Railroad tracks

 Normally I think just in terms of shapes and colors but here I am trying to evoke a feeling of longing.  Well it is what it is and I am moving on.

That little path is where the railroad tracks were supposed to be, I think.  Not sure where it is going at this point.

Sansevieria Summerdale Ss

 My cousin gifted me with a potted snake plant last birthday! The first pot yielded a family of more! I painted the Capiz Corner descendant last week. This week's family of snakes on the Summerdale side of my living room faces the TV & is located beside a boxy lampshade & is in front of a horizontal mirror. The see thru box plant holder on the right, is  from an Antique shop in Andersonville, was a bar stool!The painting of Intimazzy Swiss Train ride, ( exhibited @ Epiphany Center Summer 2023), on the top left,  complimented the composition. This interior art exercise is like painting plein air, a reminder to my future self, a visual diary. I am lost on the boxy lampshade on the right side. It felt like an alien visitor of the container garden, taking a selfie photo of the Snakes and the Pothos!

Alan Winter 8

 I had two pages left in my little sketchbook and I was tired of looking at my own neighborhood-block after same block as I rehabbed my hip. But I kept running across great screensavers on my computer and these are two of them. 

Tired of coloring within the lines?  It’s trouble when you are the one drawing the lines. I tried to be as loose as I could with the paint and brush but still ended up respecting my drawing. Still, I think it’s pretty fun on 5 X 5 hot press. And I got to use my urban sketching kit so I’ll be more prepared to use it when the weather changes.   

February 24, 2024 — Elaine O.

The building is slowly coming into view. It's a restaurant in the Marais district and I wanted to get the typical Parisian architecture and colors, along with the exuberant floral decoration over the awning. 

14" x 11

 This one is just a study for color, value and technique (for the flowers). More to come next week.

Altogether In The Sunshine

 

So some of you have been hanging out on the piano and others tucked away in a folder. The piano people are all curly. The strong sunlight is distorting color on lower right. 

Of course, my first impulse was to start making corrections on the folder people. Took correcting strokes on Sara and then so tempted to start fidgeting there and elsewhere.  But have to get packing which is probably a good thing. Note that I made sure to have Pat overlooking Sara. 

Still pining away

 I was going to try to go kind of deep here.  Despite my hard-as-nails demeanor I have never lost that dreamy adolescent longing for, well who knows what?  The drawing by Seurat of the invalid looking out from the lawn of her hospital at the sparkling city where she used to  be a high society lady.  I thought maybe I'd bring some of that depth here, but I seem to have become more interested in everything else but her.  

Put more detail in the building to compete with the wall, and I like it, but the wall is still winning.  Maybe I will break it into smaller pieces, maybe put a little more paint on her, maybe cry out in rage as I rend the whole thing into a thousand littles scraps of papery despair, you know, something.

Alan Winter 7 - line dancers at Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans

 I haven’t had the inclination to paint much (sitting like that makes me stiff) but there was a picture I took in New Orleans that I’ve been planning to paint so I did it a few minutes at a time. It’s only 8 1/2 X 11 and I think I should have painted it on larger paper. If I do it again (and I might) I’ll do that. I know I’ve got stuff in the right place but something seems off to me.  

I’ll have to think about it some more and would entertain suggestions to make it better. 

A stitch in time…

 No time to paint last week as I decided to crochet a butterfly and cocoon for Quinn’s 4th birthday. I was lucky I could pick up a paintbrush after five days of picking up and dropping stitches….

Here’s my final double portrait, which I finished in class yesterday. Here, I’ll reprise the other two below.

They all have their merits and distractions! What l leaned was start with a better source material…not a tiny blurry washed out photo!

Hope The “Mad” Is Gone

 

Softened that hard eye and lightened the mouth. Alan suggested more work on the eye but I’m done. Added watery burnt Siena background. 

February 17, 2024 — Elaine O.

Still no background on holiday girl. I've done a number of sketchbook tests, but nothing feels right, as you can see below. So I'll continue to deliberate. Or maybe I'll let the subject fill in her own background—collaborative art!

And I'm back to Paris, doing some quick direct watercolor studies of architecture ...

...and people...

...before starting a full-scale painting. The thing here is getting the quintessential color of the buildings, both in sun and shadow. I know you can't see much yet, but come back next week.

Capiz Corner by SS

 The northeast corner of my bedroom  has a shelf that used to house my files  of Art Mags plus Natl.Geo. Mags.The corner which displays currently a copy of the Monet painting of a pier with small boats anchored is lighted by a Capiz Shell Lamp made from shell of Placuna Placenta mollusk.  Last week, I replaced the reading materials with a Pothos Plant & a Snake Plant. The resulting revised composition is an inspiration to paint this new Capiz Corner. There was a challenge on how to include the background Monet painting & also the projection of ceiling light from the Capiz Shell Lamp & the reflection of the Shell Lamp on the frame cover of the Monet art.  I enjoyed painting the Still Life of my new Capiz Corner,  an entirely different genre from.     Landscape Painting or Portrait   Painting. There are treasures from quiet corners! 

If Only Greeta Had The Right Brush

 

Wanting to correct the eye, both its shape and expression, I ordered a small version of my “magic brush” (Princeton chisel blender) via Amazon. That was over a week ago and I’m still waiting. The photo greatly exaggerates the white of the glasses. However, that right lens does have to be blurrier. 

Background….yes or no.?  And if yes, what color?  My inclination would be to stay with a gold tone. In the other one, I went with pale violet and wasn’t that happy with the choice.

Yearning for the Merchandise Mart

 Put a little more color (and a bit of a butt), on her since class and she looks wll, more human.  Lots of longing in the drawing that I am not catching, but it's not done yet.

