The Falls at Water Level

I discovered a new access to the water level of the lower Niagara. Close by parking and no climbing necessary, I expect to paint here often. Perhaps in early Spring we will have a larger glimpse of the Horseshoe Falls, the trees and leaves will not be as dense on the cliffs but I will have to bundle up. The lower river stays full of ice and very cold water for quite a while.

This is at the winter dock storage for the Maid of the Mist ships. The seasonal docks are just beyond the trees. The water here is the Horseshoe Falls.

At Water Level, 11x14 oil on birch panel

My beach paintings go on exhibit, 9/1-9/20, 2015

I currently have a display of 15 plein air beach paintings in Long Beach, 250 East Park Avenue. Galleries for practicing artists are rare on Long Island as people can purchase art in nearby NYC (or else WalMart). Last year, the curator for The Coffee Nut saw my work, so I am pleased to have my paintings selected for the busy end of the summer season crowd.

These photos show some of the paintings that are on display September 1-21. This is where they belong, in the salt air where they were born. All are Plein Air and all have lightweight frames as I will be bringing them home as carry on luggage when the exhibition is over. 

Buffalo Garden Walk

The annual July garden walk in Buffalo is a chance to see spectacular picnic spaces, patios, ponds and dramatic flowers and trees. The largest walk in the country and one of the first, thousands of people converge on the West side to gawk and gape and wonder if they had extra hours to cultivate their plants could they have stunning gardens too? 

It's also quite social, we are guaranteed to see old friends along the way. In 2009 I had painted on Summer Street with my friends and the homeowner purchased the painting of her house from me. Happy with the results she had me return to paint the back yard as well. 

Six years later I was on her street and noticed how things had grown since my original paint date. Kitty was on her porch, surrounded by lush flowers and invited me in to see the paintings. Like I said, events like these bring old friends together...what a treat to visit the paintings in their own home. 

Kitty in her beautiful Summer Street dining room

But the sign is in the way

 

Sitting in a marina Painters find boats, rigging, docks, gardens, buoys and bridges, ropes and restaurants to draw and paint. 

This time I never left the parking lot. This sign mired in an old tire had collected weeds and stood guard over the mini bump in the road for a long time. It wasn't quite as intrusive as the painting but that was my choice. I wanted it to seem like a golf cart path or narrow road and the sign seems to prevent passing by any large vehicle. While being painted huge cumulus clouds sailed over head and the boats stayed in their assigned dock spots. 

It's always a good day when a painting scene appears when there is both time and materials at hand. 

Speed Bump. 5x7 oil on board

Japanese cherry blossom festival

The second annual Cherry Blossom Fest at the History Museum in Buffalo was perfectly timed with the best show of seasonal pink flowers. While I worked on my final larger picture, 'Cherry Blossoms on Saturday', the flowers cascaded like rain, carpeting everything in pink. WHen I returned home my tweezers picked a branchful of leaves and petals out of the wet painting. The NFPAP artists also worked here on both Saturdays of the festival. Everyone plans to return next year. 

      Pink carpet. 5x7 palette knife oil

Cherry Blossoms on Saturday 12x16 oil

Framing History 7x5 oil

#28 and 29 of 30 paintings in 30 days

'Seagulls, Swifts and Spring' started as a study of the posts and water reflections while I waited for the light and shadows to change on the bridge. 'Niagara Painters' were meeting at the new little park at the base of the North Grand Island bridges and I had assumed that the bridge would be in my painting. The water was quite smooth in the morning and the soft and muted colors of a spring morning were hard to resist. This is the bigger one, I also painted a mini, only 2x2 of the same place.

My sweet tooth was calling, I wanted a decadent cupcake from the trendy new cupcake store on Whitehaven Road. I didn't get there, but Tops had a 4 pack so I could go home and eat one, Carl had one, then we split a third one. I grabbed the last, perched it on a pretty plate and as I headed to the studio I bumped it and 'Oops, there is the title' came to mind.

'Seagulls, Swifts and Spring' 9.5x12.5 oil on paper, c. 2015

'Oops on Bone China', 5x7 on wood panel, c.2015

30 in 30 days, # 27 Red Boat at the Cherry Blossom Fest

I was originally inspired to paint two lovely boats, one pink and the other red, but they would not stay still. Free rides on Mirror Lake kept them busy all morning until one of the guides took a break, leaving this red boat modeling for me.  This was during Saturday's Cherry Blossom Festival in Buffalo, NY.

There seems to be tree tilt here and there really is, I'm not sure if it is wind blown or the trees are aiming for the water. This garden was established in 1970 and they are actively promoting it, planting new trees, gardens and upgrading the walks. It already was lovely!

