Greeta can’t finish

 From a photo booth shot at age 20. Still has mask around neckline and eyes. Hair and lips too bright. Tone it down. Have to mess with those pesky eyes. The blog isn’t showing the garish hair color that has to go. 

Elaine O. — August 28, 2021

I've finished this painting... and, I think, this series. For now at least. I may return to it, but it's done what I wanted—gave me a framework for experimentation with odd colors and techniques and a tranquil, summery vibe. I'm not sure what's next, but fall always feels like a good time to explore something new.

Water Lilies XII    11"x14"

Vee

 My inspiration today is our hair stylist who has been with my family for past 20 years. She used to work for a local shop in Andersonville before. She got sick with the big C, 11 years ago & I promised in her hospital bed that I will have my hair cut only when she got well. When she recovered, she converted to monthly home service ( hair color & cut) which was a convenience for both families. I continued to book her for monthly color but I never resumed my short hair cut!It turns out I love the versatility and variety

that a longer hair offers!Her birthday is tomorrow & I felt that I could paint  her face since I have been looking at it for 2 decades! During our monthly session last Wednesday, she obliged me with a mini photo session. I started her portrait Thursday daytime (with kitchen duty interruptions!) & was done at 2 a.m. Friday morning. I knew I got her look when I captured the glow of her smile! Happy Birthday with Love: Vee! 

The ants go marching one by one

 Thanks to the encouragement of the gang I have continued with the ants and so far I think, so good.

elaine t / Aug 28 / KA pond

I ordered an out-of-print book called "Transparent Watercolor Wheel: A Logical and Easy-to-use System for Taking the Guesswork out of Mixing Colours" just before I went into the hospital iin May. Most of the time, when I buy a how-to art book, I skip around the chapters to read what seems immediately interesting. I'm approaching this one more like a text book, and reading a couple of pages every day. I feel like I'm learning a lot about pigments and mixing!

I wanted to use a lot of green this time, so I'm working on the pond by the KA ranger station. I'm fairly happy with the technical aspects, but it feels kind of saccharine in style. I think I'm going to work on some zombies and cryptids this fall to shake things up!

Alan’s end of August

 I did a little more work on Wyatt. I’ll try again later. 

I saw this picture outside Laura’s office when we were registered and I thought it had a nice composition. 

I was inspired by my friend with the lily pond in Arizona and Elaine’s recent ones. I’m doing this on Yupo and it’s not going well. None of the paper wants to hold paint so I was going to quit and get a new piece and start over. But then I thought “Hell!  Let’s just see where this goes.”

I’ll try to show the progress because I have no idea how this will turn out. 

More. 

Another

Another medium and composition. 

News from our roving correspondent....

 On yesterday's Zoom call, we were thrilled to visit with Steve, our roving correspondent. He's doing a lot of gardening (not so much painting, but that will change) and will be sharing that soon. Meanwhile, here's a view from his back yard. Yes, that is Mauna Kea and yes, that is snow.

And Steve shared an interesting article about a garden/still life exhibit at  Garfield Park Conservatory.

The two caterpillars

 

Here is the caterpillar I posted last week and below it is the work I did on it on the day after.

Sofia by the Sea

 Today I painted

Sofia, daughter of my nephew by the beach near San Diego! The challenge is to paint a young girl's face 3/4 filled with shadows while she was posing for her father with her orange shirt & her windblown hair. Due to medical stuff & other errands, I was able to finish the drawing @ 11 a.m. this Saturday morning. The short time I had for actual painting made my art choices faster and easier! I feel I got her youthful summer smile by the sea! Happy Painting to all!

Nothing to write home about….

I

 

I did a quick sketch of a hosta plant earlier this week and then did a couple of small studies today. Not really thrilled with any of it, but at least I did something.

Elaine O. — August 21, 2021

I finished the watercolor version of this scene.

Water Lilies XI    9" x 12"

And then I moved to larger, better quality paper (seems to be a theme for us, right?). This time, I'm concentrating on the blossom and going for a delicate, tranquil feel.

 

Water Lilies XII    11" x 14"

Ants

 I'm really struggling with this guy(s), just don't know what to do.

elaine t / Aug 21 / Émile

 My grandson again. This is done in a watercolor sketchbook, so, like Greeta, I miss the finish and durability of Arches paper. Too fussy in the face, mouth not quite right, but all in all a decent exercise.

