Symphony Circle and painting Verdi

This is a popular bust of the musician Verdi, he appears in cities all over, usually near a symphony's home  this is Buffalo at Kleinhans Music Hall  

Just 12x9 in oil, it's an unusual subject for me  

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

Annual Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival

Saturday at the Buffalo History Museum was a perfect Spring day and thousands turned out to see the blossoms. Five painters worked on a scene similar to this, set back from the crowds and walkways. Every painting captured sunlight, flowers and the joy of emerging spring. These trees appear to dance, with the classic architecture of the museum in the background.

'Saturday's Cherry Blossoms' oil, 12x16 c. K. Schifano

 Sunday was not as bright, in fact I was caught in the rain as I packed up. My easel was right under the tree with this particular flower right in front of me. I did the same thing last year but the breeze kept blowing the thin branch and it was a bit disconcerting to catch the details. This time, there was no breeze but a little girl jumped up and grabbed my flower. I reacted so quickly-and pretty loud-that I doubt she will ever pick another flower. Instead of seeing some of the centers the bunch now tipped down but I am still satisfied with the shape. Still wondering why, with hundreds of flowering trees and flowers she chose mine. 

'Sunday's Cherry Blossoms' oil, 12x16 c. K. Schifano

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

 

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.

Step by step in the community garden

Under the Yarrow, 9x12 oil

Hallwalls MidWinter's Draw

 I was invited to film (on Zoom) a timed 45 minute painting. It is for Hallwalls annual fundraiser. I've attended the drawing rallies the past, an event with lovely food and drinks and dozens of artists working while we watch. After 45 minutes the works are posted for auction and new artists take their places. At the end of the evening the winning bidders take their art home. 

The 2020 summer event was held online and bidders had several days to view videos of artists producing their art and to bid. It allowed for a wider audience than when people had attended the events. This "Winter Night"s Draw" will also be a virtual experience with several days to view online before the bidding ends.  Bidding will be February 24, 7pm and close on February 28 9pm.

I am THRILLED to have been invited and be a part of this annual event.

Here is a smidgen of the my work. It's a good one, bid high.

This photograph is close to where I stood for the next picture, my 'downtown painting day'.

With so much to see and interpret, I am amazed how much I did include. This was drawn and painted from the back of my car, I use the open trunk to provide myself some shade.

 Under the Skyway 6x8" pen and watercolor ©2020

Two Trips to the outer Harbor of Buffalo

Paulette Jurek suggested painting at RCR Boatyard this summer. I was overwhelmed on arrival by the expansive vista, boats, buildings, rusted infrastructure to the south, the water on both sides, city skyline and trains. I decided to draw with ink and color in with watercolor on this first visit but planned to return.

'Buffalo Smells Like Cheerios', 8x6 pen and watercolor ©2020

Two days later I came back with pastels to work larger. Here is the initial underpainting, when there are only shapes laid in.

My view, there is a bit of city hall behind the central buttress. I put it into my painting.

Finished!

Route 5 Meets Buffalo, 12x16 pastel on Pastelbord   ©2020

Darwin Martin House Pergola

Darwin Martin chose Buffalo for his business selling soap. He became the first paid employee of the Larkin Company, worked his way up, innovated record keeping, and was instrumental in getting Frank Lloyd Wright to design the famous Larkin Company office building, open, airy and worker friendly space. The Larkin Company provided household items like soap which came with points or certificates. Households would exchange the certificates from the laundry soap and other purchases for various items. It expanded and rivaled Sears and Roebuck. I have a faux pearl necklace my Mom ordered with coupons from there.

Martin supported Wright during Wright's lean times and had him build his home on Jewett Parkway in Buffalo, as well as Greycliff in on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie in Derby, NY.  

I have painted the front facade of the Darwin Martin House before; this is the side and back view, just part of the long pergola that extends to the back of the property and attaches to the neighboring Barton home of his sister.

Since 2002 the entire complex, including the demolished gardeners cottage and the conservatory and pergola have been under restoration, now completed. The gardens are recently restored, sculptures have been placed in the lawn but the whole complex is now closed due to Covid 19. I'm hoping to see crowds return here soon. I did enjoy the quiet on the morning I painted this from the side street.

