Art Dialogue WNYAG show

Rejected from the Traditional Art installation, the same judge then accepted all three of my Modern Art submissions. The first opening was the same night as my Solo at the NACC, so I had a wonderful evening there instead. It was a lovely show, even without me.

This Friday, 3/21/08 is the reception at Art Dialogue Gallery for the Western New York Artists Group 12th annual juried members exhibition Modern Art Installation. I will be there to see the three new paintings & all the other entries with my extended family-John & Maureen, Bobbie, Chris & Sandi, and Carl.

This juicy composition is a studio work inspired by the Warm Lake grapes, and is followed by another showing tomatoes on the vine-to be finished in the next few weeks. It is from one of my photos of apples from Marian's trees when we lunched outside in October. 

Working in oil on larger canvases in the studio is a great way to paint nature in the cold weather-even with the window open. It is difficult to transition from 3-d objects and working from life to painting from an image. The flat picture is so static, the paint must find a life of its own without birds & bugs & passersby for ambiance. Hence, books on tape. Thank you, Buffalo & Erie County Library!

formerly titled 'Five Apples and the Light'

Pteradactyl Apple, 5 Apples & the Light 22x28 oil 2008

Wellsville evening light

As winter winds down and the [hopefully] last snowfall melts, I remember the first snow of the season-unexpectedly early. We were in the southern tier, visiting Monica & Mike in  Wellsville and woke up to winter white on the hills.  We were like kids, staring out at the hills,the pond, farms and the wet street winding into the distance.

The evening before, I had painted this little evening light view of one of their outbuildings. It was already framed for me, begging to be noticed. I was  looking uphill out a square window in the living room.

'Wellsville Window' 12x12 pastel 2007

8959 Green Castle Way

This house portrait started as an abstract design concept. Because I was working indoors, I decided to use acrylics instead of oil paint, and I was thoroughly flummoxed by the paints instantly drying in the heated studio air. I got caught up in architectural accuracy (I couldn't blend the quick dry paint) and needed a straight edge for the long horizontal and vertical effects. It got more & more realistic, so I played with a hard edge style-then I needed more detail to express the depth. Alas, I realized that the original house painting plan got in the way of a good result. I wanted something loose and expressionistic of 8959, then when it became realistic, my beginnings were tripping me. I should have handled the brick quite different if I had known where I was going. I especially like the entry window & the Bottlebrush tree.

Nice house, Robin & Jeremy.

'Green Door on Green Castle', 30"x15" acrylic on panel 2008

Leah's Tree

It seemed like the last snowfall of the winter, just a few inches followed by brilliant sunshine. I set up my canvas & paints at the back window and plein air'd this one from indoors. It is a good example of the adage 'paint what you know'-I could sit and look out these windows all day. This is a little bit to the west of the other trees 'out back' that I have painted. The path to the left leads into the woods and to the firepit.

'Leah's tree, late winter' 20"x 10", oil