Alan. More flowers-it’s spring

 I finished the green lily painting. 

I liked my wisteria sketch so much that I decided to do a loose more formal version. It was just relaxing to pick out all those purples, violets, and rose colors and then loosely add them to the flower. I also liked the background.

Then I tried a still life by creating a value drawing of a bouquet. 

And did it in watercolor graphite. 

I finally painted it but lost the vitality of the sketch. I’m gonna try it again using a different technique. 

Here it is. 

More This and That

 Jose Andres, famous restaurateur and humanitarian.  He founded World Central Kitchen which currently feeds Ukrainians running from the war. 

Some tulips. I like the color. Cadmium yellow then dropped in Alizarin while wet. 

This and That

 

Belated Easter painting from a photo I took in Ocean Springs two years ago. 

Abstract landscape. I’d love to do something like this really BIG …..will need to practice large washes. 

Jane, My former hair stylist. Nice mother baby image but doesn’t really look like Jane or her baby. Same old story. 

Still fooling around

 This is the fifth variation of this stripey kind of pattern.  I think it is going ok, but the proof will be in the pudding,

Elaine O. — April 24, 2022

The little white church is finished and the mask has been removed. It's interesting how the painting has a totally different feel when the masking fluid is gone. Sometimes,  I'm so satisfied with what I have that I'm (almost) afraid that I'll spoil the painting by removing the mask.

12" x 9"

I started another landscape...I may have mis-spoke when I said I was totally out of masking fluid. There was just enough left in the squeeze bottle that was still liquid-ish to allow me to draw this. I'm hoping the technique suits the subject as well as I think it might.

9"x  12"

While the mask dried, I tried some grisaille in watercolor (painting a grayscale value painting before adding color on top). It always worked so well for Steve M. Still doesn't work for me—I find I have to adjust shadows as I go.

8" x 5"

And what would spring be without my annual sketch of the tree out my window slowly bursting into bloom? I did this, appropriately enough, on Earth day, using brown ink and watercolor.

8" x 5"

Flowers by Alan

 So, I got this rather abstract photo of a daffodil that I thought would make an interesting Yupo painting. I worked at it until I couldn’t think of anything else to do. 

I’m not done with it yet but I don’t know what else to do. 

I thought that Sara was correct that I should define the grapes more in my grape sketch, so I did that. I think she was right. I was past that watercolorey thing anyway. 

Then I tried to redo the lilies in my front yard by doing a wash first and then cut the lilies out but it didn’t really work so I added some color to the background thereby ruining the best wash I’ve ever done on Yupo but it was too boring without it. More like a bad science project. 

Still got more flowers to do. 

His Excellency: Braveheart @ 44!

 My reference are his interview photos during a 60 Minutes TV Special a few weeks ago. Contrasted with his Inauguration photos, this young statesman has aged considerably these past 2 months, carrying the defense of a country on his fighting heart!! I  hope I have captured the essence of his current state of mind, thru his baggy eyes, worry lines, salt & pepper head, drab military olive green uniform, luxurious facial hair & unsmiling lips!To honor his chaotic reality & unstable life, I used my new Blick watercolor paints by squeezing the tube directly on the cold pressed paper & used a flat brush to spread the paint dryly around the head. Teacher Pao mentioned that a background sliver of Ultra blue near his right cheek is a sweet touch! Mr. President, may the Lord hold you in the palm of his hand!Stay healthy & stay safe! 

Oh, just fooling around,

 

This is a throwback to my Lines series,  Just going to see where it goes.

This is a closeup of Sweetie on her cat tree,

And this is a study.  We'll see.  We;ll see

Elaine O.— April 16, 2022

This is a house/church that fascinated me last autumn. It looks like a small town church, but what really caught my eye was the sun lighting up part of the bush, while everything else was in shadow. There's still some  work to be done.

 

12" x 9"

Also, this is the last of the masking fluid—just until I buy more. It's all gloopy, which affects the line quality.  As a side note, I see in some art catalogs that masking  fluid is already being sold in needle nose bottles—and for the exact benefits I wanted. The reviews mention clogging and drying out—the exact problems I had. I guess there are no new ideas after all!

Ode to Spring

 

Here’s a well cropped photo of my latest painting, Ode to Spring. It doesn’t even look like my painting imo. Yes the forsythia bush is painted with gouache. Those green bushes in the foreground need to be darker or something. They’re stealing my attention from the forsythia bush. This is the only time of the year I like this plant…after it blooms I cut it down to the ground…maybe the bushes need to be smaller…the forsythia is like 7 feet tall but you don’t really get that….proportion…it’s always something!

I’m working up to a painting of Quinn. I’m not showing the photo b/c it’s so beautiful that you would say, don’t even try Sara, just print the photo and frame it….the drawing is closer than the painted sketch, but the painted sketch captures her expression  better…I’m off for a couple of Saturdays, but back for the last class….don’t have too much fun without me….

