The Gorge from the Canadian side

I joined the Ontario Canada plein air painters on a glorious sunny Friday to capture the Niagara River gorge from the other side. That's where the whirlpool turns and I could see the Spanish Aerocar pass over the river. 

Without a shady tree my Plein air umbrella protects me, my palette and the painting. The bicycle rack was a perfect attachment spot.

Finished! Love this! Painting brings me joy. 

The Whirlpool from Ontario 16x12 oil c. K. Schifano 2024

The Meadow at Stella Niagara

A bit of American History-the large meadow across from Stella Niagara Education Park is the only level landing spot on the lower Niagara River all the way to Youngstown.

Now it is a public park and WNY conservancy land and maintained with native plants and an occasional mowing on the long winding path for walking.
The photo is from my painting vantage point. It seems small but I could see the window and details clearly. 

Painting from a kayak

 I brought watercolors, brushes and a sketchbook in a ziplock bag to try another Plein Air painting from a kayak.

I just sketched here because there were so many birds and much to see on Motor Island in the Niagara River.  Five of the Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters kayaked from Grand Island while several other  artists stayed ashore. Our lunch conversations were full of bird sightings and fish spawning among the rocks. No wind and the current was manageable considering we were above Niagara Falls.

WIP. Evolution of a colored Glass Painting

This is the original set up, some were moved, others added or subtracted until I was happy with the composition.  16x20” oil. 

WWPO and a Wet Paint Wedding Purchase

What a traditional view of the cataracts! The annual WorldWide Paint Out, sponsored by International Plein Air Painters was a huge success. NFPAP had at least a dozen artists on both Friday and Saturday. I had not painted here in a while and it was so satisfying to be right at the rail. Working in the heat was difficult, the swirls of wind from the gorge made an umbrella unsteady and I should have had more drinking water with me. But, by persevering I could complete this beauty. After a summer of good experiences and practice, my brushes just danced on this canvas. 

The second WWPO day, we worked by Three Sisters Islands and I went into the shade near the first bridge. A bridal party appeared and had their vows to my left, across the water. Members of the wedding party came to see me at work and purchased the wet painting for the newlyweds. I took it home, attached it securely in a perfect pizza box and delivered to their hotel. They paid me, but included a nice tip for packing and delivering! What a wonderful gift and memory for this couple. And asking your local pizza place for a clean box 'for emergencies' is a tip for artists reading this.

September Morning Wedding

Work in Progress!

BNAA Fall exhibition

The transition of the Eastern Hills site to a town square continues to evolve.

 The lovely and large, well lit site, Expo 68 Art and Design Gallery features the Buffalo Niagara Art Association Fall art show through December 5. It's open daily, except Mondays. These two paintings were selected for this spectacular Exhibition at Expo 68.

Peony Bliss, 48"x24" oil

Under American Falls, 12"x16" oil

The BNAA is a juried group, new members are juried into the group, then the shows are juried for exhibition and awards. New artists are welcome to join as Associates or Juried members.

A bit of Magritte

The artist Magritte played with images, some serious, others were whimsical. My favorites are when he has a painting overlapping a picture, the image behind the canvas is on the canvas. I tried it. 

This is a view and of the lower Niagara River on my easel, painted from Canada overlook by the Whirlpool. I lined up the painting with the view.  It’s harder to photograph than it looks. The painting is the image on this month's calendar page.

This is a sample of painting by Magritte, all of it is paint, including the easel and curtain.

Fort Niagara Lighthouse

This is my view of
the lighthouse, about 5 minutes into my preliminary drawing, when the buses arrived.  Not interested in using yellow I decided to paint the upper part of this lighthouse. It was a scorching hot day and there were no trees so I had set up in the shade of my car, with the back extended and a shade umbrella attached with bungie cords.

I met so many nice people, tourists from all over were on vacation and headed to Fort Niagara. Best part was espying a revolutionary uniform or other traditional dress as colonial actors reported for work

The painted view above the buses

North By Northwest, 12x9, oil on linen panel, 2018

Sitting here to paint these rocks=Perfect Day!

