Showing posts with label artist process. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artist process. Show all posts

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Donated to ‘Artists for Lahaina'

So much was lost to the fire that decimated the city in Hawaii, including lives. Hearing of artists who lost their studios to the fire as well as homes cars and family members is heartbreaking. Originally planned to support artists, the auction of art donated by many artists will benefit all types of need for all people in the stricken area.

This lily painting is 12x16 on board and will be mailed at no charge to the winning bidder. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Birthday Bouquet

Birthday Bouquet mixed flowers, hydrangea
Birthday Bouquet, 2023

This studio floral 20" by 24” (oil on canvas) belongs over a couch and I had a stunning wide frame prepared for it. That is, I HAD a beautiful frame until it slipped and shattered a corner. This art business gets pretty expensive when big frames need replacement. 

It has a new frame now, carefully wrapped and ready for assembly. 

Thursday, May 11, 2023

WIP. Evolution of a colored Glass Painting

This is the original set up, some were moved, others added or subtracted until I was happy with the composition.  16x20” oil. 

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Same place, one year apart, different media

Sun and Clouds Picnic II, oil 9x12 2022

Autumn Sun Streaks, pastel, 9x12 2021

Friday, May 6, 2022

Friday Night Challenges

A group of artists, originally based in California, meet online to Zoom and paint from a selected photo. Called the Plein Air Club, their 3pm meeting is at 6pm EST for me so I can't always join. Here are three recent paintings. It is a BIG challenge for me to paint from a screen as I always prefer working from life or from several views of the same place when necessary. This is my winter sport as a plein air artist.

It's fun to meet new artists and chat away while we all paint. At the end of the time, about an hour and a half, we share our paintings. Afterwards, when the paintings are completed and signed they are posted on the group site. It is quite amazing to see the variety of techniques and materials and interpretations. 

Winery painting by Kath Schifano, orange umbrellas
Foxen Canyon Winery, oil 9x12 c. K. Schifano

'Stop. For a California Sunset' oil 9x12 c. K. Schifano

'Sunflowers for Ukraine' oil 9x12 c. K. Schifano

 

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

How I did it! Steps to a painting

These are in my phone since last summer. It is a pastel on a brick colored Colourfix paper. Watch how the dark color modifies some of the shapes yet is not obvious in the finished painting.



Buffalo Waterfront, pastel c. K. Schifano 2021



 

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Can a Painting be photobombed?


 Look closely, notice the greenish coat on a painter, lower right corner? That's Ylli Hurani and he showed up to paint the Hermit Falls off the first bridge at Three Sisters at Niagara Falls State Park. I had been painting from the cozy front seat of my car and was nearly finished when I spied him at the end of the bridge. With artist license in hand I mentally moved him onto the bridge and put him in my painting. 

'First Snow' oil, 8x10 c.2022

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Summer and Pastels in Buffalo


The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens is a prime painting spot all year long.

The first problem is choosing a site, followed by some housekeeping. Will I be in the way of visitors? What is the best view of an artist on site? We have to choose how the scene is viewed, is it on the side of the canvas or over the top? Considerations include keeping the sunlight off both the canvas and colors on the palette. In this instance I was under a dense tree, keeping cool on a hot Buffalo day. With the easel set in a lowered position, some of the foreground was blocked for me. It had rained and the greens were brilliant and flowers were blooming freshly.
Kath Schifano, working

Kath Schifano, plein air
South Side Garden at Botanical Gardens

Every corner and garden is fresh whenever I go back to visit or paint. These flowers are as large as dinner plates and the whole plant is taller than I am.



 

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Buffalo Garden Walk Painting Invitation Step by Step

 The annual Buffalo Garden Walks offer opportunities for artists to paint in various gardens. At Vermont Street and 17th there is a public vegetable and flower garden and I reached out to NFPAP members to join me and Buffalo Society of Artists on a sunny July Saturday. The many visitors and especially children were fascinated to see us at work.

The back view of the tall Yarrow flowers drew my attention this time. Compared to the brilliant yellow flowers on top the underneath stems are deep rich greens and even blue in the shadows. I sat to paint to observe this view under the yellow Yarrow flowers.

Yarrow flowers, yellow painting, Kath Schifano, step by step paint
Step by step in the community garden

yellow flowers, yarrow, Schifano
Under the Yarrow, 9x12 oil

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Filling sketchbooks, one story at a time.

Urban Sketching, virtual travel, watercolor and ink

I like to use art supplies and my brain. I don't need to make oil paintings or pastels, I just need to draw to satisfy myself. As a member of Buffalo Urban Sketchers we find ourselves limited by Covid to not being in a lobby or cafeteria to draw. Like the rest of the world, we have started Zooming together and our first Virtual Field Trip was to Acadia National Park in Maine. This is Jordan Park Trail which is familiar to Acadia visitors. I used Google maps to explore the park and choose this site.

artist nutcracker, small painted drawing, Kath Schifano

A little bit of Christmas in my studio inspired this. My big artist nutcracker and a fake tree were joined by a poinsettia and some garland to make me feel festive in a time when no visitors or parties were on my horizon. This is a good candidate for a future Christmas card. 

