The Old Wine Box Delivers

 I ran into Kelly recently and remembered that I had once tried to paint her…like over 20 years ago. We were at an outdoor party and I had my digital camera.  she was 14 or 15 and her back was to me.  She had used the leaves of a weeping willow to make a crown.  When she turned I snapped the photo cutting off the top of her head.  I throw the images I use for paintings into a wine box in a closet…really pleased that the photo printout was there.

Looking at the really good notes I took from the class I took last year, I went through the process, thumbnail sketch, one  color value painting, then the painting  then noticed that the last sentence of the notes said never to take up all of the paper with the head…which is exactly what I had done..so I got out a larger better piece of paper and began again.  Still working on that …can’t decide what to do with the background .  Will post when I resolve that.

This is the one from 20+ years ago.

Ho-hum paintings…

 

The first one is sketchbook size, the second one 9x9 on good paper. But I just feel the second has lost the sense of light. And the wall of ivy continues to stymie me— how to suggest it without painting every frigging leaf…

Finished tree. This one is not so ho hum, I like the blue and yellow, the shadow on the building. Kind of a wonky composition tho…But I like the saturation of color here — that’s what I feel I’m not achieving in above paintings. I guess I just have to go in with more paint in the beginning. I don’t have the patience for painting a million

 layers…e

It’s a baby! She’s 8 months old and I haven’t painted her once! And she’s so cute!

the kitchen sink

 Here's a tree that I updated. 9x12

Here's a couple of my long views.  The second is more in the direction that I am thinking of going. 3x12.

You know how Pat is always going on about sacrifice sheets?  I decided that I would try to makes something of mine and I think it turned out interesting,  This is a thing that other members of the class could do in those five or ten minutes when you are done with your masterpiece and there is still time to kill before showtime. 5x9.

And you know how at the end of the day you have wet paint still on your palette and you want to save it, so you kind of push it around so that it will dry quicker?  At the end of my day I thought I would push the paint around to make a picture.  It's a  stormy sunset see, and those are some tree trunks on the left.

Alan Fall 25-6

 I touched this up a little bit and sprayed it with a high gloss fixative. That’s what the reflection shows-and it makes it more vibrant as well as protected. 

 

I finished the big rose. I’m not totally happy with it but I sprayed it so it’s done. If I did it again, I’d definitely make the cream colored background grayer so that the rose would stand out more. 

I’m not going to paint any more little 🐕 for free, even though it’s given the 🐕 owners some pleasure.

On to some fall colors.

Fall Retrospective….

Three trees and a rhubarb plant. Still working on that 2nd tree, although changing the sky color kind of muted it. (It was a cobalt teal, a little too green for reality…but what is reality? Surely not a watercolor painting…)

Now I’m moving indoors, looking out….
 

Ss: Filipino Mural 11.15.25

I took part in a volunteer mural project at Rizal Center,1332 W.Irving P.,corner Clark, Chicago, a community center building for Philippine Immigrants. The planning, the concept and the funding took almost a year. The physical painting on the outside wall facing east and the parking lot started in October and the final painting day was last Sunday 11.16.25. I participated last Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. I am grateful to have been given the chance to paint an outdoor mural conceived and executed by 2 dozen Filipino American Artists, from our Sinag USA Chicago Association. The joy and happiness of being a part of a sharing and artistic endeavor facilitated by a blue elevated lift rented from Home Depot, totally erased my appprension of the height of more than 20 feet with a windy wobble from time to time. I was assigned to paint the medals and stripes of the disabled veteran, fine tuned the shoes and the wheelchair and the black outlines of the adult figures. I might be the oldest painter of the mural project! Blessings! I thank God my fellow artist Geri, our Sinag president, and I painted without incident!

 

Two trees and um, an adventure?

Twisted Sisters?

 Needs to be fluffier huh?

Beginning of my next adventure?

November 15, 2025 — Elaine O.

I decided to make a painting out of last week's sketch. Here, it's in its "teen years," when everything seems awkward and slightly "off." In particular, I'm missing the energy of the sketch. But I guess we'll carry on and see where we end up.

10" x 14"

Ss: Sorority Reunion Cover

I just designed the 2026 Sorority Reunion Cover in Manila using my 2017 painting of Canadian Rockies train ride. The painting was scanned by my friendly printer, thus I know now, the problem device is my cellphone! Happy Painting to All!

Summer Was Hanging On

 My front yard is jumbled and so is this

Then an image of Ocean Springs popped up and I had the right colors spilled out so…

More of the same….

 

I think all three of these are finished. I did another version of the banana plant and pot in class as a birthday card, but I forgot to photograph it before mailing it. I actually think it was a little better than this one. The middle panting is another version of the tree, which I like better than the first one (see last weeks feed) but it’s much different, so it’s hard to compare them. The sunset painting is done, imo, and I’m pretty happy with it. I put a blue wash over the sky, which really took it back in intensity and helped immensely. The girls and the bush are at different intensities, but I like that.

Couple trees

I like the action and the roughness in this one.

 

Some goofy stuff going on with this one.  Maybe a little touchup is needed for those clouds.

Ss Fixit111025

November 8, 2025 — Elaine O.

Two things to show this week. First, I've finished this and I'm happy with it. I like the play of light on his face and the tree. It just feels like a lazy, sunny summer day—and he's got green reflected light on his face without looking sick. 

14" x 11"

Then there's this one. Right now, I'm playing in my sketchbook, trying to figure out the story I want to tell. I was originally drawn to the vibrant colors in the crisp autumn sunlight. Then, there's the security guard watching his phone instead of the open door (although, to be fair, he was actually alert and not just lounging around). In the end, I may have a couple of different paintings. 

approx. 8" sq.

Ss The Conversation 11.8.25

 

La Chicqa part2

 

Ss:Triangle of My Sadness

 

Perylene and Golden Green and Indigo and Raw Sienna

 The second one was mostly p and golden green, and it was okay, but then I added indigo and raw sienna and liked it better.  The first one started with p and gold green very wet, but after blotting I mixed in the other two colors and I am hopeful for it. 

Alan Fall 25-5

 In collaboration with Ken, I worked on the garlic painting. Although I liked the texture of that shadow, it bothered me enough to get rid of it. So I wiped it off and feathered some other blues and yellows into it. I added a definite shadow into it defined the semi circles and think I made it better. 

This one is 16 X 12 Yupo. Just beginning but it’s going to be difficult. It’s just a single white rose but the trouble is going to be the white rose against a pale background and that’s what I want to do. And, like I said, if you screw up a wash on Yupo, just wipe the whole thing off and start again. But it’s alright so far. 

Variation on a Theme

 Placed Holly’s veggies in a bowl and did it again. 

Do-Over….

 

This is do-over week for me. I was very disappointed in last week’s paintings, so I decided to tackle the same subjects again, on better paper in some instances and taking more time and thought. I find it very difficult to wait for things to dry, so I work on all of these at the same time. These are still works in progress, except for the last one. I did that after watching a clouds/sunset tutorial. Changed the composition and using better paper for the next iteration….