Fiore di Andersonville #I

 Andersonville is a walker's paradise during summer. From Gethsemane Garden at Ardmore to Foster Avenue, Clark Street & side streets are lined with flower boxes which defined the boundaries of the outside eating areas of restaurants & cafes. The business owners chose what flora are planted into these mini gardens & the resulting smorgasbord of colors & fragrance is manna from heaven. This particular flower box in front of an Italian restaurant at Berwyn with its yellow & red blossoms caught my attention. The sun light which filters thru the trees, makes the viewer focus on its beauty & composition. I painted an underpainting of yellow, red & blue. This box of beauty makes one enjoy the burden of increased real estate taxes of the area! I will miss the Art Zoom today! My family will be at an Accountants' annual picnic at Westmont! 

Greeta’s Struggle

 Using a photo from 8 years ago, I attempted a self portrait. I probably saved it because it didn’t show a lot of age lines. 

So as I worked I realized that what was emerging was sort of like me many, many years ago. 

So I tried to add the age. And found out I couldn’t make that work by just going darker and darker. 

So I stopped. And that lipstick is all wrong🙄. Joyful though, to paint on Arches again after so much painting in books with lower quality paper. 

Alan’s week

 I found this washed up driftwood tree on the Gulf. I loved the lines. 

I made this Honey Rum Old Fashioned and then I painted that  

Here’s my grandson Wyatt when he was little. I’m not done with this. He’s got his hand wrapped into his shirt and I’m trying to make that happen. Now it looks like his hand is deformed. I’ll just keep trying and maybe something will happen. 

Sara’s only one…

 

This is it for this week. It’s meant to be a companion piece to the one I did of Andrew and Quinn last week. A bit more challenging because of the pose. Tiny faces are hard to paint. No I can’t go larger, because The frames I have are only 10 x 6.5….

Elaine O.—August 7, 2021

I used oil pastels for this painting and almost gave up halfway. I tried blending with fingers, baby oil and even a rubber squeegee; still, it was ugly, slow and painful. Then I read the label and remembered that these were water soluble—and things quickly changed for the better!

Water Lilies X        9"x12"

Interesting side note--the reference photo was date stamped exactly 19 years ago.

Joie De Vivre

 My friend Dee, a gallery owner in the Ph & a former art store proprietor in Chicago has just been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. Due to her age, chemo is not recommended. Her acceptance of the treatment protocol made me sad. She is determined to overcome this challenge with diet, exercise & supplements. I was inspired to paint her likeness inspired by a photo taken during our volunteer work, about saving the environment, a long time ago! May my warm vibes of love reach her across the miles! 

 

Danger on the Sidewalk

 

The boy is paying attention as he comes around the corner. 

caterpillar 3

 These caterpillars are slow moving fellows.  And now we are at the background again.

elaine t / Aug 7

 Non-painting news: my joint fluid culture showed no bacteria, so the infection is gone and dead, not merely dead, but really, most sincerely dead!

Started on a painting of Émile playing on his road mat. He does love his cars!

I did some color tests first.

I'm trying to not be so fussy; we'll see how successful I am.

Just a quick photo of the stallion I painted last week so you can see why he captures everyone's imagination!

just a couple items from last week

 We were all puzzled by Suzanne's Navy Pier painting with the trees, so I went there in the middle of last week and there they were.  I am positive they were not there last year.

And as for Alan cavalierly calling my house finches purple finches, I present this photo.  Purple?  I think not. 

And I went to Alan's vaccine passport website and found it legitimate and easy, but I imagine they are a bit backed up so I haven't gotten my final official version yet.