Siraj Hull: Watercolors and Collages

One of our DCPAPA watercolorists will have a show at the UW Health Sciences Learning Center on the 2nd floor lobby in August.  The Center is adjacent to UW Hospital.

Title:  Paintings and Collages by Siraj Hull

Where: UW Health Sciences Learning Center, 2nd Floor Lobby

750 Highland Avenue

Madison, WI 53705

When: 08/02/2016 – 08/30/2016

“I am a retired school psychologist who has enjoyed art throughout my life. I worked in Jacksonville, Illinois for Four Rivers Special Education school districts for 15 years and taught at Spoon River Community college in Macomb, Illinois for 9 years before taking a position in Taipei American school in Taiwan for a year. My husband Bob and I have traveled and lived in many interesting parts of the world. We spent ten winters in the South Pacific, living in Fiji, Marshal Islands, Cook Islands and Tonga. While in Tonga, I studied Tapa cloth art from a noted artist of Tonga. We've traveled to over 97 countries. In every place we've traveled, I make it a point to visit art galleries and pick up some new ideas.

I am a member of both Dane County Plein Air and Macomb Plein Air in Macomb, Illinois.” – Siraj Hull

- See more at: http://isthmus.com/events/siraj-hull/#sthash.DivwIkME.dpuf

Cherokee Park, Pastel, 8.5" x 11.5"

Here is my completed painting from our outing last week. 

Cherokee Park, Pastel, 8.5" x 11.5" 

Cherokee Marsh sketch finished in the studio

Cherokee Marsh. Morning. Oil on linen board, 12"x16"

Annual Plein Air Painting & Pot Luck July 19th

 Left to right - Joan Siebers, Louise Kubista, Jan Feyzi, Siraj Hull, Gretchen Tweitmeier.

Darya's painting

More paintings from the morning session and some of Jan's collection above

More

Left to right on bottom: Oil paintings by Jane Varda, Jan Norsetter (2) and pastel by Trisha Duren

Marla explaining it all to us 

Jan Norsetter on Marla's wonderful porch

Jan, Tom and John deep in discussion about color

Trisha Duren taking a well earned break after a morning of painting

Jane Varda

Marla Brenner's lovely paintings

Jan Feyzi with new lightweight easel

Many thanks again to Marla Brenner for hosting our annual summer potluck.  The food, company and setting was excellent!!  Marla graciously gave us a tour of her extensive and wonderful art collection and a peek in her studio.  Just a glance around at all the paintings and color charts show what an excellent and hard working artist Marla is.  Even her color charts are works of art in themselves.  Marla said she wants to know how her colors mix before she goes outdoors to paint so she can get precisely the color she wants.  She also talked about the importance of mixing only single pigment paints to help keep the colors clean.  Jan Norsetter discussed how to mix a variety of greens which is essential for summer landscape painting and both her paintings were great examples of doing just that.  Thanks to everyone for showing up and sharing your paintings and ideas and great food!!

Cherokee Park Outing

Another nice day painting at Cherokee Park followed by the pot-luck at Marla Brenner's.  We had a great turn-out (must be the food) with many fine paintings resulting.  Here's a framed view of the water I found in the park, near the playground equipment.

Tom

Allen Centennial Gardens

Ginkgo tree in pastel.
Wendy

Under the trellis at Allen Gardens

More Allen Gardens

My watercolor from last evening

Siraj's Watercolor

Siraj was unable to attend last night's session but painted this watercolor earlier in the week.  As Tom said it ended up being a nice evening after all and there were so many subjects to choose from it was a bit overwhelming.  The sky was beautiful so I decided to leave out the campus buildings that are behind the gardens in my view.  Many flowers were in bloom and I'd like to go back with pastels and try for some of those gorgeous flower colors.  It is a great place to paint in the evening.

Allen Centennial Gardens

After going back and forth on the weather forecast, we ended up with a nice enough evening for painting and a good group of painters showed up.  I'm posting a photo of what I thought about painting and also my painting in which I settled on a small portion of the garden pond to paint.  I call this pushing the paint around until the light is gone.  It needs more definition which I'll probably add in another layer once the initial painting dries.  -  Tom

Chilly morning, fun painting, and wonderful company at lunch in Belleville! I went back and took some photos when the sun came out after lunch and did a bit more work on the piece I started once I got home. It's good to get some plein air practice.