February 10, 2024 — Elaine O.

I've finished her face and added a gift box.

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel    14" x 11"

But I haven't made a lot of progress on the background. I originally planned to go without, but now I feel it needs some festive elements. So I did some thinking and a few thumbnails, adding a window with a reflection, a tree with lights, etc. But I'm not feeling the love yet. What I liked in the reference was the sparkle of lights all around. But I wonder if a) that might be too distracting, or b) if I can even bring it off!

Pages in a 7" x 5" sketchbook

In the end, I'm going to step away for a bit and see if something strikes me later. 

Alan Winter 6

 Did some more work on the Greeta in silver pants painting. I very carefully made the tree a darker value without ruining the wispy nature of the branches. I also added some rose shadows so she wouldn’t look so pale-even though she’s pale in real life.

I was in the mood for some landscapes and I saw this image on a tv show, shot a quick picture and did a continuous line drawing and a wash. Not happy with the foreground - too contrived. But was doing it quickly without a lot of thought. It might be a real painting some day. 

On one of my hip rehabbing walks around the block at sunset I captured this image and painted this on hot press. But I forgot what drew me to it was the play of sun on the items in the picture which is sadly absent in my painting. 

But I did like the sketchy quality of it. 

Youngest Investor by SS

 I met these 4 coffee shop customers last Friday during a sunny winter

afternoon. The young female worker by the door was on her way out while the older guy perused his cell phone with intensity! What caught my attention was the grandma & granddaughter serious in their bonding time, the older with her green smoothie & the toddler with her pink one while watching her gadget! This is my neighborhood town center filled with humanity at different stages of their lives at any time of the day! I saw a scenario in my mind's eyes & discreetly took 2 cell shots. The barista called my name, my order was ready & I know deep in my heart, that I would see more of the young girl, in the future, cared with affection today & hooked to the coffee shop atmosphere forever! And I sipped my tall hot choco non fat no foam light whip on the way out, as another happy "investor".

Fav Tia 1.0 by SS

 My Fav Tia was, most of the time,our first visitor among relatives, to our ancestral home when my husband & I visited my Ph hometown during our annual vacation a long time ago. Fresh from attending her daily mass, she arrived with a smile in her face & warm love from her being, she welcomed us with such enthusiasm that the one day travel hassle from Ohare & back, felt worth it. We spent the day laughing & teasing & enjoying each other's company. I felt grateful that in 2016, I took a lot of candid photos, of her, giggling, posing with wacky gestures. She joined the dearly departed the next year. Our annual tradition vacation welcome was never the same. This year, due to my family's current circumstance we are unable to leave Chicago for an extended vacation. Painting my aunty seems a timely decision since this is the usual time we used to celebrate our reunion together. During these weekdays, after the Saturday art class,  I took my time completing her image, her warm-hearted essence, her shy smile due to incomplete dentures, her white hair, her scarves, her brown dress & the tropical leaves as her background. Painting her felt like an artistic time travel & every line, every paint stroke & every color applied helped create a lovely loving memory. Happy Reunion!

Tinkering Around….

 This little study turned out really well, imo. I tinkered around with her hair and a few other things — her chin was not really resting on her hand before, so I had to fix that. But I think it’s done.

I wish I could tinker this double portrait into the same state, but it doesn’t look good. The top one I did n class and the bottom one I started in class and have been working on at home. I’m working from a bad photo with too small and blurry details and I just don’t have the confidence or imagination to jump ship and go my own way. Oh well, it’s a good learning experiment …

Introducing The Invalid

A lot of magenta/ultramarine work done here, especially on the that barge.  Always had a hard time with the red to blue axis, so far from my comfort zone in the yellow to blue.  I used a little purple in the clouds when I first put in those clouds but it was up to its nasty habits of turning brown and staining way too hard, so I put ultramarine on one side of my paintbox and magenta on the other side and mixed them in the middle and then I could pick any color between them.  There were some comments that those clouds did not look much like clouds, but then they aren't clouds, they are paint on paper as is everything else is in the rectangle. 

And here is The Invalid, from what looks like a pastel of Seurat, actually I think he used this image several times.  I'm using the Merchandise Mart as a model for the building in the background.  Tiny windows make for a huge and distant structure.

Alan Winter 5

 I sent my friend Larry a photo of the painting that I did of him in the play “Marat/Sade” wondering if he’d like to have it and he said, 

“Wow, how ……  horror horror horrifying. No thanks,  I think I’ll take a pass.”

So…..one more painting for the archives. 

Back to the sketchbook here is a quick ink and wash from last fall on hot press. 

A reminder of the last holiday season I painted Greeta getting ready for New Year’s Eve on 140 cold press. I don’t know if it’s done yet. I’ll have to look at it some more. 

It might need some deeper values but I’m happy with the background items (tree, Santas, presents and rug) and I don’t want to mess those up. 

February 3, 2024 — Elaine O.

I was planning another Paris memory, but I got sidetracked with holiday memories instead. I wanted to get a few practice portraits in — and, to be honest, I had to do this because I had such a perfect title — Don We Now Our Gay Apparel. Isn't that just too perfect for this juxtaposition of the hat and the shirt? Worn, as they are, by this sweet little girl?

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel    14" x 11"

She still needs some fine tuning on her face...and then, there's the background. Originally, my intention was to only vignette her and her outfit. But now, I'm thinking she needs some kind of holiday background—if only to differentiate which holiday she's dressed for, Christmas or Halloween. (Thanks for that observation, Sara—good point!)

Oh Baby

Baby Michael —— painted for his mother who needs some cheering up. He’s been a father himself for several years.