Glorious painting day

'Autumn on the Ridge' is a 12x18" oil painted yesterday on Lower Mountain Road, at a Shaw Barn paint out. I started with a 5x7 plan which sparkled in the morning light, it was mostly overcast for the rest of the day when I worked on this, but the brilliant Fall colors stood out against the farm buildings. I thought about naming it after the profusion of purple asters along the fields in the painting and the ride through Sanborn.

Ocean Painting, Long Island, NY

c. kathy schifano

At the end of Ohio Street in Long Beach, Long Island, a well worn jetty of massive rocks tangles with waves and tides to maintain the beach, just one of a series of jetties on this barrier island.

This ocean spot brought me back to growing up nearby, when Jones Beach was my playground, piles of friends jammed into cars or onto the bus, sometimes hitching a boat ride across the bay to get to the ocean. White sand for miles, huge waves and the smell of coconut oil mixed with blasting radios defined my summers.

A hot and sunny week in Long Beach was an opportunity to study the waves and tides and record a series of paintings around this jetty. Morning and evening visits with both oils and pastels created a challenge, to catch the perfect wave, observe the splash of a breaking wave and the colors of sky and sea.

Tide on the Jetty, pastel 9x12 2012

Wilson Tuscarora State Park Secret Spot

c. Kath Schifano 2012

Wilson Tuscarora State Park has a main entrance, road to activities and parking lots, but it also has a 'secret' entrance about 1/2 mile east. I pulled my car onto the grass and walked through a meadow, up a hill and along a wooded path to find my fellow painters at work in an amazing secluded area. Sherrill Primo had hiked here and suggested it as a good plein air location, I think I could return there all year with so many views of water, hills, flowers, reeds and wildlife to choose from.

There were a number of trees downed by beavers as well as a few that had been started over the years. This was my first paint out in a beaver area so I was attracted to the pointed tree stumps like litter in the area. This painting shows three of my fellow Niagara Frontier plein air painters at work, Sandy Heath, Sherrill Primo and Carol Carreno in the distance. Sandy was safe from that dead tree trunk falling as it was firmly caught in the live tree. Several other painters were around, some in the woods and others along the stream.

It was a mix and match weather kind of day, sun and shade and a horrendous rainstorm that appeared just as we packed up. A bit of water is quite cooling after painting!

After the Beavers, 12x16 pastel 2012

A favorite spot at The Falls, 132 years apart

 I went to paint at Three Sisters because I had seen this painting by William Morris Hunt in the Ball State University Museum, in Indiana. I wanted to paint the same view but the first bridge was built right where Hunt stood and the view was blocked. No way would I stand in the water to make my painting match his. Although the water is but a trickle now it is illegal to enter any of the waterways in the state park, it is a sure way to guarantee drowning or jail. I did take photographs. You can see the painting that resulted in my March 2 post, a scene off the second bridge.

This is the Hermit falls, the center distant treeline in WIlliam Morris Hunt's powerful painting is now a parking lot on the end of Goat Island, a walking path and a tram follow the water. The major rocks can still be seen on the east side of the bridge. The third picture, my photo, shows the scene in February as I reached my camera around the edge of the bridge. The water diverted for  electric power would have scrubbed away the small plants and bushes with a much higher water level and pressure. Soon there will be trees in the water's crevices.

Changing light, changing water

Painted just one day apart, these paintings show the wetlands out back in the afternoon. The top is an ATC, the larger is only 4x6 and is going to the Brooklyn Art Library.
The photograph was taken a few days later in the morning. Living on the edge of nature, we don't need to wait for seasons to change, just a few hours alters the light and shadows and even the water level. My distant view is diminishing as buds expand and trees thicken, slowly closing in until it will be a wall of varied greens and leaves.
My collection of backyard paintings of these woods through the years are a living record of nature's changes and my skills, whether from the patio, lawn chairs or upstairs from my large studio windows.