Red Boat and Cherry Blossoms. 9.5x12.5 oil on Carton, c.2015

30 in 30 days, #24 Niagara River Boat Slips

This is a pre plan for a larger painting. I had wanted to paint a scene similar to this for a while, I decided to make the next one in a rectangle format and laid in the background and basic shapes. I stopped for lunch and when I returned the wind had picked up, my palette wanted to fly away with the paint mixtures, the mast of my box was shaking and the larger image was started on Arches Huile, which is flexible.

Working next to the Niagara River can be hazardous at times.Most of the dock pilings are crooked to start with, but it was ridiculous to try to finish there and then. This is the painting of the day and the other will have to wait. No boats were in the water yet, it is still early in the season for boating, but I bet it fills up in the next week or two.
Gone
'Waiting for Boats' 3x3", oil on stretched canvas (with bug) c. 2015

30 in 30 days, #21 Monica's wares.

There is no way this painting shows the elegance and distinctive quality of the fabrics and yarns that Monica Sheusi White creates with dyes, silk, wool, alpaca and needles. We shared a room at the Knox Farm Art Fest this past weekend and I tried to keep up with my 30 paintings in 30 day challenge by painting on location, the lovely window view was mostly blocked, but the colors and textures of Monica's textiles also demanded some attention. Yup, I am crazy, the crowds kept rolling through and I had to put my painting in progress and tiny paintbox under the table so many times to talk to clients. Meanwhile, the merchandise on her display kept changing as people discovered her beautiful creations. I am blessed to be her friend and to share our love of creative endeavors, whatever the medium.
 Click here to contact me. $65 unframed

Painting Monica's Canvas, 5x7 oil on canvas board, c. 2015

30 Paintings in 30 Days, #9

Sunshine, breezes, bees and flowers, it seems like the big chill has left western New York. All the crocus came out at once and all the bees gathered in the front yard to celebrate. Setting my chair a bit away from their honey convention I relished Spring, short sleeves and warm breeze.

One third finished with my 30 in 30 adventure and I notice hand twinges from holding the brush. My surgeon said 6 months and I'd be as good as new so I suppose it is the effect of working small with thin handled brushes. I'll know soon enough as I convinced myself that it is about rebuilding muscles that were misused for so long.

This is just a happy painting, from a beautiful day. Click Here to email me or use the Paypal button.

Crocus Happy Dance, 4"x5", oil on HDF board, 2015

Crocus Happy Dance

Unframed $45.00 USD

Another Croton, this is an oil at the Botanical Gardens in Buffalo.

Over the years, croton colors begged to be observed and recorded. I have made several paintings in different media and each has a different personality. This day, a new path had opened to the north inside the Palm Dome at the Buffalo Botanical Gardens, I couldn't resist.

A little reminder, every one of the images and paintings in this blog belong to me, I retain copyright for all of them, sold or not.

Another Croton, 9.5x12, oil on Arches oil paper, 2015

Day 4 of 5 FB painting challenge

Day 4 of 5 in this FB painters challenge. I have selected three views at Niagara Falls demonstrating the power of nature, the fury and energy of tumbling water racing from Lake Erie, up the Niagara, down the Falls to Lake Ontario. I love to paint close to the water, the experience of the spray and the roar of the cataracts give meaning to the words power and majesty. 1&2 are plein air, the third is a studio painting.

1. Roiling AM, 12x16 pastel-rocks at the base of American Falls
2. Winter Divot, 8x12 oil-a rock on the precipice of the Horseshoe in winter
3. Another Surprise on the Path, 21x30 pastel-off the path from 3 Sister's Islands.

It seems easy to choose paintings for this challenge, but nominating another artist is difficult because of the mathematics of the challenge, each nominee invites 5 more, they each invite 5 more, that's 5 artists, then 25, 125, 500, 2500, 12,500, 50,000 artists (thats 750,000 pictures on our news feed) posting in just a month. And they all have to be on FB. Every time I thought of a name, I see they have been challenged. So, Kim James Yarwood, let's see what you are up to.Fine artist and storyteller,neighbor and longtime friend, it's your turn to post 3 art works a day for 5 days and nominate another each day.

Ending one Season, Starting Another

The Autumn leaves are still brilliant and there are more paint days ahead but an end of season art show for one of my groups will open November 1 in Lockport at the new Lock Side Art Center.

My friends in Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters had scheduled paintouts at various locations, 7 or 8 every month since Spring. We hope for a good turnout to see the paintings that members choose from these sites to display at this exhibition. Although I painted the same number of pictures as usual this year, they were concentrated in three separate adventures, trips to the ocean in Delaware in June, the Zhang and Wooley workshop mid-summer and another late summer ocean week in Long Beach. In between I worked fairly small and skipped many dates to rest my wrist. In mid September I had wrist surgery and am thrilled at the improvement I feel, although I have not attempted more than a few touchups with paint yet. Some tiny studies, about 2x2 and 2x3 tested my small brush skills and took longer than I expected.

Not back to a regular painting schedule yet, I look forward to the opportunity to work with pastels again and I am considering some still life experiments this winter. It remains to be seen!