I have a painting of the poinsettia that I keep fiddling with, changing the direction of light, the background and also the color of the plant and its leaves. There is a pile of paint building up but experimenting is allowed at all times. I don't paint for business, I paint for myself and my soul. The plant continues to thrives on my good studio juju.

Friday, February 5, 2021

Classic cars committed to canvas

Mobil gas station, classic car painting
Nearly finished

My assignment was to use individual color reference photos of two cars, combine them with another image of an old building and make it into a realistic oil painting. What’s involved? Considering the scale of the different items, their angle of view has to match, and shadows and light were corrected and accurate for each part. With help from Carl and photoshop the composition was adjusted and established and I enlarged the plan to a 16x20 canvas. Normally, I paint on the entire canvas at the same time-for example in a landscape, a bit of blue paint from the sky lands in the water and on a flower or a shadow's edge. But these are cars so other than the chrome colors they were separate paintings. I did use touches of their colors throughout but that was a forced practice. There is the merest suggestion of one reflecting color onto the other.

This commission from a 2nd cousin is headed to Georgia. I believe it was Facebook that allowed us to be reunited online after many years. We had several phone conversations about the details of these cars, our mutual relatives and parents and memories of being kids. 

Knowing what is important to a client helps a commission become successful. The convertible was restored by him and had belonged to his parents. I chose a WNY sky on a bright day, using cloud shapes to draw you into the composition and mirror the car angles.  It was a welcome challenge to paint summer light as winter closed in and Covid lockdowns were cancelling our holiday plans. Fortunately for my sanity (painting keeps me sane) it took more than a month, not constantly painting but evaluating, doing research and correcting. This was a first for me, I’m usually attracted to rusty tractors and barn equipment en plein aire. It was a pleasure to do and I’ve enjoyed having it nearby and 'watching the paint dry' before shipping the painting.

Bill Farrington, classic cars, commission art, competition orange
Ready for shipping

"Where's the Key" 16x20 oil c. 2021


Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Published in ‘Outdoor Painter’-Again!

https://www.outdoorpainter.com/best-plein-air-easels-for-artists/

An article about various kinds of plein air equipment by artists from all over includes a photo of me with my Guerrilla box, painting in a sunflower field in Sanborn. I am so pleased to be in the company of 'name brand' artists from all over the world in this international art magazine.

My box holds all my equipment as well as the finished wet painting. All I need to add is a tripod and my lunch. I have purchased several different size setups from them and am happy with each one.
 Click the link to see various easels and setups that Plein air painters use. I’m the one in the sunflower field. 🌞

Friday, May 1, 2020

Covid 19 Time out.

Two months indoors? What ever have I been doing? Along with the rest of the world I have caught up with a bazillion plans, sorted places I hadn’t paid much attention to and painted some challenges. I am so fortunate to have my art studio/gallery in my home. Here is a sample of what else keeps me busy. 
BAKING. This is an Irish bread from an old family recipe which I have discovered must be made with only the freshest ingredients to have it taste like Aunt Rose's. She made several large loaves weekly and brought them to the firehouse in Locust Valley NY. And 2 loaves to visit as I was growing up.  Plus some oatmeal cookies since the ingredients were out. I’ve baked more different things these days than I usually do all year, except Christmas.

RESURRECTING PAINTINGS. Not every painting is perfect the first time around so I have sorted through 15 years of work and discarded some more (I have a 'to be burned' pile) and reworked others. This needed more pastel color, it’s pretty big and the balloon which is the subject had faded in storage. There are more paintings to tackle and correct, so both oils and pastels are out in the studio.

MEMORIES. I found this on Facebook from 2011. I still have everything in the photo...shoes, pants jacket and hat are all useful painting clothes. Except the car. This had a good back deck for protection from rain and wind, and occasionally snow. I require a lift back so I can use the car as a mobile studio and have shade or protection. I can’t wait to get back out! 

Monday, April 6, 2020

A story of two paintings.

Several years ago I was invited to participate in the Westfield NY Plein Air Event, a week of painting at various sites, meeting artists, some get-togethers and dinners and a final public exhibit and sale.

A day was scheduled at Johnson Estate Winery. In the morning I trekked the tractor path up a hill and painted a lovely barn scene surrounded by the vineyards. After lunch I settled my easel under a sour cherry tree in deep shade, so cool on that hot summer day. For several hours I worked on a painting (framed, below). Although it is a lovely memory and a fair painting I continued to have concerns about it-was it too realistic, too hard edged, not painterly, well, just too something to me which I couldn't define clearly. 

