiration paintings! Hallelujah! Happy Painting fellow artists!

Elaine O.—January 23, 2021

And the front door makes slow progress. I'm at the stage where I despair of it ever looking right. But I'll keep on and we'll see how it looks next week. Right now, I'm debating whether to leave the stairs as they are...

Front Door        10"x8"

... or add the unruly roses growing through the posts (sketch below). They have been given a serious pruning this year so they won't take over half the stairs again, but they were interesting... and they were there when we painted the door.

Other than that, I've not done much. I got a new pen and inks...

... the neighbors across the alley got new windows....

... and we all got a new President. So, a pretty good week, all told.

The last fish 2

Last week I think I remember somebody asking about the process for my last fish, so now I am going to explain it whether you want to hear or not.

The first step is ruling every inch and making a grid.

The second step is creating the image on graph paper.

The third step is putting in the lines.

And then all you have to do is color it in.  To avoid putting the deep blue sea into 200 little squares I am going to add some smaller fish.  That one on the left became way too complicated, so I am tending towards those two smaller fish on the right.

 

Sara on 1/23/21

 Not much going on this week; just a a few small sketches, trying to generate a sustaining interest. I think I’m going to do a larger version of —surprise, surprise —the window tree sketch.these are 5.5 x 8.5; 5x18, and 5x7.

elaine t. / Jan 23

 I finished the landscape, which is a big deal considering my inactivity these past 3 months. I think starting it during our Zoom meeting helped. Painting is a very social activity for me!

I think this one has a greeting card feel to it.

Sara spaces out...

 Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize we were zooming every week! I’m not used to talking to people that often...

The bulb painting is like 5x18... It’s one of those landscape sketchbooks that I forgot I had. The orchid is on hot press, around 12 x 16. Like these but not crazy about the shadow on the orchid painting; it’s a little too solid imo. Amaryllis and orchids — back to my roots so to speak. Elaine, remember when we used to exhibit at Steve’s orchid show in Oak Park? Long time ago....

And here’s my homage to my favorite tree. It was cut down this week-it’s like losing an old  friend...