Believing what you read

Windy Mists 11x14 oil - painted during Worldwide IPAP weekend

I was psedo-quoted in a Canadian newspaper-something about shiny things at the Falls. The gentleman who interviewed me took copious notes about my painting process, the International Paintout & where I show my work-as well as the plein air process. I think he remembered something about waiting for the balloon ride to go up again. I wanted the shadow to be accurate, from life. Or else the quote should have been attributed to another artist. Either way, it was nice to be mentioned.
Read it at---http://www.niagarathisweek.com/arts_and_entertainment/article/121320
How international!

Falling Water

'Steps at Niagara', 16x20, oil Having painted the Falls en plein aire at different times, I challenged myself to choose a section of water and paint it closeup-except I was thousands of feet away. These steps are on the American Falls, near Luna Island. They take up about 1/3 of the total height of the water in this area.

Worldwide paintout footage

YouTube has a video of the Worldwide International Paintout site in Niagara Falls Ontario last weekend. It's nearly nine minutes long and includes television footage of the event. I am the seated artist, facing the gardens, with greens & an archway in my painting. It is from the 60 minute quick-draw part of the competition. You can see many of the finished & framed quick draw pictures, including mine, hanging on the chrome grid by the tent. Hah!
I tried to cut & paste this address-but all I got was this still picture. Guess I should read directions. It's too long to watch unless you know everyone anyway!
http://img.youtube.com/vi/27h96QudC2Q/2.jpg

IPAP Breaktime result

I was painting in the Worldwide International Plein Air Paintout in Niagara Falls Ontario. Sherill Primo (on the walkie-talkie) asked for feedback on her painting. It was quite lovely! When I returned, there was a crowd in a line behind my easel. ---They were looking at my painting and the scene. What a shot! Several left when I pulled the camera out, but they left enough space to take this photo. That is my portable easel and carryall in the center.

While painting, a breeze blew the Balloon ride in front of the Casino & it reflected in the glass building. Then it landed & never went up again. I waited an hour for it to take off again so I could paint it in the sky, I suppose it was grounded. I have to use a reference photo to finish the balloon shading. The resulting painting "Skylines" 16x20, oil, has a foreground of large red Canna flowers mirroring the positions of the USA buildings.

Support Local Arts

This is 'support your local arts organization season.' At least it seems that way-my mail is full of social fundraiser invitations and requests for donations of artworks to raise money for galleries, museums and non-profits of all types. It is hard to choose who to support, because there are so many worthy organizations and so many reasons to want to help. I just delivered this painting 'Walton Woods' (oil, 10x14) to Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University for their gala next month. It was my first plein air with Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters. The day was cold and damp, but the Spring thaw was well on its way and early weeds were beginning to sprout. The white birches across the pond were a main attraction for me that early Spring day.


'One Bloom for Summer' (pastel, 15x23) is my record of a renegade Christmas cactus, sending out a single July flower. You can see my reflection in the glass as well as the daylight bulbs in the studio. Oh well, I had already cleaned the glass & assembled the frame before I took the picture. I gave this to Impact Art Gallery in Buffalo for their 'Starry Night' fundraiser in October.

Appropriately named

The Art room has a name-'The Holes in the Wall Studio", appropriately labeled with a sticky tag sign on the molding.

Check this article out-as long as the link lasts.

http://www.wnypapers.com/news/2007/04/d20_art.htm

What a nice lady that Kathie Duffy is!

ay yai yi yi yi

A step by step of a new rose-pink, on the green background. Several people have asked why I choose to paint on top of colors. Why not? Working on a middle value color gives me control over lights & darks. Sometimes it is completely covered over with paint, but I know it is there-other times, I let the background colors show through. This painting has been evolving for more than two weeks. The colors in the room change daily as I experiment with various lights. With the window open in the summer, light attracts bugs through the screen- so I am trying to face the light away from the woods and all its flying night creatures. They are fine stuck in the paint-but I jump when I get hit in the face when I am concentrating and wind up with wet paintbrushes hurling themselves through the air to land wherever they cause the most damage.
I do my best work at night. I paint a whole canvas at the same time when I am outside, but this is a studio piece from my photo, it is filling itself up from the bottom. The real rose was originally in a bouquet from Charles.

Spinning my brains as I deal with deadlines and paint. 5 new pictures to post, but I would rather work in the art room.