Two Tall Trees….

 

And a study for my next project….
 

Tom Tom the Tomato Hookworm

 And here he is, munching his way to mothdom.

And here are my Halloweenies.

And here is the photo.  I have worked on this three times and failed utterly every time.  The last time the painting had taken on a sinister tone and since it was near Halloween I enhanced it.

I first came across the photo in Chicago History Magazine.  I believe it is was taken about 1911 somewhere in Pilsen.  I was struck by their poses which reminds me of one of those lurid John Robbins books of the early sixties.  In the center is the blonde, note her stride, she would rise from abject poverty to become a big Hollywood Star ruthlessly treading over the bodies of those who got in her way.  The brunette became sort of a shy academic, at first thrilled by her friend's ascent than horrified by the means of ascent.  She would be compelled to write a tell-all book which would pit the childhood friends against each other.  Who would win?  Would they reconcile?  You will have to read the book to find out.  The smaller blonde is the younger sister of the bigger blonde and would try to follow in her adored sister's footsteps, but would fall prey to soulless swains and of course drugs.  Would she fall by the wayside or would she see through the tinsel and take herself away to a nunnery?  Again you will have to read the book.

Now that I have explained that I don't really need to do the painting do I?  But maybe I will.  Mebbe I will.

Elaine O. — October 30, 2021

Here's another architectural study. It's a color/value study of the old post office in DC, using yellows and violets. It's still at the "ugly" stage where one despairs of it ever coming together. Sometimes it doesn't, but the only way to tell if it's a success or a learning experience is to paint it out.

12" x 9"

Marva — October 30, 2021

 Here's the beginning of a colorful and active sky... over colorful and active water.

 

It's good to be back!

elaine t / Oct 30 / Skin tones!

I'm very happy with this Émile portrait. I still have some issues in the shading around the mouth, but all in all it's the best portrait I've done of him. This particular tutorial was a huge help to me: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbdYqbcFAno&t=1531s

Stand Up and Paint…

 Well, it looks like I’ve painted myself into a corner, but so far I like it. I bought the Soho watercolor field easel from Jerry’s and it works well for my situation. I like standing because I sit too much as is and it gives me more room to move my arms. And I can step back and and get a better perspective on what I’m doing. Let’s see if I feel this way  by Saturday….

It’s all nice for taking pix. Here’s my finished Visit to the Mangroves….

tomato hookworm

 Looking for a place somewhere between realistic and decorative, and, as always, I favor the decorative.

elaine t / Oct 23 / Look at this light!

I worked on the tomato picture a bit, then decided to go through some YouTube tutorials on creating light-bathed translucent skin tones. I think I'm getting it! Émile, in progress:

Elaine O. — October 23, 2021

This is very close to finished! I've used basically only two colors to describe a lot of architectural elements on a beautiful old church—stone, glass, and brick with thick mortar. 

14"  x 11"

 

Little Stuff

 Tired of these. I might do another one but it will be larger. 

A version on cold press. I might like this a little better than the Yupo version. 

A different drop. Love the colors. This one set me on this path. 

Autumn in Michigan. 

Trying to make a quick sketch better. 

the bees knees 3

 

This came out better than I thought it would.  That's perylene green at the bottom of those hexagons and q gold, azo green, and burnt yellow on the combs.

And here is Tommy, the hornworm tomato caterpillar 

Elaine O. — October 16, 2021

As promised, here's the final painting of the park entrance at Michigan and Washington downtown. It's not too different...I made some minor tweaks and added the pedestrian strolling by and enjoying the day. I think it's a pretty accurate representation of a lovely afternoon.

9" x 12"

Today is Open House Chicago, so of course my thoughts turned to architecture. And, after all that exuberant color of the last painting, the soft muted colors of stone and brick are quite a change. Only three colors so far, but we're not even half finished.

14" x 11"

Elaine O.—October 9, 2021

Another lovely afternoon in Chicago. This is one of the many park plantings in downtown Chicago (at Michigan and Washington). There are plenty of seats and it's a perfect place to sit, sketch and watch the people and plants. It's almost finished...come back next week for final touches.

9" x 12"

the bees knees 2

 I rather surprised myself on the honeycomb.  Had only the ghost of an idea so just started slathering paint on and it went much better than I thought it would.

the bee's knees

 Well five of them, the first leg on the right is deep into the honeycomb I figure.  Kind of rough like now but I see great promise.

HER, Oct 21

 She transitioned 11 months ago! In my grief,, I immediately painted her in several versions in 2020 & I was not happy with the results. And then, I recently discovered that President Dubya has painted a book of portraits & I reasoned that if the Chief W could paint then there is hope that I could paint portraits too! This recent pandemic year, I painted a dozen portraits of relatives & friends with a new found knowledge of underpainting.  So, on the first  Saturday of October in the 2nd pandemic year of 2021, I felt I was ready for a second version. This time,  I painted her with an underpainting of gamboge & alizarin, & then.  added all shades of structure & humanity. The highlights of the face are the underpainting showing thru. In my first version done almost a year ago, I painted first the curves & the shades & then, as a final step, painted the highlights or lighter colors ala oil painting style! During the Oct. 4 Showtime, my watercolor class saw the      2020 version & the latest 2021 version & I got a mixed reaction. After a minor tweaks at home, I uploaded this new portrait of Her with her sense of humor, playfulness &  professional discipline showing through! It has not been easy accepting that her email feedback is not coming anymore! Life goes on!

Waiting for paint to dry

 While I was trying to get something going in Yupo I worked on some small watercolors waiting for the paint to dry. 

A series of water drops taken with a high speed camera. 

Here’s one

I liked parts of this one. It actually looks better in the picture. 

I worked on another one on cold press while I was waiting  

I have work to do on this one but I tried it on Yupo  

We’ll see how these turn out.

While waiting I quick sketched the Michigan covered bridge.

And then because my back was tired of sitting I started painting this fruit composition on an easel to see how watercolor artists painted vertically. 

I’ll do some more work on it to make it a better painting. 

Elaine O. — October 2, 2021

Everyone seems to be doing before-and-after paintings, so I feel very au courant. This is the school I painted last week—several years later and under new ownership (rentership). I did this as a "visual vent," trying to express the wholly different vibe this school now gives off. I think I've come short of expressing the loud, angry feeling of the place, though, so I may ponder a bit more and try again. Meanwhile, here's the current school...

 ... compared to its previous incarnation of many decades. You can see there have been some changes, both to the physical plant and to its very soul.

And here they are, side by side but separated by more than just a few years.