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.