Off the Boardwalk in Long Beach

For the past two years, I have been told that I should paint on or near the boardwalk in Long Beach. Finally, I went, to the exact spot I was told to go, which was by the fancy new and expensive hotel. It was fairly quiet there when I started, but as the tide went out more people were set up in all directions, tanning, reading, scrolling on their phones and partying with scrumptious picnic baskets. It got fairly crowded and full of rented chaise lounges and blue umbrellas from the hotel.

I was the only one standing around, long sleeves, long paints, wide brimmed hat, flimsy white umbrella hoisted high like a flag and the interesting thing is...I was invisible. No one spoke to me or stopped to look, or apologized for walking in front of me (that normally happens a lot). The hoi polloi did have exquisite bathing suits, matching towels and sandals, spray on tans, perfect hair and skin, nipped tucked, plucked and primped like models. The one mile between my normal painting spot and this one could have been a hundred as it was another world altogether. This 12x16 oil came out perfect, so I'm glad I went!

'Near the Boardwalk', 12x16 oil on board

'You Are There' a P4P art exhibit

Eight plein air ocean paintings based on the Ohio Street Jetty are displayed at Artists Space Gallery on Main Street in Buffalo as part of the Painting for Preservation group. The title of the exhibit is "You Are There". Without a written explanation, I hope you would feel the power of water and weather, the changes around an ocean barrier and the mood of an ocean.

Sara Zak invited a group of the P4P painters and photographers to show, but the focus was not our preservation paintings, rather, work of our own choice that illustrated the theme. Looking at the work, I was intrigued by the powerful images displayed. 

They are shown here grouped within an architectural plaque on the entrance wall, but by the time the final show was hung they were moved a bit further down the wall, into a wider format. 

'Sand Painting' 9x12 oil on birch with plenty of authentic beach sand in the paint.

Back to Long Beach, Long Island. This is the jetty directly to the East of Ohio Street and the first time I strayed from my usual rocks. It attracted me because the ocean had piled the sand so high on one side while it was deeply carved on the west. Later in the week a hurricane was out at sea, causing the surf at high tide to push this particular sand right over the rocks, making it more even on each side. The pleasures of plein air: documenting change.

Setting up, preparing my palette and unpacking my supplies proved to be the source of the title, a fresh palette of paint (and probably more paint than I usually use as I was planning two) acts like a frisbee when buffeted by the wind. Not bungeed down yet, the wood palette landed fairly sideways in the sand. Sounds safe? No. Enough sand had been carried in the air and kicked up that the paints were fairly tan. I used it anyway after scraping some of the worst lumps and gained a painting with an awful lot of texture. My main brush took a beating as well, pushing around the paint wore out a fair number of precious hairs, leaving me with a ferrule full and a brush partly worn.

Sand Painting, 9x12 oil on birch board

Plein air sand

Late in the day, families pack up, as beach blankets and umbrellas are set up for the day and used from morning to sunset. These late afternoon umbrellas attracted me as their vibrant colors contrasted with the slightly overcast sky.  There are a series of spots near the center which are sand from the day of the painting. I could easily brush them off, but they are too authentic! Pure plein air with proof!

Beach Sentries 11x14 oil on panel

3rd and Niagara, Niagara Falls Painting story

I found a photograph of myself on the 'Niagara Painters' website, we were painting this morning in downtown Niagara Falls.

A young lady from Boznia Herzegovina came by to chat, she was practicing her English, and asked me why I chose the 3rd Street scene. I said I liked the street because I used to live right there ----> on the painting.

She answered, 'I live right there.' She's upstairs from the old Sheusi Brothers furniture store, I lived in the cottage behind, but I knew about the apartments, the Murphy beds, built in cabinets and elegant woodwork. I wonder if, after 30 years, many of them in neglect, some of the elegance remains? For her sake, I hope so.

The big vista

Everyone driving down Lewiston Hill looks at the scene out over the lake and the rolling landscape from the escarpment to the shore, mostly farms and fields. On clear days the city of Toronto stands like a beacon in the distance, more than 35 miles as the crow flies. This Spring day, I painted in Ann's backyard, on top of the escarpment, as I looked, the spires and buildings of the city appeared as the morning mist lifted.

Toronto Haze, 9x12 oil

Artists Group Gallery

The edge of Goat Island at Niagara Falls separates the water that goes over the two falls from the Niagara River. The rapids become quite tumultuous at this spot, the speed of the water increases and splashes on the rocks and ledges. An earlier post this year showed this being painted from the front seat of my car at the end of a long cold winter. 

I donated the painting to Artists Group Gallery for the summer fundraiser, an evening with delightful food and drinks, some surprises and the opportunity to purchase small artworks at $100. 

It's July 24th in the evening, tickets available from the gallery, 885-2251

Rapids Start 6x6 oil, c. K. Schifano