Tuscarora State Park

Every paint-out is a mini vacation. A few weeks ago my mini vacation was in Northern Niagara County outside Wilson, NY, so I was home by 4pm.

The Tuscarora State Park on Lake Ontario has a lovely beach area on the west side bordered by a small outlet. Standing in sand, protected in the shade of a massive cottonwood, I could see across the tiny bay to thirsty trees reaching down to the water.

The shallow water here can float small sailboats and inboards, but there were none at this plein air paintout-just Canada Geese families.

Tuscarora Caribe 9x12 oil 2010

Sunny Day's Bonus Painting

On May 13 I posted a painting "Spring Rapids from the Second Bridge" of an upriver view from idyllic Three Sisters Islands at Niagara Falls State Park. I spent a long time on it & was going home happy with the results. Just past the islands, on the way to the parking lot, dappled sunlight lit up the path and brilliant patches of wildflowers in the lawn. It was stunning, and a quiet respite from the thundering water I had just painted.

I sat on the stone wall & reopened my french easel to experience the afternoon light on the path-I had an abundance of premixed Spring greens on my palette that I could use for this picture, as well as several well used brushes that were put back to work. I came home much later than planned, but sitting in the calm shade while I painted was a big contrast to standing on the breezy bridge and seemed like a completely new day.

Goat Island Path, 10x12 oil 2010

WIlliamsville Waterfall

I'm not a fan of the color blue in my home. However, blue paint is another story altogether. Since September 2009 I have been painting skies--actually the same sky view as the weather & seasons change. That's a lot of blue, and a lot of gray as well.

Now that I paint plein air outdoors more, I have been returning to close ups- an inspection of single elements or parts of a whole. The sky paintings fit that category as well. This is a April view of the waterfall behind the red mill in Williamsville. The vertical composition was painted in the morning, while I had afternoon light for the horizontal oil. Same water, but the sun had moved.

It was pure pleasure to paint again with Sharon Fundalinski & Peggy Walker; each of our paintings captured the day, but each view was completely different. Painting with varied blues is a whole different category from living with blue in my home!

Red Mill Falls Vertical, oil 7x5 2010

RedMill Falls Horizontal, oil 8x10 2010

Spring Greens from a Three Sisters Bridge

On May 5 I published my new portrait, with an in-progress painting on my easel. Here is that finished painting which accurately portrays my experience that day---EXCEPT---there is no roar of water hammering rocks & racing downhill. It doesn't even LOOK like much noise here, but behind me, the water continues to cascade towards the big falls, and to my right all the water that is destined to go over the great Horseshoe is pounding boulders beyond the next little island.

So, dear viewer, when you see this painting please add your own sound track, as when I see it I definitely hear the tumultuous thunder of our water, all 50,000 cubic feet a second racing to the precipice.

Spring Rapids from the Second Bridge 10x20 oil, 2010

Niagara Falls Boys & Girls Club Cookbook

I have been working since last summer on illustrations for a hardcover cookbook to be published late this year by the Niagara Falls Boys & Girls Club. Volunteers have been testing recipes & preparing the chapters for a long time already.

Each page has a 'sidebar' that may contain information about this area, the restaurant a recipe is from, or some cooking information. This painting will appear there - gray-scaled & as a screen so that the type will show clearly.

My challenge was to find an image that would work in a format that is 3 times as tall as it is wide! They are considering using two different sidebars, so the next will be 'more mist, less land'. This scene took a few tries, but I am thrilled with the result. It is from Prospect Point looking across the Niagara River to the Horseshoe Falls.

Masterviews, oil on stretched canvas, 24x8 2010

Can't keep the small ones, so I'll work large

This is another large painting that lived on & off my easel for months. I have drawn this scene & painted this curve every year plein air & decided to try it in plain brain. I used some photo references, but mostly worked with the familiarity of having spent so many hours balanced on the edge of the park walkway studying the water.

I enjoy painting large, contemplating the composition & working on it over a period of time. On the other hand, I also like finishing a painting!

Thinking on Curves (Sound of Water 2) 24x48 oil 2009-2010

Hyde Park Golf Course Niagara Falls

Last year I was given a cart ride-with my plein air easel-out onto the golf course in Hyde Park, Niagara Falls. There were no golfers as it was late in the season & chilly, but the maintenance men-who gave me the ride-checked up on my progress several times.

This is a par three, the tee is off to the right past the little bridge. The painting stood drying in the studio for a long time, unsigned, & unfinished, because I had not chosen where to put the flag & hole on the green. The trees painted by the green were too wet & thick to draw the flagpole straight outdoors. By the time I decided on the left front, I had forgotten whether it was on the black or the red course. If I had played this course one time then I would have known the answer. Of course, painting on the golf course is more fun than chasing a ball. Well, I do know a bit about golf, the players, rules, but I do like to paint best!