Buffalo's Wheeler Grain Elevator Requiem

RIP Wheeler Grain Elevator 

The photo of this pastel painting was taken today. I don't shoot every painting but this one became 'famous' this week, after it was framed. In August the plein air 'Fairweather Paletteers' painted in the new downtown Buffalo area called Festival Park. It is a reclaimed area that has been landscaped with paths, benches and trellis enclosures right on the river.

From a comfy new bench in Festival Park I painted the GLF grain elevators and buildings across the river. The center forner Wheeler grain building was undergoing demolition inside while we painted, with lots of racket and activity indoors. This weekend it came down, with a crash, some of it falling into the water.

Now that this painting is posted we have one more structure that exists only on paper and in our memories. It's significance lies in the fact that it may have been the last elevator of its kind, a transitionary style between frame and concrete towers. Only one. In the world.

Our overworked preservationists are not fooling. The historical remnants of Buffalo's glory days will bring glory back. I have studied and taught enough architecture to truly appreciate the breadth of history here as the former gateway to the west and the thriving metropolis Buffalo was. Yup, they are old rusty buildings, but they have the historic beauty and value to bring tourism. Shame on us for losing so many significant buildings to strip malls and flimsy warehouses.

Festival Park's Elevators, pastel 12.5x9.5. August 4, 2011

Fall Painting

Lower Mountain Road Fields

A recent NFPAP paint out was on a lovely and mild Fall day with our organizer and chief, Joan Shaw, at her home.  If I lived there with her flower and vegetable gardens, neighboring barns and vineyards, out buildings and fields then I wouldn't ever run out of subjects to paint. In previous years I had tackled the crooked old tree, some barns and her studio which was formerly a barn. A group of us gathered underneath her comfy cowshed to paint. It kept the bright light off our work, but also we were out of the breeze and possible rain, yet close enough to keep up the artist chatter..'did you see that rabbit, look at the color of that shadow, there aren't many birds today, this yellow just isn't working for me.'

I sketch before painting and chose to make a small painted sketch before I used large canvas. My first little picture was horizontal and it was a bit overcast. I became interested in the distance, where a field appeared to continue between some clumps of trees. By the time I started the taller painting, the light had brightened, there was more light on the fall trees and I was in painter heaven.

Halfway Down The Ridge

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Lower Mountain Road Fields 7x5 oil 2011
Halfway Down the Ridge 5x7 oil 2011

Letchworth State Park Plein AIr

Kath Schifano

When I am asked how I am, my answer has been 'wonderful'. Sincerely wonderful.

There have been many opportunities to paint this Fall in a variety of locations and I have not wasted a moment. These three were painted at Letchworth State Park at our annual overnight paint marathon. I missed the first day and night because I was in Houston, but drove down in the morning and painted two from Wolf Creek overlook. This was a new location for me, previous trips had brought us to many overlooks and 'Kodak spots'; this is a tributary to the Genesee River. The water passes under the road in a wide stream (a lovely view that needs to be painted on my next visit) and then condenses to rush through rocks.

Later in the day I turned around to the east and captured afternoon mist and shadows in the gorge, trees leaning into the late afternoon light.

The third tall image shows everybody's favorite Letchworth falls from Inspiration point. This is a tiny painting, on stretched canvas, so I painted around all the edges to continue the picture, it will remain unframed. Now just imagine me standing in the parking lot, holding a wet oil painting -on 5 sides- and figure out how I got it home without ruining it! The famous railroad bridge that passes over the falls was omitted, imagine what western New York would have looked like before trains and towns cut into the landscape.

Kath Schifano

Kath Schifano

Wolf Creek Moment 16x20 oil, 2011
Wolf Creek Mist, 10x8 oil, 2011
Inspiration Point at Letchworth, 12x4,  2011

Houston Painting Op

Kath Schifano

A warm sunny Fall week in Houston, while it turns chilly and rains at home. Could I ask for more? The big-happy-knee-grabbing-hug I got from little Amelia made the hours flying in a metal tube across the country worth it, but meeting the Katie Prairie being restored in Northwest Houston was a close second.

