Day 6, Mc Kee House

January 6, 30 paintings in 30 days hosted by Leslie Saeta.

Day 6: 3 hours Monthly Total: 18.5 hours

I'm still not done with this commission but feel as if I need to back away from it and "live with it" awhile. I'll go back to it and add more to the trees and shadows in the building. It was wonderful going back to the watercolors and I plan on doing several more hours in that medium before this 30 in 30 is done.

My current commission, the McKee House was built in 1936 by the WPA (Work progress Administration). All the bricks are Naperville Firestone, hand chiseled by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The building served as the headquarters and superintendent's residence for the DuPage County Forest Preserve from 1936 to 1982. Robert L. McKee was the 1st superintendent of the Forest Preserve. He is responsible for acquiring large parts of the current preserve, planting thousands of trees, speaking out against water pollution. He worked on battling Dutch Elm Disease and was instrumental in the preservation of the Graw Mill at Fullersburg Woods.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency deemed the house and its outbuildings as likely candidates to be included on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.  In 2013 a study was commissioned by the Preserve to decide the cost of bring back the building from its current state of disrepair. The cost was well over $4 million so this beautiful building was at risk of being torn down.

The McKee House Coalition is fighting to stabilize the condition of the house with a new roof and other improvements. They'd like to see the home used by county residents as a multi purpose facility.

For more information see the McKee House Facebook Page click here

The McKee House

Work in Progress

Watercolor and Pen

Day 4, Put it in Perspective

January 4, 30 Paintings in 30 Days hosted by Leslie Saeta


Day 4: 2 hours, Monthly Total 12.5 hours

Today's post comes with a bit of  a confession. I don't like to pre-plan my paintings very much. I get too excited and have little patience for preliminary work. That's why I can't premix my colors or do a quick study. I can't. I just want to dive in and paint... NOW! My motto is, figure it out when you get there".

Perspective is one of those things I'm too impatient 
about to do very well.
 In school my professors used to tell me to watch my perspective and I'd answer back, "I'm marring an architect. Isn't that enough perspective?" My teachers never really knew how to answer that one. But through the years my husband, Mark, who is supper sensitive to perspective, has tried to teach it to me. I've improved a bit.

Today, I approached him with my commissioned drawing
 of the McKee House in Glen Ellyn. 
I knew I was a bit off in the windows and I felt totally overwhelmed by the bricks and the shingles. Well, Mark can't stand perspective that's so off. It was all those years of drafting. He was trained in the days before Autocad. He's explained 2 point perspective many times and even drawn out the lines for me but he's never shown me the nail trick before today.

He quickly pushed all his work aside and asked me to find a large board. I used a box from a Dick Blick paper order. We taped down my drawing and found the vanishing points on each side. Then he stuck a nail in each point so he could pivot a ruler off of it to draw the lines for the tiles and bricks. What a great trick! Why haven't I seen it before? I guess after 34 years of marriage he still has some tricks I've never seen.

He introduced me to a parallel ruler. Who knew? What a great tool! I need one of theses.

 So here is my drawing. Ready to be painted then inked. ( I initially was going to ink it before I put watercolor on it but, decide against it as I will use color to define the bricks and want to see how that goes before I add dark lines.)

The McKee House

Work in Progress

11" x 14"

I'll write about the McKee house next time I post it - a very beautiful and interesting home.

Thanks Honey, for all your help today.