Blue Sky Collaboration-My Day 1

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I finally decided to stop worrying and just throw some paint on Lisa's canvas (see explanation in August 27 post) . It feels very strange to add to someone else's artwork, even my own daughter's, and to change her original intent. Beyond trying to match colors and mood, I realized we have very different hands in applying paint. I did feel like I had to cover the white canvas before I could think further about what else to add. I'm debating on whether to carry on with Lisa's Magritte influence somehow.

Blue Sky Collaboration-Rejected Idea

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

I had thought Lisa's sky (see August 27, 2009, post) would be the perfect background for a painting of the barn behind the house where I grew up. With flat farmland all around, the sky was always very big, and often dramatic.
Part of the allure of Photoshop is that one can make quick "sketches" to see if an idea will work. I dropped in a photo of the barn and added some quick color details and cloned clouds. It's not interesting enough for me. I'll have to think of something else.

Reluctance

© Ellen Blonder

Amazing how a dog will let you know when it doesn't want to go in the direction you want to take him. My friend Wendy and her dog Bear Lee were a perfect example. I sketched this from a photo I snapped on a recent walk. Maybe I'll turn it into a painting.

Blue Sky Collaboration

© Ellen Blonder and Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp

My daughter Lisa started this 30 x 30-inch canvas, inspired by Rene Magritte's "An Empire of Light." She's moving to Toronto tomorrow, and isn't taking the canvas with her. We're turning this into a collaborative project. I won't take her up on such a difficult challenge as copying a Magritte, but I do love her sky so far, and will see what I can add.
We used to do collaborative drawings when Lisa was young, with each of us adding a few lines to a drawing each time we passed it back and forth. This will be a grown-up version.
By the way, Lisa's blog with her current work is at blonderland.blogspot.com.

Abby

© Ellen Blonder

Here's a sketch I did in my drawing group, of fellow artist and writer Abby Wasserman. She has wonderful angles to draw and big, expressive hands, although not as big as I drew them with only five minutes to sketch.

Alex in the Garden-Final

© Ellen Blonder

I've added details to the hydrangea flowers and put in some ferns in the upper right background. I've also touched up many of the leaves and added shadows and ground covers. I could go on forever, but I think I'd better stop before this gets even busier. With all the different plants, this painting required more work than I anticipated.

Alex in the Garden-Day 10

© Ellen Blonder

Alex got his fur back, and looks much more himself. I also filled in the society garlic flowers by Alex's hind foot and added details to the fallen leaves. Now I just have to finish noodling out the foliage, especially the hellebore on the upper right side.

Peach Pie Realized

I just played with the background of a photo my niece Christi sent me, of the peach pie she made from the recipe in my August 8, 2009, post. Triathlete that she is, she doesn't shy away from trying new things. She even used her creativity to add a lattice top crust. Yum, looks good, doesn't it? Now get into that kitchen before peach season is over--peaches are great now at the farmers' market.

Alex in the Garden-Day 8

© Ellen Blonder

I'm still slowly working on the foliage to the left while Alex waits for me to add some fur to his body.

Alex in the Garden-Day 7 Detail

© Ellen Blonder

Just getting back to painting some more, working out details in the heuchera and oak-leaved hydrangea before I add the flowers to the society garlic. Alex watches patiently.

Alex in the Garden-Day 6

© Ellen Blonder

I thought Alex should be painted with all his fur, even though it means more work. I'll have to overpaint his shorn self and continue to work on the facial fur. I've also just had time to paint a little more foliage detail since my last post.

Not So Long Ago

© Ellen Blonder

I'm taking a few days' break for a family reunion, but while I'm immersed in thoughts of time passing, I will leave you with this job I did back in the 80s, years before I had my first computer. These icons were used for a corporate annual report; I don't remember the company anymore. What strikes me is how easy it would be to do in Adobe Illustrator now. Back then, though, everything was hand-inked with the aid of a compass, templates and straight edges. Making the lines uniform around the computer keys or the boards on the house icon was a nightmare. A bit of wet ink running under a straight edge or a speck of dust catching on a pen point could ruin a line and force me to start over. I thought twice about caffeine if I was inking.

Enough codger talk. See you soon.

Alex in the Garden-Day 5

© Ellen Blonder

Progress is slow. The hydrangea flowers still need details, but I was eager to start painting other foliage in first. Alex went home yesterday, so it's nice to still have him in the painting.

Alex in the Garden-Day 4 Detail

© Ellen Blonder

Summer guests. Little time to paint or post, but here's the hydrangea in one corner of the painting of Alex in the garden. The leaves are just about finished, but the flowers just have an underpainting so far.

Alex in the Garden-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

Alex is a Cairn terrier, but he's shorn for summer here. I may have to paint more of his fur back on before I'm done.

Alex in the Garden-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

I put Alex amid plants that are really growing in the garden, although not in this arrangement. I like the contrasting textures and colors among the leaves and flowers that I chose: oak-leaf hydrangea, hydrangea macrophylla, society garlic, penstemon, heuchera and two kinds of hellebore. Alex goes home soon, so I've got to work on him more first. There's a long way to go on this painting.