Perhaps my favorite

The beautiful groomed grounds of the Tuscany estate include classical statuary and pottery, artfully placed. There are are scented gardens, acres of organic vegetables, flower gardens and just beautiful private areas to sit and enjoy nature.

I passed this fellow daily and he needed to be celebrated with paint. The lush and plentiful blue green bushes on the path are lavender, they line every walk, discouraging bugs and keeping the organic grounds gloriously scented. 

Sometimes the paths are also lined with Rosemary which also discourages unwanted flying critters. 

 

What are You Looking At? 12x16 oil on linen c. 2024

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

Back on the streets! Youngstown

What's the big deal? After two months of recuperation from a knee replacement I'm finally driving myself to a painting event and seeing friends I've missed this Spring. 

This is tiny Youngstown and the famous Jug, home of great music for decades. 

Brown Jug or Ontario House? 9x12oil 

A New Peace Bridge view

Painted today, noticed by many, gone tomorrow. It was an early cool Spring day when a few of us decided to paint near the Aquarium. I had a different location in mind, but I had never considered the Rainbow Bridge from this location. Already parked, I realized I wouldn't have to go far. There are a lot of memories in the painting, crossing into Canada, the Falls, stairs to the gorge and many Niagara Falls natives commented on it. Needless to say, this one was shipped out as soon as it was dry enough to travel. Expats love Niagara!

Snowy Masterviews

It was a gray winter and I had few opportunities to paint outdoors. This year's weather inspired me to do only 3 paintings in snow. My requirements are few...no wind, at least 30 degrees and blazing sun. The sun was missing most days so in Studio 120 I resorted to a photo I had taken several years ago. 

Who hasn't stood on the viewer steps to get a better look? I like that these viewers seem to have a face, the newer models are more robotic looking with giant eyes. This one is looking to the sun and hoping for Spring, the snow fence behind it and the metal head have snow for now.

I like the whimsy of this one!

Masterview oil

Pastel! Umbrellas! Plein Air!

 Although there were no customers when I began, a lunchtime crowd eventually filled the tables at Mississippi Mudd's riverside restaurant. The speakers blasted golden oldies and kids and pets walked by with their caretakers to the river's edge. Three tables of card players nearby muttered 'pass' or made comments to their partners after a play. Their $11 split club money would go to the winning pair and there was a lot of laughter. What a great place to be on a summer morning.

These must be new umbrellas, they are so inspiring, bright, and unfaded. Sitting in the shade of a huge maple the view of the outdoor dining area was a perfect place to be the painter. Pastels were perfect to catch these vibrant colors.

Morning Umbrella Dance, 9x12 pastel c. K. Schifano, 2023 

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

Summer and Pastels in Buffalo

The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens is a prime painting spot all year long.

The first problem is choosing a site, followed by some housekeeping. Will I be in the way of visitors? What is the best view of an artist on site? We have to choose how the scene is viewed, is it on the side of the canvas or over the top? Considerations include keeping the sunlight off both the canvas and colors on the palette. In this instance I was under a dense tree, keeping cool on a hot Buffalo day. With the easel set in a lowered position, some of the foreground was blocked for me. It had rained and the greens were brilliant and flowers were blooming freshly.

South Side Garden at Botanical Gardens

Every corner and garden is fresh whenever I go back to visit or paint. These flowers are as large as dinner plates and the whole plant is taller than I am.

 

Always Carry a Sketchbook

It looks precarious, but the hill isn't as steep as it seems, and it is raining lightly. Between my sun umbrella and the willow tree above I stayed fairly dry. This is on Lake Ontario, a lovely day spent with Laurene.

 This is my final Urban Sketch, but out in Niagara County, about 6x8" in my trusty sketchbook. It is a watercolored ink drawing. Some of these campers will live here until the weather turns and they leave to southern homes for the winter.

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

River Art Gallery Plein Air show

The bottom picture, '186 Linwood' and flowers on right are mine

River Art Gallery, the pink building in North Tonawanda by the theater, is a lovely art space. Three paintings in the current show, 'Plein Air Landscape, Discovering Nature' are my plein air works.

6 Aches, 7 Columns, 8 Clay planters

A good start, day 1

One of my larger paintings in Italy is also the most ambitious. I drew it several times from the lawn before finally choosing to use oil paints on portrait linen taped onto a birch panel. The perspective must be exactly right as well as the arches, interior windows and columns. It was planned to be painted in the morning but the shade disappeared as the sun rose higher so I returned after three o'clock and shade had returned. Three afternoons later, I felt I had it finished. 

I was privileged to have an elegant daily breakfast here which inspired this painting of the lovely Tuscan restaurant, MeoModo.. I was able to observe early preparation of service for late dinners that were served at 8:00. Chargers were polished, tablecloths ironed on the table, silver laid precisely and fresh flowers placed. At the same time, waiters scurried to deliver room service and drinks to guests on huge trays, covered with elaborate basket lids. As the afternoon faded, chandeliers and dozens of white candles were lit, wall sconces burned and Meo Modo turned into a glittering dreamland.

Have Breakfast Here, Meo Modo, 18x24” oil on linen

Plein Air in Tuscany.

Step by step, I completed this oil painting sitting in the shade of olive trees while guests arrived and departed through this main entrance to Borgo Santo Pietro. Sitting in the shade at a tea table in the atrium garden and painting is high on my list of favorite places in Italy.

Welcome to Borgo

The final painting captures the warm welcome you will receive upon arrival, the comfort you can expect and the light of the Mediterranean sun. 

Welcome to Borgo, oil on linen 24x16 c. 2019

Where Tonawanda and North Tonawanda meet-The Erie Canal

Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters met at Gateway Park on a fairly chilly and slightly windy day. Most of the painters worked small and in sketchbooks just in case the rain started up again. The walking bridge was in plain sight when I chose a rock to sit upon. The crisscross railings on both sides, the angles of the Erie Canal meeting Tonawanda Creek and the assorted stonework were an appropriate challenge. Keeping the Urban Sketchers materials in my car, I chose pen and ink instead of pastel today.

A familiar Tonawanda-North Tonawanda walking bridge

A bit of color was added to the ink drawing afterwards.

This is an Urban Sketch from last week on Main Street in Buffalo. The massive TriMain building was behind me with its familiar water tower. I'll draw that building another day. It was a pleasure to use the hidden People's Park on a sunny Saturday. this ornate church on the corner of Jewett Parkway is now a charter school.

Same old angle, new view

Rainbow Mist, looking towards Canada

I can walk along the Niagara River and see views of the mist rising from the bottom of the gorge for close to a mile. It never fails to amaze me and I have painted it from slightly different angles in different sizes and media.
This particular painting is unusual as I included the skyline of Niagara Falls Ontario. Usually, manmade structures are omitted or barely visible.

Rainbow Mist, 9x12, oil on birch panel c. 2018