Outdoor paintings in Fall

Fall started out cold & rainy, but most of the leaves stayed up to change color slow enough to paint them. These two paintings were blessed moments in the 'church of nature' on completely different days. Laurene Buckley's backyard on Lake Ontario was cold & threatening, but a warm lunch by the fire was promised. It's so nice to paint with friends, I stood on a huge flat rock-with my french easel-nestled against the cliff as critters climbed around the crevices. The biggest chipmunk I ever saw.....fat orange tail......Marian Granfield painted up above & missed all the nutty action.

The second painting is in Buckhorn. I keep trying to capture my favorite tree, but it is sinking into the marsh & didn't have the majesty it deserves on this day, so I looked East to the woods. Love my own juicy brushwork here!

Fall paintings give me the opportunity to use colors we don't see much during the rest of the year. What a wonderful November! Two solid weeks of sunshine.

West from Old Lake Road, 10x14 oil, 2009

Buckhorn Meadow Creek in Fall, oil 11x14, 2009

Buffalo's Old First Ward & Grain Elevators

Last May, Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters came to this site-grain elevators in south Buffalo, the Old First Ward. It was windy, cold, & unworldly for a May day. We returned to paint again in September-what a difference! Warm, no wind, relaxed. There is very little growing to change the view here, so the compositions were similar but with the sun a bit lower in the sky. Layers of unused industrial buildings create strong geometrics, while the sun quickly changes the shapes of shadows.

 It's called 'elevator alley', & the Buffalo tugboats are moored to the left of this scene. I have painted them with pastel as well. To the right is the river leading to the Ohio Street bridge and another massive collection of grain elevators-a subject for another day. Sharon Fundalinski & Peggy Walker have painted this scene many times with & without me & scheduled this paintout for us.

Shadows of Elevator Alley 9.5x12.5 pastel 2009

Buckhorn State Park

This 'bit of Buckhorn' was also judged into the Erie County Family Justice Center auction. I accidently arrived at Riverwood on a lovely Fall Monday afternoon last year.....during their weekly church service. Visiting Mary was out of the question then, so I hi-tailed it up the street for my own Church of the Woods meditation. The light was glorious, the yellows and oranges flickered, & leaves silently fluttered around me. Having art supplies in the car at all times has emotional & spiritual benefits. Went back to have our visit, refreshed & renewed, with a fresh wet painting in the car.

Buckhorn State Park is a never ending source for my painting.

As Good As Church, oil 14x11 2008

Domestic Violence Awareness Month-October

This moody little oil depicts Navy Island in the Niagara River with the Robert Moses Parkway shoreline of Niagara Falls in the distance. It was rainy, foggy & chilly on the northwest corner of Grand Island, a pocket park call 'Eagle Overlook'. I painted it plein air from inside my car with the window open, the dampness crept into my bones as gulls & seabirds flew into the water & floated by. It was even grayer as I began, but the fog lifted so I could see fuzzy outlines in the distance. Despite the gloomy description it was a peaceful & lovely experience.

The Family Justice Center of Erie County and Artspace Buffalo invited artists to participate in an art auction for the benefit of the Family Justice Center of Erie County. The auction will be held during "A New stART" on October 22nd, 2009 and as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This painting, & two others I entered were juried into the Family Justice Center's annual auction. See all the auction images at their website for A New StArt. Click here to view the artwork! You can also get tickets to the event, it was a lovely affair last year, great restaurant treats & wines from around the area - the art was beautifully displayed & lit for the auction. It's at Asbury Hall, formerly The Church, on Delaware Ave. & is a wonderful reuse of an elegant building, with great acoustics.

Gulls & Niagara Fog, oil, 11x14 2007

Plein Air in Buffalo

I've been painting more than I have been posting here-this pastel shows the view between two older homes on Pearl Street in Buffalo, the path leads to a 'Buffalo in Bloom' garden. It was completed last month during a flurry of pastel paintings. I had decided that it would be easier to paint pastels & pile them up in my studio than to find more room for wet oil paintings that need to sit out to dry for 3 months. Of course the pile of pastels never got themselves into my camera in a timely manner. 'Out of sight, out of mind'. Pastels are beginning to get the respect they deserve, there is no difference in quality of one media over the other. As an oil painter & pastelist, I love slipping back & forth between media, learning & improving as I go.

A Pearl on Pearl, pastel 16x12 2009

Lewiston's Frontier House

I do like to have a photo of each my artwork owners, & have a lovely collection of photographs of 'satisfied art collectors' with their new paintings.

Jill mentioned Bradley took her picture looking at her new painting on her wall-she sent it to me-so, of course, I had to use it! This is the MOST UNIQUE one in my collection.

And it does look nice, too.

Lewiston's Frontier House, 1824, oil 16x20 2008 photo by California photographer Bradley Smith

Comparing Paintings

Once upon a time, I said I didn't like to paint bridges. Since then , I learned to love them, especially these little bridges we find to cross creeks and streams.  These pictures show two of my 2009 paintings, the framed one was done in Florida, the other is at Allegany State Park, & they were painted 5 months apart on location. I was surprised to see the similarities, but also was amazed to remember the differences-the fire ants vs. the flies, the scorching sun vs. the rain that ended the painting session.