 This is just one little piece of the fabulous Niagara Reservation State Park. Three small islands in the upper rapids provide spectacular views of the rapids, but sweet views are abundant as you walk across each of the bridges. Check my post on 3/23/2012 for another island view. I've painted, but not posted, this same boulder several times. When I returned a week later the bushes in the foreground had grown so much that this view was no longer visible. This is one of Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters favorite painting spots. I schedule us there every year.

In progress 'Between Bridges"

Between Bridges, 16x20 oil c. K Schifano 2018

Merit Award won at Kenan Center Gallery

Both of my entries were accepted to the Buffalo Niagara Art Association Spring Exhibit. I am very pleased that Juror Donald Zinteck selected this entry for a Merit Award. Two floors of excellent paintings to choose from makes the distinction more meaningful to me.This shows the painting mounted at Kenan reflecting the draped windows and chandelier of the beautiful building. The lights looked like sailboats in the water to me. 

This shows the placement between two floor to ceiling windows, it is next to their grand piano in the main floor parlor.

Horseshoe Races 24x30 pastel c.2016 Merit Award

Finally, I resolved this problem

In October 2016, I posted this painting in progress, incomplete and still on my easel at Three Sisters Islands. There was something about it that kept my interest but also bothered me. I finally figured it out this summer when I stood closer to the rock and studied it. I needed to paint the transparency of the underwater part of the rock. In one minute in the studio I added a few drops of paint and it was done. And I like it much better.

The 4th Isle at Three Sisters, 16x20 oil on canvas panel c.2016

Danielewicz Farm Sunflower paintings

Facing The Wind

I've Got A Secret

Yellow Joy

These are three of the four paintings completed during the Labor Day weekend sunflower extravaganza. It was the most exciting time as everyone was happy and excited to experience the acres of beauty. Each of these is pastel, I also made a large oil picture, yellow flowers and blue sky blazing.

It's a long story

This is "America Rocks in Sunrise". It's a view of the American Falls in oil, 24"x24 and had been purchased by Ilse Franklin for her husband Tom. She selected this one from a group of my larger Falls pictures. They placed it on the fireplace mantle, with a lovely spotlight on it and I was floored the first time I saw it displayed there, I was at their home with my book club. The large windows in this room face the gorge of the lower Niagara River but the picture is the new centerpiece, as far as I'm concerned.

The title refers to 'America Rocks' in a good way, including the music that I paint to, and the Falls' light and shadow as the sun rises in the morning. 

Now this story continues.

A few weeks ago an artist friend held a 'paint night' in their Lewiston neighborhood and both Tom and Ise went. He loved it, his painting had been hung on their wall and I was pretty impressed that it was a paint night that used the river for its subject. It was a true plein air experience as well as a paint experience for the group. His painting was actually quite well expressed, various colors were in the sky as well as reflected on the water, the green trees and lawn were varied and the trees and stone wall looked pretty spiffy as well. I told him I was impressed and he was emphatic that he wanted to paint again, he really enjoyed it. I have to thank Gabe Porto for being such a great paint teacher, especially when I learned they had just the 3 primary colors to work with. Tom must be a good listener because he had learned so much about process and color mixing.

He didn't have to work hard to convince me to come back the next week. I had been wanting to paint their spectacular view of the Niagara river and Canada for a while.  I packed a portable easel, some acrylics and various panels for him as well as my oil pochade but Tom was a little upset when I arrived. He hesitated to tell me he wanted to make a copy of my painting instead of the view, "I've been studying how you did it, I get up close, keep looking and think I can do it, I hope you don't mind, I really love the Falls" 

I thought we would work together to paint the same landscape and I would pass along some hints and techniques to add to his earlier experience in the neighbor's yard. Well, I'll still paint the scene outside and he can copy my painting, no problem there! 

After a fun career teaching art and solving other people's color and composition problems I considered giving workshops or having students but quickly decided I just wanted to paint. For me. To push paint around, start and stop on my own schedule. Everyone knows I'll answer paint questions, give advice and critique but choose not to take students, give classes or accept most workshop offers. Suddenly, I had a student copying a picture, but I still wanted to paint my own plein air. [To my artist friends, I had 3 trees, a cliff and forests in Canada across the river to paint in oil and was trying to guide him with acrylic paints and completely different colors and scene. I almost had a brain fog trying to keep the two separate in my mind and my oil brush out of the acrylic palette. No surprise that I had a margarita for lunch.]

