England and Wales continued

 One of the fantastic artists at Workshops in Yorkshire invited me to stay at her home at the end of our week. I hesitated but I was assured she would get me to Manchester airport in a few days. 

I am so glad I accepted the invitation, as Liz's extended family, lovely historic stone home and spectacular location were the best part of my UK experience. It turns out I was now in Wales with her and I found subtle differences with more beautiful views and enjoyed every minute. This involved a lot of driving and I am in her debt for a wonderful time; we painted, had some lovely excursions, went to a surprise birthday party (everyone was incredibly nice) and ate wonderfully.

One of my nearly completed workshop paintings is of a climbing 'Sylvia Rose'. I met a lovely young girl whose name happened to also be Sylvia Rose and she was thrilled to pose with my painting. We visited in a large covered area with sunshine streaming around us, sheep bleating nearby while her grandfather (?) played the guitar and sang a song written by his son followed by a song by Sylvia. She was charming and confident, ready to start back to school soon. It was delightful and memorable, life and new friendships are so good.

From Facebook Artist Posts 1

Day 1 of 5
I am nominated for the current Facebook Challenge by Frances Gaffney, a Manhattan and ADK artist and friend, to post 3 artworks for 5 days and nominate another artist each day. It has been a pleasure to see so much great work from so many artist friends and I am pleased to be a part of making FB posts beautiful.
These 3 are earlier works, pastels on 22x30 BFK created from real roses in my studio. I have always been inspired by nature and this series of rose paintings 2003-04 were stepping stones to becoming a better artist by observing and recording as well as the experience of working with limited color.
In the shadow of Frances, I nominate Elizabeth Flannery Damesimo to post 3 paintings a day for 5 days.
1. Investigating Pink
2. Rotated Rose 
3. More Moon Shadows

2 Paintings in North Dakota

Bismarck Art & Galleries Association sponsored a Square Foot Show in their gallery for the second year. These two paintings were sent to North Dakota for the exhibit which runs from August 6 to 30. If you happen to be in our nation's breadbasket, the BAGA opening reception is at E. Front Ave from 5-7 pm. Let me know how the show looks and if I have a nice location for my work, I have to be here to paint in Olcott!

They are on 12" by 12" stretched canvases and the 1" deep sides are painted to continue the image around the corners. This is often called Gallery Wrap. Each is a wonderful painting and I am proud to have them represent me there.

Both of these florals were completed in the studio, started from my drawings on location. The rose was painted from a conte drawing I had wanted to use in a painting, while the peonies were started en plein air at my picnic table and brought indoors for development. The flowers changed as I watched, and the breeze moved the flowers and branches just enough that I kept losing my place in the big bush. There are so many flowers this year, I am hoping the farmers have as much success with their fruits and vegetables as I am having in our lush gardens.


Summer Glory 12x12x1 oil, 2013
Peony Riot 2, 12x12x1 oil, 2013

The Moon is A Balloon, 2011 & Wine On Third

 Years ago I started this rose painting, it was one of my early large floral pastels. It was matted & framed under glass-until the glass broke. I adjusted it to have a double mat after reworking the naked image in 2006, when I added blues to the previously white sky as well as more values of yellow in the petals. The rose peacefully settled in a quiet corner of the living room for several years. 

This summer I took it down and re-reworked it. The sky gained more blues, greens and a bit of violet, the  petal shadows were made richer with violet and orange and I finally completed the stem; poor rose only had sepals without a stem. Under glass, it is finally ready to show.

Invited to be July 'artist of the month' at Wine on Third, Niagara Falls, this painting is the first on the wall in a series of large florals and food paintings there as well as 6 Niagara Falls paintings. It is finally in public along with other studio works. Having mostly painted and shown smaller plein air paintings recently, I enjoy seeing the display of large works together, and it will be up until August.

The Moon Is A Balloon, 24x30 [framed to 30x36] 1995-2011

Delaware Park Rose Garden

Slipping off to Buffalo to paint the beautiful Delaware Park Rose Garden doesn't bring the Albright Knox Art Gallery to mind. All of the other painters-there were about 8-headed for the beautiful colonnade, surrounded by steps, columns, roses and trees. I had spent a full year painting only roses, so I was up to this challenge and liked the idea of varicolored bushes, clusters, longstems and bunch roses.

