Riverworks summer fun

The complex at Riverworks is constantly expanding up and out and becoming a great family site. We took our grandchildren for dinner and they enjoyed the variety of watercraft passing, including party boats and cruisers. 

They didn't see this side until we were leaving so we took a few turns on the slowest Ferris wheel ever. It was magical. I've painted the LaBatts six pack twice and other views here too as there's always something worth studying  

Riverworks Ferris Wheel 9x12oil on birch board

Gallery windows in Buffalo

Two adjoining galleries wrap around North Street in Buffalo to Linwood Street. Art Dialogue Gallery has a window facing the street that is always interesting to view. I had parked in front and took this shot of Bill Wilson's sculptures. 

While I was there, Don Siuta asked if he could use my painting in the North Street windows of Artists Group Gallery. Leaving, I took this photo of it at the very moment a cyclist rode by and her reflection landed precisely on the beach of the painting. Coincidentally, it is titled "That Moment" which was meant for the moment of sunrise on the ocean horizon. This picture caught another 'moment'.

That Moment, 40x20, oil on canvas, c.2015

Artists Group Gallery

The edge of Goat Island at Niagara Falls separates the water that goes over the two falls from the Niagara River. The rapids become quite tumultuous at this spot, the speed of the water increases and splashes on the rocks and ledges. An earlier post this year showed this being painted from the front seat of my car at the end of a long cold winter. 

I donated the painting to Artists Group Gallery for the summer fundraiser, an evening with delightful food and drinks, some surprises and the opportunity to purchase small artworks at $100. 

It's July 24th in the evening, tickets available from the gallery, 885-2251

Rapids Start 6x6 oil, c. K. Schifano

Art Dialogue Gallery Members Show, 2013

The first shows of the year are often group exhibitions at many galleries. In fact, group show season starts with December gift exhibits, when galleries carry smaller works and crafted items for holiday gift giving. One of my favorite 5x7s got away from me this year and I have no photo of it, anywhere, at all. I can't even find it listed on my OCD calendar of what was painted when, size and media. It was nice to carry home a check, but I wish there was a photo of it in my camera. I usually have wonderful record keeping skills but I let it slip through the studio before it was documented!

That little jewel was a plein air of the front of Beaver Island Casino, showing just the garden and in a furniture grade mahogany frame. If you saw it in my studio you know why I call it a jewel, I expect the new owner is very pleased with their purchase.

On the other hand, the current show at Art Dialogue Gallery is self selected; artists choose one work to represent them for the month of January. It is usually very interesting to see different work from artists at this show, often pieces are experimental, different media or subjects. I chose this stately tree trunk painted at Sonnenburg Gardens in Canandaigua, NY last June. It was raining hard when I started so I nestled under an elegant archway in the Japanese gardens section. This tree was gripping the ground with the knowledge of a century, pulling up the earth and dwarfing boulders at its base. The sun came out at the right time and created contrast between the wet rocks and tree trunk and long shadows in the sunlit grass. Water continued to drip all around me from giant trees, but I remained dry with my pastels in the shelter

Aging Gracefully, pastel 16x12, 2012

Springing into Spring?

Two days of sunshine & warm wind obliterated January's snow into puddles. I was ready to pack my paints & declare an early Spring. Wrong. Winter is back, but we are in the midst of art show season, so I am looking forward to art openings & sharing winter art stories & accomplishments with artist friends.

Last week, the 'Traditional' part of Art Dialogue Gallery's Western NY Artist Group juried membership show opened. My juicy tomatoes are hanging near the window-it seems my extra bright colors always have a hard time being placed in art shows, they are front & center, or on a single wall, or at the beginning or end. Sounds like I covered all the bases, but my paintings are rarely hung within the line of artworks on average gallery walls. I kind of like it that way! It will be up until mid-March when the 'Contemporary' part opens.

'On the Waterfront' at Artsphere Studio & Gallery, Amherst Street in Buffalo, opening reception is next Friday, February 25, 6:30-9 pm and will remain up until March 25. I had a hard time choosing only 2 paintings for this show, of all the tugs & grain elevators, downtown skylines and ships that I have painted in the last few years I could have had my own show altogether.

