Nurturing Young Talent….

 Nora painted this a while ago and I had it taped to my wall. When she came over this weekend she said, “This really needs a frame Grandma,” So she framed it like this. You can see that strong personality in her color choices and brushstrokes, imho….

S

Meanwhile, Grandma is trying to up her color game with these two studies. The still life is not a great composition proportion wise and I didn’t really capture the reflections from the windows behind coming in on the table .I do like how the bowl is painted. I think I went beyond my six colors here…

In the sketch of Nora meets the beluga, I need to figure out the values a little more. Maybe I need to work with variations of just one blue . And the beluga looks a little like a flying pig….

I’ll miss class again this week…Door county calls….

Oh I dunno.

 I dunno about this guy.  Started out as a sunflower, but details distract me and we will see how this goes.

Elaine O. — September 24, 2022

The penultimate in the "Death of a Neighborhood" series. The entire block has been deforested and the fallen branches await removal. Along with the beauty of the trees, the neighborhood lost so many other benefits—air quality improvement from the idling car and bus exhaust fumes, noise abatement from the incessant honking, revving engines, and shouting teachers and parents, storm water control for flooded streets and basements...so many benefits lost and nothing gained!

Trees Awaiting the Tumbrel     9" x 12"

 

One last painting still to go in the series, but I'll need a break first. The anger and sadness this incident brings up isn't good for my blood pressure (or the environment!). So next week, look for something sweet like babies or puppies or flowers.

Alan done with this lily.

 Title says it all. 

Cezanne 12

 

I wanted to have a child in the series and he was the only one, but he was close to a very small picture so you couldn’t see the painting. So I imposed him on a painting that I like. Wondering if it’s clear that his arms aren’t visible because he’s taking a picture. 

Alan back to lilies

 I’ve done the preliminary work for this lily on Yupo.

Now I need to further define it by adding shadows and deeper color. I used an app called Notanizer to show me value differences so I’ll know what to work on to give the flower more definition.

Here’s the original pic of this exotic lily. 

Beets or Radishes, Anyone?….

 

 Here are two studies I painted in class yesterday. The radishes are 4x5, the beets 7x10. Again, I was focusing on color mixing and brushstrokes.Todayi might move on to quickly ripening bananas…

A third sunflower

 Put ultramarine over the indigo and I think it set it right.

And here is a new one.  It was all circles when I left class, but  I didn't like that look so I went back and added a bit of cold clear water.

et / adventures in skin tone

 I'm getting more comfortable rendering skin tones. I've learned to veeerrrry carefully building up the colors, always starting with a red tone. Randy Rainbow is done. The second is a watercolor sketch of my grandson Émile picking peaches.

These have been part of the effort to completely use up old tablets and sketchbooks. Maybe by the end of this session I can return to my watercolor blocks and better paper quality!

If you're curious about Randy Rainbow's satire, here's his latest video, "Lock Him Up Yesterday."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdSZRkeQfnk

Elaine O. — September 17, 2022

Just when I thought I was done...they keep pulling me back! Seriously, I thought I'd had my say with the before/after of the school. Then, suddenly, all the trees were chopped down, leaving an ugly wasteland. Here's the last tree to die in the senseless tree massacre.

We Who Are About to Die Salute You    18" x 6"

And I've started the penultimate in the series. That's not shrubbery—it's the downed leaf canopy before crews returned to clear the carnage. 

9" x 12"

SS: Joy of Zurich Airport

 My inspiration was the Filipino European server we met at the Zurich Airport. Our AA flight from Chicago arrived at Zurich Airport @ 10 a.m.,  one Saturday in late May and we waited for our tour guide who is scheduled to arrive at 2 p.m. We spent the 4 hours waiting time, to eat thin enormous ham sandwiches & hot drinks  and talked with Joy at a coffee shop where the server works. Joy is a petite young lady of 35 years who spent the past 10 years as.  an Overseas Worker while she remits her hard earned salary to her nuclear family in the Philippines. She shared with us her experiences as an expatriate Worker & when we said Goodbyes, we felt we were long time friends! I took Joy's photo in her uniform and her hair was up in a tight bun before our ride arrived. I promised her I will paint her when I return to Chicago. Later, we became friends at Instagram & she sent me vacation photos with her fellow overseas workers. I was inspired with this  relaxed photo of her during an vacation outing in

Barcelona this summer of 2022. 