Both paintings were wonderful experiences, the process of plein air can not be matched in a studio. There is no substitute for real life.

The Red Bridge oil, 11x14 2009

Redhouse Bridge to the Playground pastel, 9x12 2009

Pure serendipity day

Everyone in our neighborhood decided to yard sale the same weekend, so I carted out the odds & ends I had been saving on purpose. After the initial flurry of checking arrangements & price tags on the driveway on Saturday, I set up an easel & painted part of the porch from under my sun umbrella. I was totally into the picture, but people kept handing me money instead of walking off with the goodies. After two days, I packed my car with leftovers & donated them to the Hiawatha Manor in Niagara Falls, NY. When I returned, I collected some more useful things & put them away for the next yard sale event.

 This was the ultimate multi-tasking experience, because I was able to clean under the basement stairs & some of the garage, chat with neighbors, paint my pansies & clematis before the blooms were done & also spend a lovely Saturday out front.

NoEarlybirds, pastel 11.5 x 15.5  2009

The pleasures of weather

It seems like it has been a while since I posted, but I have finished 30 paintings this year-& four of them in just two intense days this month, by camping at Allegeny State Park with several NFPAP friends. This painting was completed on a scheduled paintout in late April. The view is in Sanborn looking out towards Lake Ontario. A lovely day, Spring greens were in the fields, buds were opening & birds were searching for nesting spaces. 

Preparing for painting, & recovering afterwards, takes more time than even I imagine, so it has been a while since I photographed my new work. Of course, the weather has been rainy or windy whenever I find the time-& when it was nice out, I painted! The best photographs of my artwork happens on the perfectly still days outdoors, with filtered light. I do miss the control of the studio I had before, umbrellas, strobes & a synch button, but I don't miss anything else about it.

On the Ridge at Lower Mountain Road, 10x20, oil, 2009

2010 calendar planning

UPS safely delivered a double-boxed cardboard order Saturday-the new empty calendar cases for 2010. Planning next year's calendar, I had finally decided to create a 12 month 'Niagara Falls' series, which is a bit harder than I thought, since I had already selected at least 4 Falls paintings-the best ones-for each of my previous four calendars. Keeping with my plan to feature only new work, I am boggled by a variety of selection  conditions. 

1), horizontal images work best with the calendar. 

2), who wants 12 pages of blue water? 

3), not every painting qualifies; I'd be the first to say that not every composition is up to a 30 day analysis by my public. 

4), all the images need to be finished & selected for layout by the end of this month!  

5), I was a cold weather chicken this winter & did not venture out much to paint the ice & snow mounds en plein aire at Niagara.

This painting will be one of the spring images, it was made on one of those sunny early Spring days when people come flocking to the walking paths to wish away winter. Still cold along the water, the buds had started on some bushes.

Dance on the Rapids oil, 11x14 2009

Mini painting

At the end of a vacation trailer park in Sanford, FL there is an area to be developed which has a paved road, picnic benches & a bridge which I was painting. 'The Red Bridge' took two days to complete & on the second morning I arrived too early for the correct lighting, so I turned to the south & captured the sun coming over the trees in the breeze. This is really tiny-almost as small as an index card. The canvas has a rough texture which emphasized each stroke & made it hard to photograph until it was drier & no longer shiny.

Turnaround oil 4x6 2009

Think Green at Art Dialogue Gallery

Imagine this in an 8 ply mat with wide margins, mounted in a carved old gold color wood frame. It's at Art Dialogue Gallery this month, for the "Think Green" theme exhibit. On view from January 7  there will be a closing reception on January 30th 4-6 pm. Although so many of my paintings deal with green-nature, landscapes, plants, I chose this for the Buffalo show because of its rural location, and the natural life that can be found at the Wellsville, NY  home of Monica & Mike White. Eliminating the plastic & artificiality of suburban society, it is the ultimate in green-entertainment is in nature, & a green lifestyle is entirely possible. 'Home Grown' was added to the title as it hung on my studio wall.

'Home Grown, Wellsville Window', 14x14 pastel, 2007

Family Justice Center, Buffalo NY

One's pastel, the other is oil, both were painted on location with the Fairweather Paletteers at Thursday paint outs. They were donated to the first juried art show & auction to benefit the Family Justice Center of Erie County. The benefit was held at Asbury Hall [Ani DeFranco's The Church] last Tuesday & I am pleased to say that my two paintings were among the sold ones at the end of the night. It was a lovely affair, wine & food, live music & a lot of excellent artwork on display. Burchfield's Future Trees, although purchased, will remain at the FJC offices until May 2009.

Burchfield's Future Trees,  pastel 8x10 2006

[Buffalo] Botanic Garden Orchids, oil 20x16 2007