Alan fruit and flowers

 So I completed the produce painting. I liked it but wondered why I painted it. I guess I like still life. 

I certainly spent enough effort to paint such a simple thing. 

This is a sketchbook I made using a sheet of 140 pound cold press. It’s kind of nice painting quick sketches and studies on quality paper. And the backside has 16 more sketches on it  so 32 sketches on good paper for the price of one sheet for a few bucks.

Going back to fruit I tried a study of grapes. I used Notanizer for my value study and then painted it. 

I just painted these lilies on Yupo. Because indigo is such a staining color, I couldn’t do a dark wash and cut out the plants. So I had to use a looser technique on the background. 

It had a kind of nice Yupo effect however. I’m going to do this again without a colored background. 

Doing It Over Bigger

 The first version painted maybe 5 years ago is framed and in a place where I look at it all the time —-and see it’s glaring error. 

The base of the lamp in front is very wrong.   Decided to try it again larger  the first is 10x13.The second is 14x20.

The images are reversed as usual. So the one on top is new🤦‍♀️.  

Lesson learned:. Washes are so much easier on smaller pieces. And my color choices were granular Daniel Smith. NG.   So the whole mood was lost because then I had to make the buildings on the left opaque and too solid.  I will say you can make out the image from a long distance and the colors are more garish in the photo. 

Kid Stuff….

 

 

I 

did these 3 studies from a photo of Nora. The first two are small 5 x 7 and the last one in 9x12. I’m trying to simplify my drawing process and trying to draw with the paintbrush first to identify the values.

And here’s a tree study I ve been working n. I think it’s done. It’s on that6 x 18 landscape paper. I used a lot of mask for the yellow buds on top. Maybe the lower background needs to be darker…this tree was just stark  White against the dark blue sky the other day before it rained….

Catnapping 3

 Rainy day, dry cat

Nostalgia/Infatuation

 Portrait of my dad as a young boy from a b&w photo. I exaggerated the redness of his hair and the blueness of his eyes. Have tried to paint this before and this is better but not quite right. Measures 4-3/8 x 6-3/4. 

I’m crazy about a recent Blick purchase. It’s a Princeton #8 Chisel Blender Velvetouch. Very firm short bristles allow you to blend out mistakes. Using a corner of it can make a correction in the smallest area. 

SS 04.09.22 Wisdom & Grace

I am so happy to watch the "coming out" party of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at the White House Lawn this week. It is a welcome respite from the Covid pandemic & the War on Ukraine. Judge delivered an eloquent speech of gratitude & history. It felt good to be a part of a momentous event. Since I paint from the diary of my life, I knew my painting this week is about her Wisdom & Grace. She has an  expressive face which exhibited tears of joy & also  displayed patience & intelligence especially during the days of confirmation hearings. I used colors of mauve, burnt umber, burnt sienna, sap green, ultra blue for facial features. For the hair, I used sepia & neutral tint. I hope I did her "justice". 

SS 4.02.22 My Onco, MD

 I was inspired to paint my oncology surgeon who looked so expensively tailored with exquisite hair while he command the room with a group of surgical residents during his Friday appointments at the hospital. He entertains patients' concerns with competence & compassion. His handsome face is a palette of interesting colors & shades. 

SS 3.26.22 Amiga AV

 The painting "Amiga AV" is in honor of a dear friend who survived a car crash 12 years ago. AV , plus 2 other girl friends & I  shared a common history of taking care of our moms in their golden years,  in our homes,  until they passed from old age! It is a warm sorority of sisters from different mothers.  AV survived her accident with reconstructive surgery plus extensive rehab therapy, & she regained a perfect set of teeth. I painted only her facial features in November 2021 & the painting remained untouched since . I returned to this painting on March 26,2022 & I enjoyed painting her hair of varying shades & colors. What a great fascinating liberating exercise for my new eyesight!

SS 3.19.22 Hernia Memory

 I have not painted since December 2021. "Hernia Memory" is my first painting after I recovered from double eye surgery which eliminated my astigmatism but removed my ability to see close up but gifted me with long distance vision. I have to use reading glasses the rest of my artistic days & nights! This painting is the enlargement of a teenee scar on my sister's tummy as she recovered from hernia surgery done in January. The healing scar saturated with sodium nitrate looked like a desolate landscape or seafood! It was a joy to paint it with newly bought watercolor from Blicks during their closing out sale. 

Alan Shopping and 5 X 7 sketches

 I went to the store to buy some fruits and vegetables. I thought that I would paint them and dumped them into a bowl and posed them.

I did a value drawing of them. 

I’m starting to think that they’re helping my painting. I dropped in watercolor on top of the value drawing. 

I kind of liked the way that looked but I started to do some studies. 

I’ll paint the entire thing next after I figure out how not to make the same mistakes. 

Wisteria has always intrigued me but I couldn’t figure out how to do if without a lot of drawing. So I decided to just draw the thing.