The Pergola at Darwin Martin House, pastel 12x16

Buffalo Garden Walk in the Community Gardens

The annual Buffalo Garden Walk is one of the 'must do' things in WNY. Instead of working in a private garden with tinkling waterfalls and spectacular floral and fauna, the Buffalo Society of Artists sponsors a community gardens paint in for kids, mostly kids anyway. Paints, paper and shade are ready in this neighborhood garden where anyone who wants or needs fresh vegetables can pick them. The cherry tomatoes I chose were turning color as I worked. What a nice way to experience nature.

Vermont Street Tomatoes, 16x12 pastel, c. 2019

Frank Lloyd Wright Boathouse

 

The start of a painting is a drawing - this is on a black toned canvas and it is in the shade of a building

 

Note how the light and shadows change, especially on the boathouse.

The Wind At FLW Boathouse, 12x16 oil

 I chose to leave the foliage off the tree to keep emphasis on the building.

Note how the shadows are longer in this afternoon photo and there is no light on the front. The wind is evident from the furled flags.

Wind at FLW Boathouse, oil on canvas 12x16 c.2018

Burchfield Nature Park

Buffalo Creek and Burchfield, 9x12 pastel c.2018

Sharon Fundalinski and Peggy Walker introduced me to this park at least ten years ago and every time I return it is a lovely day with slowly rippling water, little kids with grandparents, people walking dogs and peaceful nature sounds. Many of the stately trees are gone as the creek has the potential to become fast and furious and the trees roots are eroded, year by year as they age.

 

There are still a few massive trees that may have been painted by Charles Burchfield. He lived directly across the creek from this one.

Burchfield Penney Saturday still life

Two fun Saturday afternoons at Burchfield PenneyArt Center in their first floor classroom

involved an art project with unusual still life set ups by invited artists. I like to work with real objects outdoors, but these were so different that I kept smiling as I painted. It was difficult to choose a particular part of these unusual structures to work with because there was so much going on in each still life.

Saturdays With Myles

Watching the museum's schedule for additional opportunities to do this challenge, I am disappointed that these two paintings will stand alone. There is no way I could put up a crazy still life like either of them for myself. I have to laugh that I did this for my students regularly. Because the setups were completely my choice I didn't have the perspective of strange and new objects. Planning the shapes and colors gave me an unfair advantage. At this moment I want to apologize to all the art students who were overwhelmed by art room still lifes in Niagara Falls High School. It took me quite a few years, but now I know how you felt.
Both paintings are 12x9 oil.  My Guerrilla Painter pochade box worked well on the classroom tables.

Critters With Eyes

Broderick Park in Buffalo

I"ve been frequently drawing in a 6x8 sketchbook lately. Using a permanent black pen with archival ink the drawing is created, followed by watercolor to develop the picture.

This view shows my location on Unity Island, across from the 190 headed to downtown Buffalo. This park is recently updated and actually quite large even though it looks skimpy from the highway.

Two interruptions to the scene included bells ringing, traffic stopping and painters delayed while th Miss Buffalo glides under the bridge. This is really fun to watch.

Finding quiet on the Richmond roundabout

 Kleinhan's music hall, Symphony Circle, Olmsted Parkway system, where am I? 

Behind the big old First Presbyterian church with a recently restored bell tower is a secluded entrance. A small garden was growing near the sidewalk. The elegant birches growing against dark medina sandstone bricks stood out like spotlights and the stained glass glimmered a bit from the interior lights. It was so peaceful away from the traffic circle. There was even a table for me to settle my art supplies. So that is where I chose to paint, at peace in the midst of the city.

Keystones at First Presbyterian, 12x16 oil on board, c.2017

Back to My Roots?

Flowers. First it was apples, and I learned to draw by using apples as my subject, over and over, as instructed by Walter Prochownik at UB in the 80's. It was flowers, not apples, that intrigued me and I later spent many years looking deeply into the lines, curves and details of all sorts of plants and flowers, working large and small in my tiny Niagara Falls studio as my practice improved.

