Wilson Harbor and shops

Landmark home on Grand Island

 Last Fall I met with friends in Ferry Village. It was a little breezy and rain threatened but I worked from a covered area across the street to capture this home. When I moved to Grand Island it was sad looking, but as the years passed it has been renovated and restored, now it is a landmark as well as historical. The bunting displayed was a challenge to draw cleanly as the picture is only 9x12 and I was using pastels. Someday I will paint it instead.

Ferry Village Jewel 9x12 pastel c.2021

Unity Island

Drive down bumpy Niagara Street towards downtown Buffalo, find the elusive Unity Island entrance, wait your turn for the one way railroad bridge (5mph, please) and there it is. Before I entered the quiet park I knew this would be my view. I was attracted to the water seen under the bridge, and the shore of Canada across the river. These little ink drawings colored in with my travel watercolor set are fun and good for the spirit. I took photos of everyone else to post on the NFPAP blog, Diane took a photo of me.

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

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

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.

Elegantly dressed, this trumpet player serenaded from this doorstep, Cuban flag mounted on little clips attached to the fan fold green door. I felt honored to capture this moment in Havana, Cuba. The painting was done later in my studio, the third in a series for Pasion Latin Restaurant.

 I worked from the background to the center details, leaving his hands and face for last. My photo didn't have the hand and fingers in enough detail to paint a three foot tall canvas, so I googled 'trumpet player.' Lots of great musicains and portrait pictures, but very little information that I needed at this angle, so I tried 'Cuban trumpet player' in a google search. Lo and behold, this particular musician was in half the shots, and by scrolling down I could see his advancement, from a plain red button shirt, to a brown tweed suit and up to this dapper white one. Bless those tourists!

Now part 2 of his story, he is mounted on the wall in Pasion and looks simply wonderful, adding color and atmosphere to the room. A gentleman comes up to me at the reception and says "There is a guy in there who knows the trumpet player." Of course I have to introduce myself, and he and his date are next to each other looking at the painting. He tells me the trumpeter's name which I promptly enter into my phone notes. I also learn that he played at the Buena Vista Social Club. Our group got to go there, just in time, as it has since permanently closed. The reason given is that the musicians are too old and want to stop. What, no substitutes? Anyway, I wrote his name amidst a crowded restaurant, surrounded by friends and blasting Cuban salsa and didn't notice that spell check corrected my Spanish. Later, looking up his name, I read 'Campo Defunded' Nope, that's not right.

Concert to the Cuban Sky, oil on canvas 36x24 c. 2016

Transportation in Cuba

 Everyone asks about the old cars. They are colorful and everywhere and most of them are taxis for tourists. To get a driving license in Cuba you must pass a test of mechanics as most of the cars are from the 40's and 50's, and many of them are in constant repair. We were warned not to cross a street with an oncoming relic, they would not slow as brakes were not dependable.

Cubans have many modes of alternate transportation, everything from horseback to public busses, including motorcarts and bicycle taxis or rickshaws. Out of the city, animals are preferred and I saw many carts loaded with families, workers, produce and hay. The horses were in much better shape than the wheels which were frequently made of wood or mismatched rubber from various vehicles.

 

An Original Plantation in Cuba

This old steeple aimed for the sky, no longer connected to the dissolved chapel it once announced.  The plein air painters in Cuba were charmed by the entire area, a rickety old crumbling manor house, trees growing through walls, ancient vines and a farmer neighbor using a horse and cart to move the cut grasses.  We demanded that our bus driver find a place to let us out and everyone settled around to paint this old molasses and sugar cane plantation.  The manor house was a treasure of textures to paint, but the steeple attracted me. The old bell glowed with a blue green patina, wild flowers and trees were growing out of the foundation.   

I think I did justice to this historic site.  It brings my painting goals back to "Painting for Preservation" roots in Buffalo.                                                    

Abandoned Steeple

Abandoned Steeple, oil on Arches Huile, 12x9 c. 2016

This painting is headed to Baltimore for a 'Cuba in Paint' exhibit at Crystal Moll Gallery  April 4-May 24

Paintings of Cuba

The land, the light, city buildings, narrow streets and colors of Cuba were all new to me. The characters, the music and busy crowds grabbed my attention in every direction. Ancient structures crumbled, upright cannons blocked traffic from streets, used booksellers featured old Che Guevera posters and communist history texts, wheelbarrows of used building materials rumbled by.

Painting was almost an afterthought. I was distracted and entranced by so much that I often neglected to take photographs, instead partaking in my experiences wholeheartedly. Here are four of my finished works, each one an effort to keep my feet from dancing to the constant music and another effort to control my quivering hand after too much delicious and very strong Cuban coffee. If you want to know where caffeine comes from, go to Cuba.