With all the studio time we have now (as I am social distancing) I felt I should tackle my problem. It turned out that I probably won't ever change the first painting since the composition is okay and it is a lovely close up of the tree. 

I decided to repaint it as an experiment on an old canvas, a hard edge abstract that I don't remember painting. After sanding the old painting a bit I sketched the cherries a bit closer and oversized. The canvas is twice the size of the original. With some serious planning and evaluation I adjusted leaves, added fruit on the top right and poured on paint with large brushes and bravado, mostly using old paint tubes of odd colors. After all this was an experiment on an expendable surface as well as rejected tubes of colors.

I love the results of this experiment!  Reused canvases, painted over failed pictures, practicing new skills...and coming up with a fine painting on top of a discarded image is a welcome result. I can't actually regret painting on old canvases when the new picture turns out well, because the colors underneath probably influenced the new image. That is one more reason I always prefer to paint onto toned backgrounds.

Sweet Sour Cherries 16x12 oil on birch, © 2016

Sweet Memories 22x18 oil on canvas © 2020

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Figure drawing

The Carnegie Art Center has begun scheduling figure drawing opportunities in the evening. As much as I love the practice and challenge of figures I am a bit lazy about driving a distance after a long day. The Carnegie is significantly closer to drive than other spots and I plan to join them as the schedule is released. 
I arrived after the warmup speed drawings. For the remainder of the session the artists chose a long pose, on a stool, seated on her bent right leg. In the first drawing I dealt with a difficult foreshortened leg. For the second I moved myself to a side view for a quick sketch. This model maintained great posture throughout the pose which encouraged me to sit a bit straighter. Artists used a variety of media and views. I used 18x12 pastel paper with soft pastels, having fun blending values and color. 
Kath Schifano
About an hour with short breaks
 
20 minutes, I moved to the side for this one, basically unfinished.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

An Abundance of Vegetables



Residing and painting for a month in the midst of a self sufficient organic farm there were many different flowers, plants and especially vegetables growing. Acres of farmland provided all the food for guests as well as animals, such as llamas, chickens for their eggs, cows for milk and cheeses, and bees for the farm and their honey.

A lovely stone bowl was on my outdoor patio table. It held two yellow apples and would make a lovely still life to paint indoors if it rained. I asked a gardener if I could have a few fresh vegetables for my little bowl. I returned from lunch to find this huge selection of perfect specimens, artfully arranged with accents of yellow dill and straw. It was huge and weighed 15-20 pounds. I made use of the contents for the rest of the month, painting some, eating others and experimenting with drying peppers. Definitely the most delicious painting. Later in the month I painted the stone bowl with some assorted peppers.

painted still life, brown background
Watercolor plan for a large painting 6x8

mixed food, pastel still life

Organic Vegetables, of Course. 18x24 pastel c.2019

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

A bit of Magritte

The artist Magritte played with images, some serious, others were whimsical. My favorites are when he has a painting overlapping a picture, the image behind the canvas is on the canvas. I tried it. 

This is a view and of the lower Niagara River on my easel, painted from Canada overlook by the Whirlpool. I lined up the painting with the view.  It’s harder to photograph than it looks. The painting is the image on this month's calendar page.


This is a sample of painting by Magritte, all of it is paint, including the easel and curtain.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Playing in the Sunflowers

We decided to call it Tailgating at Sunflowers of Sanford with a number of other painters Arriving all morning. Arriving early, we backed our traveling studios to the fence and painted away on another spectacular WNY summer day. As part of my process I changed a photo to B&W to check the balance of values. I touched the painting up a bit after I came home; driving home with windows wide open isn’t a great idea with a pastel painting in the back.

Wind Dancers, 12x9 pastel c. 2018

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Another Buckhorn Painting, Spring with a bit of snow.

From the canoe launch on the south side of the park, there is a small inlet that connects to the creek. I painted there on a sunny spring day with ducks and herons and fishermen all around. As I painted, the little bits of snow remaining from a late storm melted.


Spring Equinox, End of Winter, oil on canvas, 9x12 c.2018


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Sitting here to paint these rocks=Perfect Day!
 This is just one little piece of the fabulous Niagara Reservation State Park. Three small islands in the upper rapids provide spectacular views of the rapids, but sweet views are abundant as you walk across each of the bridges. Check my post on 3/23/2012 for another island view. I've painted, but not posted, this same boulder several times. When I returned a week later the bushes in the foreground had grown so much that this view was no longer visible. This is one of Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters favorite painting spots. I schedule us there every year.
In progress 'Between Bridges"

plein air niagara, rushing water
Between Bridges, 16x20 oil c. K Schifano 2018