December traditions

Home made cards are much more than a challenge now that the kids are grown and no longer illustrating sweet Christmas scenes for us to copy and glue. We have home made our cards for more than 25 years, with a couple of skipped years due to too much to do!

Each year we try to create a card image, fully expecting to get it all together in August or September, but that has NEVER happened, not once, even when I knew what picture would be on the cards! It has become our December 'hurry up' project and tradition, right after cookie baking.

This is a Buffalo Botanic Gardens painting from this season, the first of my pictures with colors that might work, even if it was not holiday themed. Since then, I went to the gardens to sketch three times to try for another image, coming home with approximately 10 plans and drawings, none of which suited my purpose. The gardens are now wall to wall with poinsettias and Christmas themed decor, absolutely entertaining and beautiful. This is a large leaf office type plant, the waxy leaves are richly colored and the red spathes in the center are a lovely surprise from an already handsome plant.

So, Merry Christmas! This is the image on our 2012 Christmas postcard, the reverse side has a lovely snowflake motif that Carl created, and tonight I will write my notes. I am saving some without the Christmas message for my own use, sending notes and postcards may be so 20th century, but I love it all year long.

December's Surprise, pastel 12x16  c.2012

Not Just Paint. not just cookies

People often look at my artwork and say they wish they were artistic or creative, but art is more than paint, and these people all have their own skills. Many of my art students went on to work as hairdressers, florists, toy, jewelry and clothing designers, window dressers and in film and theater working on costumes, makeup and sets. There are so many ways to express your creativity, including how one dresses or decorates their home.

As for me, I nearly quit my paint habit in December when plein air season (warm enough to paint out) is over to move into the 'creative' kitchen. Not a fan of shopping in stores, I spend days in the kitchen baking homemade gifts, containers of cookies galore, incorporating color design, flavor blending and shape considerations with baking expertise before I begin the wrapping and ribbons. 

 Each year I make trays of traditional favorites such as Cuccidatis (filled with fig, date, raisin and more), Chocolate Spice, Wagon Wheels and Thumbprints, but I also try new ones.

  Always a favorite to eat whenever I go to NYC, I made my first Linzer Tarts and a new swirl cookie with raspberry this week.

 The Checkerboards are not new, but they are chocolate mint for the first time. This is also the first time I (reluctantly) added food coloring in my cookies, just three drops of green in the mint flavored batter made a pretty cookie with a visual mint hint.

 Merry Christmas!

2013 calendars

New 2013 calendars are available from me through the mail or at these local sites:

Niagara County
Art Museum Giftshop at Niagara University
Book Corner on Main
Studio One on Niagara Street

Erie County
Art Dialogue Gallery 1 Linwood, Bflo
464 gallery on Amherst Street & satellite shop in Williamsville
Quaker Bonnet on Allen
Serene Gardens, Grand Island Blvd, GI

$12 for calendar and case, $10 for a refill.
Mail orders, $15 and 11. Contact me for discount on multiple purchases to one address.

www.kschifano.com
Art news & pictures at www.kschifano.blogspot.com

2013 calendar

Dealing the 13 pages of my calendar to assemble the sets creates new colors
and patterns on my table as each month is added. It is assembled backwards, Back page, then December, November, October....this is a set of July ready for June on my table, I get a kick out of seeing a table full of my mini paintings as each month is added.

What happens after I get to dealing the January pages? Then it is time for packing the months into special calendar stand boxes and clear protective bags. I'm nearly finished with sorting this year, because starting when the pages arrive from the printer, I put them together in bursts. I have them ready by the August Lewiston Art Festival which is my only big art event outdoors. The final calendars will be ready for Open Studio next weekend.

October Art News

The Lower Trail at Artpark, Lewiston NY

Sometimes friends are the best reason to get up and try new things. With a report of warm sunny weather, Sherrill Primo convinced me to come paint at Artpark-right when I was preparing for my Houston trip. Of course I dropped my suitcase and joined her.

I knew we would be hiking a bit, so I packed my small art kit with me as well as a take out lunch from Orange Cat in Lewiston. The first surprise was how close we parked to the trail, and the second was how easy a hike it was, new trail had been cut and it was wider with crushed stone and mostly trimmed bushes and overhangs. Even the final long staircase was new with handrails and landings.

First things first, we sat and ate lunch....and talked....and contemplated the water, then we talked some more. We eventually got to work, but the quiet time down on the Niagara rivershore with eddies and flows, little whirlpools and changing water depth was just the recipe for a perfect day.

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.