The two landscape paintings are plein air.

Karpeles Tomatoes, 11x14 oil 2009

Tug in a Cool Dock, framed to 19x21, pastel 2008

Lights under Michigan Street Bridge, oil 14x11 2009

Fundraisers & vegetables

This painting will be presented to Canisius College & Art Dialogue Gallery for their joint gala fund-raiser auction next May. It was painted at the Saturday art event at Karpeles Manuscript Museum in Buffalo. I worked near the open doors to get natural light, but, lo & behold, there were no tomatoes....so this is a very rare example of a painting made from my photograph. I really do prefer plein air and real objects! I tended to look around the side of the photo to 'see more' & get the edges. Good thing it was a great picture to start with.  

This year my tomatoes aren't worth even a photograph-leggy stems, little tomatoes, brown leaves. It's been a weird summer for weather-too much rain & gray in June & July.

Karpeles Museum Tomatoes, oil 11x14 2009

Barack & Carl

[Edited with the correct images, this is a 'repost' rather than deja vu.]

FYI- You can easily post a note by clicking on the 'comment' word below. I see them before they are posted, & they will remain 'out of sight' unless you click to see them. 

Three paintings are drying now & will be posted soon. I have been working on several canvases at once. I finally went back to Buffalo Botanical Garden Thursday & enjoyed relaxed charcoal sketching of tropical leaves & flowers while the wind & snow howled around the dome. I'll probably use pastels there next week to capture more Amaryllis for my 13 x 16 series. It was just nice to be back.

Carl has been showing some of his spectacular digital collages in Buffalo lately. He has two art openings next Friday-one at CEPA, the other at Big Orbit. We each have a piece at Art Dialogue this month - our January is hot! I noticed that he had several Barack Obama images created over the past year, so I borrowed this one to share. The spirit of positive energy Obama exudes is infectious, I hope that we can all move forward through the rough times we face in the next few years as our country is repaired. 

Yes We Can Not Fade Away, digital collage 2009 by Carl Schifano

Barack Obama digital collage 2008 Carl Schifano

Think Green at Art Dialogue Gallery

Imagine this in an 8 ply mat with wide margins, mounted in a carved old gold color wood frame. It's at Art Dialogue Gallery this month, for the "Think Green" theme exhibit. On view from January 7  there will be a closing reception on January 30th 4-6 pm. Although so many of my paintings deal with green-nature, landscapes, plants, I chose this for the Buffalo show because of its rural location, and the natural life that can be found at the Wellsville, NY  home of Monica & Mike White. Eliminating the plastic & artificiality of suburban society, it is the ultimate in green-entertainment is in nature, & a green lifestyle is entirely possible. 'Home Grown' was added to the title as it hung on my studio wall.

'Home Grown, Wellsville Window', 14x14 pastel, 2007

Music is Art in Buffalo

Yeah, it rained, but hardy umbrella toting families crawled the grounds of the Albright Knox Art Museum on Saturday, September 13. It was successful for me, I met new people, heard great music & comments about my work & shared my concepts with new patrons. My favorite moment of the day was when a Dad said 'My son said he wanted to own this ship when he was six'  referring to this 'ghost' ship painting of the former giant floating casino/cruise ship wannabe in the inner harbor. He brought the print home as a gift for his son, now grown. I think that print found a wonderful & appreciative new home, & the family will get lots of laughs over their memories. I hope the other pictures find joy in their new homes, too!

It was wonderful that the Robby Takac Foundation provided tents, table & chairs for this event-no walls to dry tomorrow, and a lot less work to pack & do this show. I painted a soon to be dry architectural piece of the AKAG, too.

Once shown at Art Dialogue Gallery, the original is a record of a ship now gone. It was loved or hated but never ignored. This was a very ambitious early plein air-even before I turned to oils.

Ghost Ship  16x20 acrylic 2006 

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