Watching suburban sprawl gobble up farms and old buildings, traveling on 12 lane highways and seeing endless stores and malls jaded me about this area. There was little to paint that looked different from anywhere else, Target, Walmart and Appleby's all look the same everywhere.

At Lone Star College, the extensive landscaping is totally a prairie restoration in progress and I had a wonderful experience making my own paths as well as following the suggested walkways. Standing under a live oak for shade while I painted, the water here was slightly misty in the morning. It dried quickly as the sun rose and the colors brightened.

I plan to go back here in different seasons and time of day to continue to enjoy an oasis of nature and paint the prairie as it expands and grows, hopefully inspiring similar natural restorations.

Katie Prairie Mirror 14x11, oil 2011

Artist update!

This Fall has been spectacular for me, returning from a week in Houston I woke the next morning, repacked and drove straight to Letchworth to join NFPAP painters for an overnight paint out. The colors gently changed as I painted. It wasn't too cold and the sun was brilliant so I completed three plein air paintings surrounded by nature. Where there were green trees with golden flashes on my entry, overnight the reds and oranges appeared on the mountainsides. The frost overnight made a big difference. My favorite finished painting Of the three is just 4" by 8" & 1" thick, a dimensional canvas with two waterfalls in the distance, minus the railroad bridge.

There is something about placing manmade structures in great expanses of nature. It is always a dilemma to include or exclude items in paintings, so often I choose to omit built structures. I will post them all as soon as the conditions are right to shoot the dry oil paintings. That means morning light, not too sunny, no wind and I am not otherwise busy. Fat chance of that happening soon! Life is good, but hectic.

BNAA Fall art show at Artsphere

The Erie County Fair is supposedly the largest fair in America. Two years ago, the fair's plein air contest did not conflict with the Lewiston Art Festival weekend and so I competed.

I had four hours to create and return a finished, matted painting and spent a good part of that time looking for a location and racing back to the car for supplies. While I sat on a bench painting, a hawker behind me was screaming 'Guess your weight, your age, your birthday!' for the entire day. After a while it was pretty hilarious because he was making a ton of money guessing birth months within two months, (meaning 5 months of the year were covered), with similar conditions for weights and ages. The cable company's Roadrunner is a giant blow up next to their trailer , with classic fair food behind it, and riders screaming in the distance.

The picture is hanging at Artsphere Gallery and Studio, 447 Amherst Street Buffalo, this month along with the Youngstown pastel I made this summer. This is the Buffalo Niagara Art Association Fall show of small works; this one is framed at the maximum size, it is 16x20 with a maximum impact!

 It won a 2nd prize, but mostly my process cemented the sensations of the fair in my brain. Permanently.

Guess Your Age, Your Weight, Your Birthday, pastel 12x18 2009

Lewiston with Sherrill Primo

Summer. Painting season, a chance to plan multiple dates with artist friends to paint outdoors and capture that day's joy, to listen to birds and boats, kids and campfires. Plein air is such a pleasure, to actually experience one single place for the better part of a day, record feelings with vivid colors and have a beautiful product to preserve that memory. June seemed mostly wet and chilly, I missed several great locations due to weather, distance and other appointments, but it ended with my week in the mountains and a magic experience with painters from all over, people who are now my friends with shared experiences.

On the last day of June I joined Sherrill Primo for a stolen day, a last minute decision to leave other responsibilities and get out with my easel. Meeting in Lewiston, it was natural to head for the water. I just wanted to sit and swivel my head 360' to drink in the view, indecisive about choosing my composition. There was so much to select from, piles of colorful stones, blossoms bursting, seagulls, boats, underwater rocks, miles of Canadian shore were all in my view.

After a period of sketching ideas, I selected a small canvas and laid in the shapes of the Silo above me and the craggy hill of wildflowers. I was most interested in the horizon with seagulls soaring and distant clouds rolling along, perhaps from Lake Erie, yet underneath the Silo Restaurant on North Water Street.