Part 2- Publisher's Invitational Paintout 2.0 2011

WHATEVER did I do on this blog? THIS ADK post was posted in the summer of 2011, when they were painted, now I see it as my newest post in 2012, oh well, consider a review of this art course, my blog. There was no changing a date until just today!

After painting a few pictures in oil, carrying them fresh and wet into another person's car and looking at the results that evening in a dorm, I realized that pastels would be a good choice in the mountains. The pastels are heavy, but require less space and equipment to carry. It was a good decision as I was caught in the rain and had to work very quickly. My yellow Fantasy Island slicker stayed waterproof, but my plein air umbrella wasn't totally waterproof when it stayed wet. The first painting here is successful because I stopped early and the pastels captured the image I wanted and will allow me to paint it again on canvas without the distraction of details and with the richness of experience. That won't happen soon, it's a possibility for winter, so in the meantime, it is NFS and I like it just as is.

The second was painted from the dock at night, oh how I love to paint at night, it was quiet and peaceful, and it is always a treat to see it in room light when finished. My hat batteries held up, so I could see my palette and picture quite well.

Splashing water at St.Regis Falls really is orange, this is a study for another pastel made the same day. I decided to add more of the area to my second painting, in the meantime, the light changed and it seems like the amount of water crashing had diminished. We worked under a pop up tent and had a wonderful time protected from weather.

Lewiston Art Festival Ribbon 2012

Although I participate at several individual events each year, they are usually indoors. My big 'sell it on the street' in a tent is also the nicest WNY art showcase. Artists apply for admission in the winter and their work is juried by a committee of artists. The jurors limit the number of artists and keep the show 'fine art' without work that is commercial or reproductions. It is a huge amount of preparation for me, and exhausting, but it is also the biggest social event, I see EVERYONE all in two days. Students, coworkers, neighbors, customers and acquaintances all come to chat and catch up. 

There are hundreds of artists and tens of thousands of visitors in Lewiston for the weekend. This photo by Carl shows Mary Grace Ohrum, a wonderful artist who started painting with Carl in the Artwheels program, and former neighbors from our first home on 3rd street, Niagara Falls, a lifetime ago.

Cooler weather prevailed for the annual weekend festival in Mid August, we always get rain in Lewiston but this year had only a brief downpour with a few minutes of sprinkles several times on Sunday. The sun shined brightly on my work though, as I was awarded a prize and an Honorable Mention ribbon in painting for this plein air, a view to the west side of Tuscarora State Park, looking across the creek, the water had a Caribbean color in brilliant sun which reflected into the spring trees.

Tuscarora Caribe, oil, 11x14 2011

Flying wet painting

The Towpath Plein air weekend paintout was held in Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, in the area of the Erie Canal. My painting named 'Morning Canal',was donated to Partners in Art Gallery for the Carnegie Art Center fundraiser, and was sold. Making the spirit of painting work, by supporting local projects is a goal to keep in mind.

The day this was painted was fairly windy and I often put my hand up to keep the easel steady in the gusts. Frequently, we step back from our work to see how it is progressing, one of those times it took off in a gust, tumbling end over end like a miscast frisbee and landing about 10 feet away, 'butter side' down on the lawn. A boater, watching just below me on the dock stood frozen with two hands up to her face as she watched it take off, muttering loudly, 'ooooh, ohhhh'. To me, it was just another plein air event to deal with and the painting bears some evidence of its adventure, a little dirt and some grass lines that add to the honesty of the art. I suppose if I was painting a bit closer to the canal I would have learned whether old wood houses can float.

Morning Canal, 10x8, oil, 2012

Youngstown Yacht Club mishap

There is a good reason I did not post this picture when I painted it last Spring.

Annually, there are opportunities to paint near the yacht club, this time we went when the yard was full of owners painting boat bottoms, sprucing up woodwork and boats being lowered into the river. I had previously painted a wonderful pastel of a sailboat in progress (sold) and was interested in staying in the shade to paint this time. I chose a cool shady spot near a large sailboat that was a long way from being ready to sail, there were drop cloths and tools around it, a ladder against the side and it was fully up on blocks from winter storage.

The truck painting was nearly finished after lunchtime, the two different yellows of the frame and the old chassis had been fun to paint. There were also several boats painted in the water, moored on the anchored buoy balls, but I removed them as they seemed distracting in the composition. As I touched up the water, a huge amount of foul liquid poured over me and my easel, I was sure someone on board my shading boat had dumped a bucket over the rail. I heard a gurgle and grabbed my easel to the side as more water shot out the bilge hole in the side of the boat, filthy water that had sat in the bottom of the boat all winter, including mold, grease, bugs and antifreeze, the same garbage that had been ejected onto me. Apparently the battery was just attached and the bilge pumps itself automatically with power. Realizing the extent of the filth..and the smell...I scrubbed myself in Carol Mathewson's studio, fortunately the nicest best supplied washing area we had ever painted near.