The day was a success, I had to finish mine later in my studio, but Tom's second painting ever, of the American Falls came out quite well. I think we have one more candidate for our Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters, he just needs to do a little shopping for paints and a brush. 

Tom with his copy of my work, and the original painting on the mantle

My plein air of our view

Calm on the River, 12x16 oil on birch panel, c. K. Schifano, 2017

Painting the Niagara River below the Falls

The sun started out bright so I headed to the Niagara Reservation to paint the last of the snow. With the messy Terrapin Point construction and reconfigured roads there was little access to the Falls, so I drove around the park and decided to travel north along the churning Niagara river, hoping for a good view in a protected place. THe day was cooler by the river and I remembered that the 'private' cliff road was now open to the public, 6 parking spaces would be available. The 7th car would have to leave.

I took the seriously steep Power Authority road down to the fishing docks. It was pretty quiet, only one other car and there seemed to be a single person in the guardhouse. Parking crooked, I pushed my seat all the way back and painted this from the car. Warm, dry and a few podcasts later my painting was done and I was determined to come back in the summer to walk the paths that lead down to the water's edge. It seemed incredibly peaceful.

There are no giant islands of ice floating down the river and some fishing was going on, in fact, some boaters motored into my view. Spring is in the gorge. 

'Lower River Spring', 9x12 oil on birch c. 2016

Channeling Magritte?

Saturday isn't my favorite day to paint because it interferes with my morning yoga class. This Saturday paintout was in Niagara Falls, Ontario, with Jacq Baldini and Kathryn McMahon. We had been trying to get together to paint for a few years, and this was a perfect day. I had never been to this Canadian overlook as a tourist or a painter, it is the terminus of the Spanish aerocar which crosses over the Whirlpool rapids.

When I stood back to evaluate my painting the sun seemed to blind me but I realized that the setup of my easel and the view were in pretty good alignment. Looking into the iPhone view window to take a photograph the image it was nearly impossible to see in the sunlight.  I seemed to have done a pretty good job of matching the shapes. THis was a good reason and a good day to skip yoga class.

A recent series of end of year paintings have evolved into realism, this is an example. Close up, the painting has a lot of abstract areas but it sure matches the scenery in the photo on the easel.

Whirlpool from Ontario 12x16 oil on birch

Mississippi Mudds on the river

A favorite summer spot for a fun meal, Mississippi Mudds had a sign stating it would close at the end of the month. I had gone there to paint on the riverwalk, but the colors of the restaurant would be gone soon. I turned my chair to face the road, my back to the river. THe more time I spent on this painting, the more detail I saw, the ice cream cone lights, the flags on the terrace, power poles and various colors in the windows. Observers were all surprised to notice the lighthouse top in the painting, they had never noticed it on the building. It was partially obscured from my angle but out in the open from every other direction.

As I painted this in the morning, there were few people at the ice cream window to model for me, but as I finished, the lines had started and customers ordered fun meals for a late summer day. Oh well, next year I will start later, or perhaps I will choose Old Man River, or even the river!

Mississippi Mudds,  9x12 oil on birch, © 2015

#28 and 29 of 30 paintings in 30 days

'Seagulls, Swifts and Spring' started as a study of the posts and water reflections while I waited for the light and shadows to change on the bridge. 'Niagara Painters' were meeting at the new little park at the base of the North Grand Island bridges and I had assumed that the bridge would be in my painting. The water was quite smooth in the morning and the soft and muted colors of a spring morning were hard to resist. This is the bigger one, I also painted a mini, only 2x2 of the same place.

My sweet tooth was calling, I wanted a decadent cupcake from the trendy new cupcake store on Whitehaven Road. I didn't get there, but Tops had a 4 pack so I could go home and eat one, Carl had one, then we split a third one. I grabbed the last, perched it on a pretty plate and as I headed to the studio I bumped it and 'Oops, there is the title' came to mind.