As that was completed more people arrived on the waterfront, calling to friends, fishing and eating lunch. Mostly they remained for a short time and then moved away. One young man, perhaps 10 or 12 patiently fished the entire time, someone who was enjoying the beauty of calm winds, clear skies and soaring seagulls at the same moments as Sherrill and I. Painting the second image calls attention to the peace and pleasures of solitude in nature the three of us experienced.

It was a long day with a lot of painting, a perfect start to a great summer. I have completed several new falls and water scenes that may eventually be posted here as well as parks and city life. Now that the first of Fall has arrived, I am watching the tinges of color and have my sights set on another Buckhorn meadow picture as well as many other forest and field scenes of crimson and gold.

Above the Clouds, 5x7 oil 2011
Lewiston Dock, 5x7 oil 2011

July Saturday with Monica

A great party in Wellsville for Mike White's 50th involved a bit of cooking and packing for a crowd-olive & feta salad, a crockpot of beans and a big layer cake.

Arriving from our two hour drive we sat right down to eat, the roast pig had been cooked and carved and all sorts of wonderful creations sat outside in trays of ice on a blistering hot day. The salad and beans were ready for those just starting to eat and more who came up for seconds.

Walking around the house, I found a big patch of cool shade overlooking the pond that reflected the sky and encroaching woodland. Since this was a balloon fest weekend we hoped to see a few, and I was hoping one would fly over the pond, putting my speed painting skill to the challenge. A set of pastels and  supplies was in my car and my after lunch rest involved recording this idyllic scene. Obviously no balloon went over or it would have been painted. There was one sighting to the north near sunset, and several ready for morning flights on the parade grounds as we drove home late that evening. All together, a perfect day.

This painting was hurriedly added to my 2012 calendar as a summer scene.

Pig Roast Siesta, 9.5x12.5 pastel c.2011

Youngstown & Used Sailboats

I missed the first scheduled date, but a second Youngstown marina paintout brought out many artists, they spread out on the docks to capture sky and waves, sailboats in the Niagara River and on land as well as the Youngstown Yacht club area buildings. Already in love with this area for inspiring compositions, I searched for a spot with shade and parked myself in the lee of a giant sailboat on a drydock rack. I had a giant tractor wheel next to me to serve as a table for piles of colorful pastel sticks. 

After a moment of studying the sailboats moored in front of me, I turned and caught sight of a small but lovely wood work building with a wide open door, colorful cans for gasoline and oil stacked inside the door. That would be my picture, so I turned my easel and supplies away from the water. As the day passed, sunlight started to sparkle on the red metal roof, followed by windy enough weather change to convince me it was time to stop.

This one is now on the 2012 calendar, going to the printer tomorrow.

Sailboats for Sale, pastel  9.5x12.5 c.2011

Last Part, Adirondack Publisher's Invitational

I drove for nearly 7 hours in the sun to register for my week in the Adirondacks; I checked in, moved in, and met many painters before, during and after dinner. I had come ready to paint ~ Paul Smith area is gorgeous and I was promised spectacular sunsets like the Hudson River painters had recorded.

Well, I really had come to paint, so I prepared my first oils and a small canvas on a rickety table on a 2nd floor deck. It was becoming more cloudy and overcast, but I took my chances because I was so ready to push the paint around---of course the skies would turn brilliant orange & gold, reflecting on the lake below. I chose a composition, laid in my shapes and underlying colors, waited for the spectacle of glorious color to arch into the clouds so I could fling paint at the waiting canvas at the absolute best moment of colors blasting a blinding sunset at me.

Nope, never happened. In fact the pink that did appear in the sky was so dim and fleeting that several people asked me if I made it up. Nope. But I did exaggerate the minor spectacle I witnessed, and if you have been following this, then there is no surprise that I was denied rich sunsets for the entire week.

This sweet little oil was set aside to dry, then left on the bottom of my collection. Only recently did I reexamine it, finding the simplicity, as well as my memories, strong enough to consider it for my 2012 calendar.

Listen for the Loon, oil 8x10, 2011

Life Changing Adirondack Event?

Painting for a week in the Adirondacks exposed me to a few art concepts.