Since I became a plein air artist I have spent many Thursdays in winter painting the flora and architecture of the Botanical Gardens, usually small and often with pastels.

For this painting, I was invited to show a wall full of work related to gardens at the Twentieth Century Club in Buffalo and chose to paint outside in their gardens while my work was up. I have painted there several times, choosing bits of architecture as my focus. I made several sketches, the garden statuary is quite attractive, there are fountains and sculpture, groomed trees and brilliant colors against an interesting Romanesque architecture.

At each column in the back, large pots of Canna Lilies and Begonias glowed in the light. These urns became my subject and I wound up surrounded by a large garden party while I painted. It was interesting to be in that space with so many people yet nearly invisible as my work transported me right out of the crowd and few were interested in what I was doing there.

Cannas and Begonias oil on board, 20x10 c.2016

Spirit of Havana

I am so thrilled to have mastered SATIN!

This beautiful and proud lady modeled for the plein air painters in Cuba and I took her photo when she took a break. She was an amazing model, no motion, and she stayed seated and kept her foot stretched for a half day. I didn't paint her in Havana, instead this is a studio piece and quite large. I painted it especially for the dining room of  Pasion Latin Restaurant in Buffalo, one of three paintings for them.

Spirit of Havana, oil 36x24 c.2016

Her REAL job is to keep planting fresh lipstick on the cheeks of tourists, then posing for photos and collecting a CUC, or tourist peso, equal to a dollar. A fair number of gentlemen walk around with a juicy kiss planted on their cheeks as part of the deal.

Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival

Spring in WNY is a time of glorious color, flowers, warm weather, outdoor activities. Early May brings a riot of pink to the Japanese gardens behind the Buffalo HIstory Museum, and a collection of events and painters to capture them.

With the Niagara Falls Plein Air Painters, I went to the Gardens to paint twice on consecutive Saturdays. This is my first attempt at painting the figures in a pediment and I was surprised at the variety of scale as I inspected their shadows and positions of the figures. The reclining figure on far left was tiny compared to the soldier with a shield kneeling next to him. And yes, I eliminated two of the figures for my sanity, after all, who counts?

Saturday's Pinks 9x12 oil on birch

Buffalo's China Light

I have been here before and I have painted the lighthouse several times. It is the China light lighthouse in the canalside area of Buffalo. The shape is the same. the horizon is the only item in the view other than the lighthouse, yet each painting captures another day, another weather, a different sky. In particular, this does not have a light in the beacon area, nor is there glass. The giant lamp was being retrofitted to have a light, but not to be a marker for ships in the lake. It no longer correctly marks the Buffalo harbor on ship maps, there are smaller buoys to mark channels and safe areas.

The day after I painted it, the lamp and windows were returned to the top. I had considered going back to paint the new top but have decided that my plein air painting captured a particular moment.

'A Day Before the Light' 16x12 oil on birch

Summer Plein Air

Allentown garage in Arlington Park, Buffalo

Center and 7th in Lewiston, NY

Considering a Cruller, the Niagara Falls Hiker

Summer is outdoor painting season whenever there is time and decent weather. Each of these three paintings had a different reason to be made. The 'Fairweather Paletteers' of East Aurora met up with Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters in Allentown for the garage view.  It had a red tricycle in the driveway but the scale was wrong, so I overpainted it and hope to find another tricycle to put it back, larger this time.

The second was a demonstration painting at the Lewiston Art Festival, a view of their wonderful street gardens. It took two mornings to get the light right as I was facing west and the sun moved the shadows quickly.

The last was painted in the park across from the NACC in NIagara Falls, included two well known landmarks. Freddie's Donuts has been there longer than I have lived in this area, and the Hiker was placed early in the last century, at the corner of Portage and Main Street. I hope no one decides to clean up his gaudy blue patina.

Allentown Garage, 11x14 oil on canvas

Center and 7th, 7.5x10.5 oil on Arches Huile

Considering A Cruller, 9x12 oil on Arches Huile