As I perused this lovely location, the sight of the Albright's E. B. Green 1905 building peeking over the end of the gardens grabbed me. I turned my easel around and accepted the challenge. Having painted on the grounds and having a profound respect for the institution, I did appreciate this distance view.

However, I ended my visit with about 50 new rose photographs, with all the varieties and colors one could imagine.

Look What's Growing in the Rose Garden, 11x14 oil on masonite 12x18

Photo; in progress plein air painting

Jerry & Larry Bell

Larry Bell may have been the best friend I ever had, but I didn't know it at the time. He was just always there for a laugh or some empathy. He had lots of friends wherever he went, one of those people that everyone just likes. 8 years ago he passed away as we prepared to close Niagara Falls High School where our friendship blossomed. I will miss him forever as well as our frequent phone calls catching up with every detail & event long after he retired. He helped me to have fun at work & to relax about what I could not change.

It hit me when his twin, Jerry, passed away this Fall that the two brothers had made indelible marks on so many of us, from the people-clients & students- they worked for to their coworkers & friends. As I left the funeral home, Ron Concilla gave me this rose, more than a bud, but not fully open. It was on my counter for a few days when I realized that the rose would never fully open-it was frozen in time forever young, just like the Bells. I painted it then but it took a long time to go back to the canvas & complete my requiem for them.

Shadows of  Two Lights-Remember the Bells oil 2009 24x12

Bursting Bud

Lifted from the Perry, NY website-with permission, of course, this is the rose bursting out of it's borders at the Perry Chalk Festival July 12.

Click on the link above to see more images from the festival.

Perry Chalk Festival

July 6 Buffalo News stated that the July 12th Perry Chalk Festival was a 'best bet' in entertainment for the day. The Central NY Times & Perry News both published lengthy articles that included my pictures & photo. Having been selected as 'master pastelist' at this festival kept me busy preparing a sketch, a plan and a presentation. In addition, I brought my tent and some prints & cards featuring my pastel art in particular.

Perry is a lovely small town, nestled in a particularly pretty area of rolling hills, near the center entrance to Letchworth State Park. They have a particularly nice bookstore in the center of town-good books, excellent magazines, assorted books, fresh coffee & pastries.

The fest featured 20 adult artists chalk painting on the street & about 10 teens on the sidewalks and was accompanied by the Saturday morning farmer's market, two live bands, some crafts & food tents. Everyone was very friendly & interested in the artworks.

The morning setup was bustling with volunteers & the sun was cooperative, too. It got ridiculously hot on the asphalt, so the shade of my tent was welcome to many. I painted a demo square using a rose closeup; not bound by any rules, petals & stem spilled out of the frame. This was a technique the kids always wanted to do at Lewiston Chalk Walk & couldn't because of their rules.

Returning home from an overnight in Perry, I had a jar of local honey, cherries, and a bag of vegetables to add to my art experience.

Travels as it Dries

This juicy rose is home again, and pleasing me at the end of the hall. It was delivered, still wet, to the NACC solo show February 1st. It dried very nicely there for two months, with plans of relocating above Martha's couch. Well, it went 'fine with the rug', but clashed with the pink pillows and afghan on the couch. The gold & black frame had too much drama, too, so the other newer painting will remain there. It spent a few days at the Albright Knox, too, but I fortunately have it back, ready to do the 'wall-dance' at 1575.

The varnish goes on late this summer.

Complementary Rose, oil, 24x24 2008

ay yai yi yi yi

A step by step of a new rose-pink, on the green background. Several people have asked why I choose to paint on top of colors. Why not? Working on a middle value color gives me control over lights & darks. Sometimes it is completely covered over with paint, but I know it is there-other times, I let the background colors show through. This painting has been evolving for more than two weeks. The colors in the room change daily as I experiment with various lights. With the window open in the summer, light attracts bugs through the screen- so I am trying to face the light away from the woods and all its flying night creatures. They are fine stuck in the paint-but I jump when I get hit in the face when I am concentrating and wind up with wet paintbrushes hurling themselves through the air to land wherever they cause the most damage.
I do my best work at night. I paint a whole canvas at the same time when I am outside, but this is a studio piece from my photo, it is filling itself up from the bottom. The real rose was originally in a bouquet from Charles.

Spinning my brains as I deal with deadlines and paint. 5 new pictures to post, but I would rather work in the art room.