'Seagulls, Swifts and Spring' 9.5x12.5 oil on paper, c. 2015

'Oops on Bone China', 5x7 on wood panel, c.2015

VIsiting with the original Guerrilla Painter

A few months ago, I ordered a new paint box from Judson's Art Outfitters in Colorado. Poking around their website I discovered that Carl Judson would pass nearby; I took a chance and invited him to stay with us and paint with the NIagara Frontier Plein Air Painters. A few emails back and forth and we set up an evening salon with my group, he gently presented some history and his philosophy and listened carefully to comments and art stories. All evening a series of about 100 images rotated on the tv screen, providing a visual panorama of plein air.

Painting the Falls, on the days when the ice is roaring down the river from Lake Erie has a special quality. Spending that day with Carl Judson added to the 'special' as we set up with our backs to the American Falls and could see the 'shoe between the trees before leaves filled in the view. Ice at the base of the Horseshoe was halfway up, about 90 feet deep, and another 5-6 feet deep on the fenced off lookout areas near the spray.

 Carl attracted a steady group of observers of the water falls and our paintings.

 This pile of equipment represents enough for two artists to sit, paint and eat lunch. The economy of space of the Guerilla Painter supplies has lightened my load considerably. When I started to paint out years ago, I could barely manage my own bulky set up even with a set of wheels, these two boxes were easy to carry with two chairs up the hill and through the fields without thinking about weight or bulk.

 Carl Judson and I in front of his mobile art shop [and traveling apartment], before leaving the area in Wilson. We had painted the Trillium walk in the morning, he was headed for Rochester Art Supply, one of our favorite artist road trips, followed by Canandaigua and Ithaca.

A tiny portable paintbox works fine in the car.

 Years ago, I was given an old 'Beginners Paint Box' with some dried up paints. It had been purchased used at a garage sale for a dollar or so. It sat in my studio all this time, more as a memento of the person who gave it to me than as a useful art product.

Recently I was researching the purchase of an artist's pochade, which is a very useful travel box with lots of gadget type aspects. I had a few new sample paints, a couple of short brushes and a teeny jar for some medium and so I tried out this teeny box. The little plastic cap on the medium in the photo is smaller than a quarter. Altogether, the box is 6x9 and less than two inches tall so it fits under the car seat or in most purses. 

I painted this oil parked at Eagle Overlook on Grand Island, looking over towards Navy Island and the industry near Niagara Falls. I pushed my seat all the way back, leaned on the steering wheel, and propped it on the dashboard for a 'longer view'. With the sun shining the car stayed pretty warm, it was about 11 degrees out and two iceboats were consistently sweeping the ice away from the massive New York Power Authority intakes, seen on the right side.

I came home thrilled to have been painting outdoors, ready for this most frigid winter to end and Spring to bloom.

'Icebreakers on the Niagara' 5x7 oil on board

Niagara River Paintings

I just posted 13 new paintings on Facebook, linked HERE, it has been a wonderful Spring for painting as my painting friends seemed to have scheduled all the nice days.

These two were painted by inspiration. I usually carry my plein air supplies in the car, even when I transport passengers and luggage there is a tiny watercolor set ready to capture the moment.

I had run my Niagara Falls errands when the 'big magnet at the Falls' lured my car there...for just a Spring peek. It turned into a long afternoon on a bench and I am so glad I went. It seems like I paint this scene every year but it looks different every time. The bushes and trees on the islands had not filled in yet and I could see between them.

Buckhorn marsh is a lonely place to paint, in fact Spring is probably the best time to go, I can see so much further without trees full of leaves. I knew it would have more people exploring on this fine warm Spring day so I felt safe and headed out for the afternoon. The combination of warm air and cool water created a soft mist on the river, I could barely see the Skylon tower or tall buildings. Although some bushes have sprouted, the cattails and marsh grasses are still asleep.

Interrupted by Spring-the Curve, 12x16, pastel c. 2012
Buckhorn's Island Bridge 4x6, oil c. 2012