Mike White turned 50 this summer, Carl designed an invitation to the planned pig roast birthday party, and I had an opportunity to bake a crazy birthday cake, camouflage icing, pig relaxing on a chaise lounge, dirt (almonds) around the sides. I just copied Carl's invitation and treated frosting like paint, mixing various muddy colors with my spatula. Off we went to Wellsville with cooler and my paint sets.
I always liked the view of Monica's pond and the woods behind it, but this hot afternoon it was particularly moody and cool looking. I settled myself in the shade of the house with my pastels to capture the scene, hoping that one of the balloons from the balloon rally that weekend would soar overhead and be reflected in the pond. That didn't happen, although there were balloons to be seen.
Several people came over to watch my drawing evolve that afternoon. Later in the evening we got into a conversation with Linda and Buck who have been updating and restoring the
Whitesville House restaurant, tavern and hotel since 1992. I remembered this building from a great meal we shared with Monica and Mike during the snowiest winter. It is right on the Pennsylvania border and I had known Whitesville as a town occasionally mentioned on the TV weather.
They asked about painting an architecture portrait, so the following weekend I packed a variety of my materials and canvas sizes, spent 5 hours drawing and planning the painting in unbelievable heat and worked a bit more back in Wellsville. I returned the next day and 7 hours and gallons of water later went to my car at 6pm to see that the shade temperature read 101'. No wonder the paint was so sticky!
This old lady has great architectural bones and details and they have done an amazing amount of work to develop the porch, outdoor area, stone wall and waterfall, flower boxes and even more indoors. The hardest part (besides the heat) was the foreground, every time a car pulled out of a space, a truck would pull in so I could not ever see the entire front. I just ran back and forth making sketches and taking pictures. Although it was started as a plein air, I had to bring this into my studio to paint the rest of the wonderful details, the windows with beer signs, the flowers, red and white sign, porch rails. I am very pleased to have created a wonderful record of an historic building, it was built in 1826 as a hotel and you can still get a nice room there.
So if you are in the southern tier of NY, do stop at the landmark
Whitesville House, a bit of history, great character, excellent food and wonderful caretakers.
Afternoon Delight 18x24, oil 2011
Next week will be my 3rd annual open art studio, Friday & Saturday 11-5. Saw a friend who purchased my Great Lakes gardens picture (September 2010 calendar image) last year at the open house & told him about next week. I thought his head would fly off when he whipped it around to say-'What! That was a year ago?' 
This is another large painting that lived on & off my easel for months. I have drawn this scene & painted this curve every year plein air & decided to try it in plain brain. I used some photo references, but mostly worked with the familiarity of having spent so many hours balanced on the edge of the park walkway studying the water.
This is quite big for a bouquet & took 3 months on & off my easel. It started as a flat presentation & gradually developed depth & light. I visualize it over/behind someone's buffet or server, or perhaps in an entrance hall, acting like a huge bouquet on the table it is hung above.
Commissioned as 'the house I grew up in', Colleen Sullivan's parents still live here. The house faces north, so it took a number of visits to figure out the best sun light. It turned out to be 6:30 pm in August, when tree shadows appeared on the side walls & as a bonus, the flags are shading the entrance. However, I wanted the trees the colors of Fall so it is a creative jumble of references. As many times as I drove by, the car was always in the driveway & I felt like a stalker taking reference photos while her parents watched tv in the summer room/garage. Therefore, they are here & silhouetted in the painting.
Everyone in our neighborhood decided to yard sale the same weekend, so I carted out the odds & ends I had been saving on purpose. After the initial flurry of checking arrangements & price tags on the driveway on Saturday, I set up an easel & painted part of the porch from under my sun umbrella. I was totally into the picture, but people kept handing me money instead of walking off with the goodies. After two days, I packed my car with leftovers & donated them to the Hiawatha Manor in Niagara Falls, NY. When I returned, I collected some more useful things & put them away for the next yard sale event.
The angular trees & shallow water are two of my favorite painting subjects at Burchfield Art & Nature Center. I was the Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters host there last month, but was distracted by a variety of impending responsibilities when it came time to choose a subject. I knew that the open paths & misty morning distance would make great subjects, but they weren't fitting into my temporary melancholia. I settled close to a big patch of daffs & drew until I became intrigued by this composition & started to paint it. However, the mood prevailed & I transported a dull unfinished plein air in the car while I ran errands & completed tasks. The next week, I reviewed the sad drying painting & pulled it onto my easel in the studio. Fresh eyes saw potential & I reworked the flowers, enlarging the petals, adding distance & additional flowers & stems until I was satisfied. It took a lot longer than I expected & nothing of the original plein air remains-except the memory. It would have been easy to overwork it.
Finally-A finished and almost dry picture! Now I should plan a visit to varnish it in place.
Although I have my own daily progress records [such an ed. term!] for many studio paintings, I rarely post them. You can click on the subject 'artist process' or 'rose' on the right side to see one. There is a round painting of a rose, published last year here, but since this is such a 'long distance' portrait I have decided to publish it as it evolves. These represent two sittings, the light seems different because there is daylight on the second photo. No matter how true spectrum my bulbs are, the camera is not fooled & warms the images. Yes, it is a peachy sort of background. Love that Texas sunlight.
Larry Bell may have been the best friend I ever had, but I didn't know it at the time. He was just always there for a laugh or some empathy. He had lots of friends wherever he went, one of those people that everyone just likes. 8 years ago he passed away as we prepared to close Niagara Falls High School where our friendship blossomed. I will miss him forever as well as our frequent phone calls catching up with every detail & event long after he retired. He helped me to have fun at work & to relax about what I could not change.
During John Polechetti's birthday party, the sun was setting even with the cupola on his home 'The Pink House' in Lockport, while the party guests celebrated on the lawn.
Doesn't 'Pots at the Pool' look like a lovely plein air? It is a close up from the right side of 'Summer on the River', below. The section was developed more in the fence area, shadows & flowers as well as the background, but it was my favorite expressive section while it lasted.
1. Developing the perspective and selecting the light for this Summer Street painting turned out to be the easy part.