Elaine O. — August 14, 2021

I'm painting the same scene again, but with a different medium. All the time I was working in oil pastels, I kept thinking how much easier this would be in classic watercolor. Now that I'm actually doing it, I'm not so sure after all. It's still got a bit to go, so we'll see what I think when it's finished.

Water Lilies XI        9"x12"

caterpillar 4

This is taking longer than I thought.  A little more on the tree and then I think I will lighten the caterpillar a bit.
 

Fiore di Andersonville #I

 Andersonville is a walker's paradise during summer. From Gethsemane Garden at Ardmore to Foster Avenue, Clark Street & side streets are lined with flower boxes which defined the boundaries of the outside eating areas of restaurants & cafes. The business owners chose what flora are planted into these mini gardens & the resulting smorgasbord of colors & fragrance is manna from heaven. This particular flower box in front of an Italian restaurant at Berwyn with its yellow & red blossoms caught my attention. The sun light which filters thru the trees, makes the viewer focus on its beauty & composition. I painted an underpainting of yellow, red & blue. This box of beauty makes one enjoy the burden of increased real estate taxes of the area! I will miss the Art Zoom today! My family will be at an Accountants' annual picnic at Westmont! 

Greeta’s Struggle

 Using a photo from 8 years ago, I attempted a self portrait. I probably saved it because it didn’t show a lot of age lines. 

So as I worked I realized that what was emerging was sort of like me many, many years ago. 

So I tried to add the age. And found out I couldn’t make that work by just going darker and darker. 

So I stopped. And that lipstick is all wrong🙄. Joyful though, to paint on Arches again after so much painting in books with lower quality paper. 

Alan’s week

 I found this washed up driftwood tree on the Gulf. I loved the lines. 

I made this Honey Rum Old Fashioned and then I painted that  

Here’s my grandson Wyatt when he was little. I’m not done with this. He’s got his hand wrapped into his shirt and I’m trying to make that happen. Now it looks like his hand is deformed. I’ll just keep trying and maybe something will happen. 

Sara’s only one…

 

This is it for this week. It’s meant to be a companion piece to the one I did of Andrew and Quinn last week. A bit more challenging because of the pose. Tiny faces are hard to paint. No I can’t go larger, because The frames I have are only 10 x 6.5….

Elaine O.—August 7, 2021

I used oil pastels for this painting and almost gave up halfway. I tried blending with fingers, baby oil and even a rubber squeegee; still, it was ugly, slow and painful. Then I read the label and remembered that these were water soluble—and things quickly changed for the better!

Water Lilies X        9"x12"

Interesting side note--the reference photo was date stamped exactly 19 years ago.

Joie De Vivre

 My friend Dee, a gallery owner in the Ph & a former art store proprietor in Chicago has just been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. Due to her age, chemo is not recommended. Her acceptance of the treatment protocol made me sad. She is determined to overcome this challenge with diet, exercise & supplements. I was inspired to paint her likeness inspired by a photo taken during our volunteer work, about saving the environment, a long time ago! May my warm vibes of love reach her across the miles! 

 

Danger on the Sidewalk

 

The boy is paying attention as he comes around the corner. 

caterpillar 3

 These caterpillars are slow moving fellows.  And now we are at the background again.

elaine t / Aug 7

 Non-painting news: my joint fluid culture showed no bacteria, so the infection is gone and dead, not merely dead, but really, most sincerely dead!

Started on a painting of Émile playing on his road mat. He does love his cars!

I did some color tests first.

I'm trying to not be so fussy; we'll see how successful I am.

Just a quick photo of the stallion I painted last week so you can see why he captures everyone's imagination!

just a couple items from last week

 We were all puzzled by Suzanne's Navy Pier painting with the trees, so I went there in the middle of last week and there they were.  I am positive they were not there last year.

And as for Alan cavalierly calling my house finches purple finches, I present this photo.  Purple?  I think not. 

And I went to Alan's vaccine passport website and found it legitimate and easy, but I imagine they are a bit backed up so I haven't gotten my final official version yet.