1) I can climb up or down slippery slopes with an easel, 6' umbrella and wearing a yellow Fantasy Island rain slicker.

2) It's okay to paint in the rain. Not perfect, but okay.

3) I'd rather paint without the rain.

The Publisher's Invitational Paint Out 2.0 in The Adirondacks was a unique professional opportunity to paint alongside over 80 nationally known outdoor artists, to share rocks, experiences and turpentine. There were no lectures, classes or schedules, just a quick breakfast, packed lunches and all day on the road chasing waterfalls, rapids, flumes and mountains with paint and pastel. Sponsored by Plein Air Magazine, this was open to invited artists.

The original Hudson River School of painters packed their supplies and trekked these sights and made a name for themselves capturing 200-300 painted vistas and scenes that you see in museums and books. Now renamed the Adirondack Mountain Painters (founders) our group painted 700-800 scenes in one hectic adventure, carpooling and caravaning, parking alongside creeks and farms to capture new scenes with oils, acrylics, WC, pastel and camera.

Listen to the Loon at VIC, oil on board, 12x18, 2011

High Falls, pastel 15x12.5 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

A Winter jewel

No. I have not been painting outdoors. This bit of winter is from last year, a sunny day with a lot of snow, enough to sink in it down to my knees in snow-I almost had to paint UP to my easel because it was braced on a fence. Getting chills just by remembering. Looking forward to painting some more purple shadows on the snow, which means we need to lose the clouds soon.

It was painted at the old canoe launch in Buckhorn State Park where I often paint in Fall, when leaves and shrubs hide the trees in the distance.

Creek Shadows, oil 8x10 2010

Letchworth State Park Weekend

After a minor whine/ rant last post, I have to admit to a two night get-away camp adventure in Letchworth State Park with Sherrill Primo, Joan L. Shaw and other NFPAP painters in October. Yes, I got cold 'camping' with a cottage, and it also rained. No matter, it was wonderful. I've returned to this Letchworth site & now have three pictures, one an older photo of my kids & Carl in front of this train trestle, another a little painting of the same scene with watercolors from a paint trip with Sherrill 2 years ago. This time, I was ready and the train trestle was finished-when the incredibly long train motored by, slow enough to capture the light glinting on the roof and slow enough for me to paint it from life! Actually, I can paint VERY fast.

The photo of me was taken by a tourist to the park, who happens to be from Buffalo, watched me paint for a while, took my photo & my card & sent the photo to me. Thank you John Gross! I'm wearing all the clothes I brought, I think there were seven layers, two pairs each of gloves & socks, but my smile is genuine. We went to paint the majestic Glen Iris Inn, but I happened to turn around & liked the shadows & light at edge of the meadow near the gorge. I stood under a tree that partially protected me from the constant mist and wind that started to get quite ferocious by the end of our adventure.

Are You Allowed Up There?, 24x12 oil 2010

By Glen Iris Inn, 8x10 oil 2010

TIfft Nature Center & Sanity

Those of you who know me understand the turmoil around me over the past few months. I have maintained my sanity by grabbing all rare occasions to paint, certainly not as often as I would like, & I haven't posted many new works that I have completed. My 'business of art' is set aside for now, but the studio is clean and serves as a sanctuary for music, sketching and thought.

Well, our first snow arrived & I finally spent the morning converting images for publication & hope to post several times in the coming weeks. Enjoy!

These two were painted at Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo which is an idyllic park run by the Buffalo Museum of Science. It was reclaimed from abandoned railroad yards and factory dumps in the early years, when Buffalo was a huge port and transportation center.

Each year that I paint there I see nature overcoming the spoils of industry. As I painted the creek, a pair of deer frolicked in the distance, giant water birds came & went and the painting earned its title.

The little marshland portrait has a huge set of grain elevators in the distance; abandoned, trees and grasses have sprouted on the paths and fields, the buildings appear to recede as the trees gain height.

4 Turtles on a Log, oil 11x14 2010

Reclaimation, 5x7 oil 2010