Cezanne #11

 The longer I do these the more pronounced, at least in my own mind, is the connection between the viewer and the painting. It all began as a way to copy a renowned artist and at the same time to work on the human figure.  Now’ it’s becoming more meaningful to me. 

Turnips and Figs

 

I painted the turnips at home and both figs in class Saturday. Everything is small - 7x10, 4x5, and 5x7. I’m working with just 6 colors still —warms and cools of the primaries—and testing out different papers. 

Actually they are all Fabriano I just realized: the bottom is 100% cotton, the middle is 25% cotton and the top one is Fabriano 1264 — no cotton but a nice substantial paper (in a sketchbook) at a reasonable price.

I like all of these, maybe the bottom one best. The composition on the middle one is a little wonky - too close up— but I like the figs and the shadows. I’m going to do a few more of these. The simple shapes means less worrying about the drawing and more time thinking about color mixing, values, and paint application.

Here come the bees

 Put in the bees, did some rough shadowing on the petals and the sepals.  That indigo sky I don't know what to do with.  With all that gum arabic it's like walking down an icy sidewalk.  I don't know why the paint will react until I put it down.  I'll add some ultra marine and maybe turquoise and maybe even that trickster, cobalt blue, because sometimes you need a trick.

Elaine O. — September 10, 2022

This is very nearly finished. It's of a tree in the process of being senselessly chopped down, along with three others once lining the block. The vibrant greenery is the top canopy that was removed. So sad...

18" x 6"

Cezanne #10

 Halfway through realized this was the painting in #1, and I wanted to avoid repeating. Oh well. Wasn’t going to mess with the clothing but then I thought ….women put a little thought into what they wear when 

they go to a museum with their girlfriends…so I need to  spend some time on that. 

Another sunflower

 It will soon be visited  by a couple of guests from the last show.

Elaine O. — September 3, 2022

I'm still working to finish my panorama paper pad. This painting documents the continuing devastation of a once-peaceable neighborhood by the charter school across the street. This is the last tree to die during the deforestation of the entire block. Sad, senseless and ugly!

18" x 6"

Other than that, it was a productive week, but without a lot to show. I finished my big pad of Fabriano watercolor paper; I finished a sketchbook and started another; I started another "series of 30" (quick blind contour drawings this time) and I started to swatch all my paints. Looking forward to seeing everyone in person next week!

I think I’m hungry….

 I guess I’ve entered my fruit and vegetable period. I’ve been working on the two cukes all week and I think I’m finished. Or maybe I’m just tired of trying to get those highlights right . These are two of about 50 cucumbers we’ve eaten from Joe’s garden in like the past two weeks! 7 x 10

The top  painting is my 2nd Edible Fig and it was so sweet! I just painted it today, not sure it’s finished. It’s 6x8.the plate looks a little pale.both of these were painted with just 6 colors I’m using warms and cools of red, yellow and blue. I’m actually following the instructions for mixing intense vs muted colors…The instructions are in the Painters Pocket Palette, which I’ve had for 20 years and never bothered to read….

This one is for Greeta. I don’t think you have any of his watercolors in your series. I like the way her blouse  echoes the blues in the painting and how she’s kind of turned away, as if the beauty of the painting was just too much….

et / getting close to done

 About 3/4 of the way to "done." I need to even out the eyes before I add the highlights!

Maybe I’m done

 I can’t seem to get this done the way I want it. I want it like this

But it turns out like this

I think it’s in the drawing. Certain things I do like but not everything. It was fun though. I don’t know if I’ll wash it off and start over. A recovering of the Yupo.