The painting did not fare as well. The grease sat on the surface while the water ran off easily. It took me a long time to clean and repair the painting and I cannot verify it as quality materials or archival supplies. But at least now I can laugh about it.

Yellow Truck at RCYC. oil on board 8x10 2012

Roswell Park Paintout Weekend

 Roswell Park's plein air weekend started with rain so I found an overhang with a view and donated this 14x11, titled 'Cheese Truck Lunch'. Note the yellow truck! Of all the fun food trucks in Buffalo, I least expected the cheese truck to spend the day at the hospital entrance. I was also attracted to the flagpole and the reflection of the flag in the window as well as the blue street signs, neither of which show up well in the photograph.

The painting was donated to Roswell along with a second painting of their Black Eyed Susans in the garden, painted on the second day. I love to paint, but the studio can get pretty crowded with a sreason of wet oil paintings spread out to dry on every surface, so this is a perfect solution. Go paint, enjoy the day outside with my easel, and leave it to be sold and raise funds for Cancer Research. 

Cheese Truck Lunch, oil, 11x14 2012

Storm Surf Oil Painting

Waves arrive in sets of three and bunches of nine, and it is easiest to see this when they are big. One night we had some rain, but the real storm stayed at sea, churning the water and sending great surf water onto the beaches. Surfers watch and count these waves and in Long Beach and Atlantic Beach different areas are reserved for surfers each week. You cannot see any surfers in this tiny reproduction, they would have been all over this painting if this was a surfing beach that week.

I painted this early, while the storm clouds were still visible, rolling out to the southeast. By the time I finished, they were just spots on the horizon and the sun was burning off the mist and haze. The waves stayed rough for most of the day and most of the swimmers stayed close to shore, playing in the surf where it was shallow.
Morning After the Storm, 11x14 oil 2012

Jetties at Long Beach, Long Island

Another glorious week spent at Long Beach, New York allowed me to continue studying the jetty at Ohio Street. It changes with the tides and the light, the time of day and the pounding surf. Waves come in faster as high tide approaches and recede faster when the tide goes out. As the powerful salt water reaches the edge of the jetty the sand swirls around and over the rocks, it covers and exposes them in a new way each day. The beach and sand is higher on the east side of all the jetties, lower on the west. To this day, the value of jetties to reduce beach and land erosion has not been determined or proven.
Last month I was intrigued by the waves crashing on the furthest rocks, making giant rooster tails that twisted and reversed as they crashed onto other rocks or back into the sea. This visit found me exploring in paint the inside end that you see here. These sites are both painted at the same location from a little different angle and different times of day. Morning sun lights up the algae and grasses and water, but an overcast sky softens those colors in the second picture.  Various rocks are covered and uncovered by sand each day as seagulls and sandpipers scavenge and flit about the shore.

Incoming Tide, oil 8x10 2012
LowTide Jetty, oil 8x10 2012

Tuscarora State Park on Lake Ontario

After two weeks of painting travels, schedule conflicts and distractions I am pleased to be home and back on schedule with the Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters and hope to rejoin my Thursday group as well. Unfortunately I missed several of my favorite locations this summer, but I did get to Tuscarora State Park with our group.

I found a clean and smooth log to sit on which turned out to be quite lumpy after the first hour as well as the high speed runway for carpenter ants and other beach creatures. After my time in the mountains with assorted unnamed critters, the ants were no problem as long as they only crossed my lap.

Sitting low in the shade, my view of Lake Ontario early in the morning was clear and colorful, the horizon was like a deep green streak against the blue sky, as the water came toward shore it changed several times in long bands, getting darker and lighter until weak bits of waves nibbled at the shore, barely creating a wake and not much more than a ripple at times. An assortment of grey and tan rocks at the water's edge balance the uneven clouds drifting over the water. Just another beautiful day!

Rainbow Lake oil 10x20, 2012

My newest email newsletter!

Kath Schifano, August 2012 news

Getting ready for Lewiston Art Festival and an evening at the Youngstown Yacht Club with my art and a few other artists, it is time to get out my first newsletter of the year. Considering the number of repeating emails we get, I cannot be bothering anybody with this one!