et / Randy Rainbow

 I started this portrait and so far have avoided overworking the skin tones, yay!

Recovering

 I’m still working on a new onion painting on Yupo. 

I like the flow a lot more now. I might add some stronger greens at the top. 

I redid the arched bridge. 

I added more detail at the top, changed the colors of the bridge to get rid of colors that I didn’t like (thanks Yupo), and did some serious work on the ripples. Still love the trees. 

I took another painting that didn’t have the zing that I was looking for. So how do we know when we’re done? I can go further. 

Summer harvest…

The big tomato painting, 11x15. I like the way the peaches are painted more than the tomatoes. I liked the composition, but I wasn’t really happy with it, so I did a smaller quick study below. Well it wasn’t so quick, as I was trying hard to emulate the paintings of Walter Anderson. He leaves a lot of white space, which gives his paintings energy imo. So I like the feeling of the little one below, which is 6x 9. He also does a lot of color mixing on the paper, which adds drama imo. He also went crazy, but who doesn’t eventually….

In between I did this little beach study from our trip to South Haven. I combined images from 3 different photos. I tried sketching actually on the beach, but I just couldn’t do it. People move too much…

 

sunflower again

 And here it is with its petals.

Elaine O. – August 20, 2022

Working long and hard on this one. You'd think something this soft and delicate would be quick and easy to knock off, but noooo—I find I'm doing more sketches and studies, working harder and experiencing more doubt than I'd have believed possible. 

18" x 6"

I suspect the final dark details will pull it all together, so until then.....

et / final salmon

 Not much accomplished this week, painting-wise. I got the final details on the salmon, and added some cobalt blue to the water. I think I want to do some people next, maybe try a portrait of a favorite celebrity... we'll see.

For Ken

 I stopped by my Michigan farmers market and found these large green onions in a big red tub. So I painted them on a Yupo-like medium. 

Still need to do some more work on the top but I like the bottom. Too many meaningless stripes on top with meaningless color choices. I will fix this and get more Czanney with this image. 

A Little love….

 Ken said the blog needed a little love, so here are a few of my morning sketches from South Haven.they’re very small - 2 to a 6x9 page. That was about all I did on vacation. I started the watercolor above this morning. It’s our farm stand harvest (red haven peaches and muskmelon) plus Joe's tomato harvest. I sketched with some cheap watercolor pencils I bought for my g-kids and painted the one finished tomato with them. They have a lot of color but I decided it would take too long to do the whole painting with them so I switched to watercolor paints. I was painting from life but then I got hungry thinking about how good a BLT sandwich would taste….

Cezanne #6 and 7

 

Getting a little bored with the frames and the AI floor and it shows. Shadow on lower right of first one is the way I took the photo. And Her head is a bit off, making it look as if she’s not looking directly at painting. 

Finished the top of the sunflower.  Maybe I need to lighten the background.

And here is the flower itself.