In the Shade of a Colonnade, Havana 12x9 oil on canvas ©2016

Crumbled Chapel, 12x9 oil on birch panel ©2016

In the storm, Old Fort in Cojimar, 12x16 oil on birch panel ©2016

There's a Missile in There, 5x7 oil on Arches Huile ©2016

Painting in Cuba!

I'm going to paint in Cuba!

I was young when the Cuba blockade started and wondered if families would go hungry and what would happen when people needed things, I worried the kids would not have games and toys. I continued to be interested in the politics and events and now I am finally going there. I will soak up the culture and energy of Cuba as I paint, morning, afternoon and evening.

A bit of my letter from the publisher of Plein Air magazine, Eric Rhoads:

"We'll be among the first to paint the beautiful and interesting people and scenery of Cuba as they are today, before the big-city developers come in and turn the island into a modern tourism capital."

I was an original 'Adirondack School Painter' when the first Publisher's Invitational was formed and I was fortunate to be an attendee for 3 summers and stop in at the 4th. They were rich experiences in the Adirondack mountains dedicated to painting sites familiar to the Hudson River School of Painters. I know that this Cuba trip is an opportunity to capture the flavor of old Cuba and experience the friendly people and dramatic architecture. My 'Painting for Preservation' experiences will be enhanced by this trip. (but I won't miss the cold and windy Saturday mornings in Buffalo when we painted out to bring public attention to neglected historic and endangered buildings) 

I hope my work there will have an impact on the need to preserve old Cuba, to glorify and celebrate the past rather than raze tired but lovely buildings to establish modern hotel chains and restaurants. I am prepared to turn my clock back 50 years.

Painting what I want to paint

Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters choose beautiful locations as a rule. I go to paint the water, the majestic trees or lovely homes and get inspiration from another direction. Several of my paintings have 'Turn Around' in the title, the result of going somewhere special and painting something entirely different by turning around. Lately I've turned away more often from lovely scenes to capture day to day views. Something about my Painting for Preservation interests and maybe a bit of interest in rusting infrastructure?
In this painting, before I did my turnaround, my goal was to paint the Niagara River from a lovely park.

Mississippi Mudds oil on board 9x12

I posted this earlier, in progress before it was complete. I went in early evening to capture 'Wine on Third' but the trees had grown too large and the building was nearly covered. Across the street there are views of several early 20th c. buildings of local iconic status. Normally I would not have noticed the signs, but there have been years of discussion about the lack of directional signs in Niagara Falls. Nope, not anymore.

Route 62, oil on board 12x16

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

30 Paintings in 30 Days #8

After delivery of 3 paintings to Impact Gallery the east side of Buffalo's Main Street glowed as I drove in the mid afternoon sunlight, especially the odd combination of buildings on Canisius College campus. The central tower blocks most of the Greek Revival center behind it, but the angles of the buildings intrigued me. I parked in the Forest Lawn across Main Street. Someday, I will walk around and investigate these varied buildings built decades apart.

I remembered my tiny cigar box paint set, with a 5x7 panel in the bracketed lid. Sample tubes of paint fit nicely, but all I had were a few tubes so this was a study in resourcefulness. No mineral spirits or mediums, no way to clean paint on the raggedy brushes I found there except the two Dunkin' Donuts napkins in the door pocket. Plus, I worked in my lap, wearing white jeans. I stayed neat and clean painting this from the car, at least until I got home when I pressed my sleeve into the wet paint and it spread everywhere from there.
Gone.
Canisius Perspectives, 5x7 oil on birch panel, 2015

P4P doesn't always work

 

The original expansive Delaware Court structure had a lovely curved facade; Painting for Preservation artists had gathered there on a brilliant Fall Saturday to bring attention to the fact that the Chippewa Street businesses and stores were moving out to demolish the classic building and replace it with a monster huge structure. 

At a quick stop at Spot Coffee exactly a year later I see the new building is in progress. Fortunately the architect preserved the curved facade, it will be interesting to see how it is finished and how it effects the area as time goes on.  I am glad I had an opportunity to capture the original building, spend some time with it and paint a dignified portrait.

Delaware Court, oil, 10x12, 2013

Painting for Preservation, Delaware Court

Super Saturdays! About once a month, Sara Zak invites artists to join her to bring attention to an 'endangered' or at risk building in Buffalo. Delaware Court, on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa in Buffalo was our most recent event. It may be replaced by a modern steel and glass tower, but no building would have the character and beauty that is on the corner now.

The curved facade gives the appearance of a building that goes on forever, decorative plaques are embedded on the pilasters and in the top molding, bump out 2nd floor balconies increase the visual delight. The group was gathered by Spot Coffee for a kiddy corner view, but I choose to sit across the street in the sun on a crisp fall morning on the patio of an obliging restaurant.

Me

Sara Zak

  Carol Case Syracuse

Delaware Court, oil on oil paper 11x14, K. Schifano 2013