Evanston

"Hot-pressed" failure saved by Ink

August 29, 2026 — Elaine O.

We're back in the hot sunny days of the early 70's. On my last version, I spent a lot of time layering glazes to adjust temperature. I wondered what would happen if I tried again, but with only "hot" colors. I'm trying to get a sense of the lazy heat of the day—so, the atmosphere more than the subject. Here's my start (already using many layers of arylide yellow, pyrrol orange and pthalo turquoise).

12" sq.

Board of Trade

Somehow it’s at the same time overworked and unfinished.  It did get me to experiment a little with Jeanne Dobie’s color palette for neutrals.  Hope I have the discipline to keep working on that because she does whole paintings with neutrals and they do glow.  

More of these guys

 An itch I can't stop scratching because it feels sooooo  good.

12 - Deadly Hemlock

13 - Light in August

14 - Fire in the Hold

15 Green Mansion

16 The Devil steps on a Lego

17 - Hard Candy

18 - In a Distant Land

19 - In the Garden

20 - The Dead Sea

Back to Evanston

Playing with colors

Alan. Summer 2026-6

 Ok. I’m finished with this painting. I’m not crazy about it but  I don’t hate it like I used to. I used everything in my bag- watercolor, gouache, crayons, watercolor pencils, pastels and anything else I had. Now, there are many things that I like about it-the lamp, the tree, the windows, the foreground buildings, and many other things. But, they don’t work together and there appears to be nothing I can do to make them. 

I saw this big onion on the counter of the orchard we go to in Michigan and thought it would be perfect for Yupo. It’s all watercolor on 14 X 11 heavy yupo. Somebody else bought it-the onion not my painting.

 

Experiments in paint….

 This one I was experimenting with the red edging on the coleus leaves, trying to suggest the pattern without drawing a million little lines. My attempts were not too successful. The colors are pretty close though….

Here’s the finished tomato bonanza. Again I was trying to indicate the smooth marbling pattern of the counter. But this is pretty much a fail. But I do like the tomatoes and the sugar shaker. (I come from a family that puts sugar on their tomato slices. I’ve never met anyone else who does that!)

This is half successful. I like the way the first two bottles are painted; the last two look a little too studied….

Appealing

 Once you donate to The Chgo Food Depository, they inundate you with appeals. This child was on the latest flyer.  He/she is in my hot press sketchbook.

August 15, 2026 — Elaine O.

Once again, I had quite a time getting this to photograph as dark as it is in real life. This is pretty close. Also, the paper is telling me that it's time to move on. And so...fini. 

10"x14"

And then, since my next painting depends more on color than value, I did some color studies.

Pictures of the Gone World - L Ferlinghetti

 These are all 5x7 and I will be cranking them out until school begins.  The first ones are repeats

1 - The Caterpillar

2 - The Blade of Grass

3 - The Enchanted Forest

4 - The Creature from the Black Lagoon

5 - Mystery Train

6 - The Atom Smasher

7 - The Hood Ornament

8 - Broadway Boogie Woogie

9 - Godzilla vs King Kong

10 - The Valley of Moreau

Summer Bounty…

 I’m still in my Ken phase — just want to put a lot of paint on paper. Still working on these tomatoes— they don’t look ripe enough yet. These are sketch book studies.

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Finally came back to these two strangers in a strange land. I may just leave them stranded….

Alan Summer 2026-5

 I never posted the finished sketch of looking north from the Truman parking garage. Well, here it is on hot press.  

I’m tired of trying to make a good painting out of this view. Here is my first sketch on hot press.  While the perspective is off, it was kind of the feeling I was going for.

After several attempts on different media that didn’t work for me I gessoed a big canvas and tried it on that.  I didn’t like that one either but I kept trying to make it better.  I scraped it, gouached it, used watercolor crayons, added clouds, used white watercolor ink, andded reliefs, and any number of other things.  I’m not done yet.  I have more ideas and I haven’t used pastels yet. You will know when I’m done when there’s a time on the clock.  

The bad news is that the next painting I’m doing is off to a bad start as well and I’m determined not to give up on that one either.  The good news is that I found a new interesting onion. 

Nevertheless She Persisted

 Right out of the gate, the sky was a problem and I don’t know why. I went on, thinking I could fix it at the end. Ha!  It’s not as blotchy in person.  This took a lot of time making me wish it were larger (8x10).  

August 8, 2026 — Elaine O.

Still working slowly and considering this a learning experience! I'll be using less granulating paint in the shadows next time. Right now, the two halves feel like two different paintings—but that will change! Meanwhile, I've got an idea to try, if I decide to explore this as a series, so even if it's a total failure, it's been worth the effort. I do like the lamp and bottle on the side table, though. 

10"x14"

Also, just as a side note, the real painting is darker and less contrast-y. I think the camera is trying to adjust to give me a full value range, even if I don't actually have one.

AJ - art therapy

Victory Plaza - Timișoara, Romania

Quickies

4 and 6 not done.  The others probably done.  All of them 5xy.

Can you find Godzilla?