New York art season.

 A long weekend in NewYork City during the opening of the art season resulted in miles and miles on my step tracking app. The Gagosian Gallery's Roy Lichtenstein Green Street mural reconstruction was a gift to see, the accompanying images by Roy showed how he used icons of American advertising to develop paintings and find graphics for his work. A marble notebook in a showcase was open to pages scotchtaped with newspaper line drawings for ads to buy mixers, luggage, home products and furniture. 

 Stepping into the Shepard Fairey show at Jacob Lewis Gallery was an adventure in itself, packed with people on two floors. Fortunately they were all chatting so I was able to see most of his controversial art, some of it displayed salon style. Laurene Buckley and I wondered which one in the crowd was Fairey so I looked him up on Google images. As his face appeared on my phone, he walked towards us, turned 180' and walked away, smiling, as he saw what we were doing. A moment later he watched us through the gallery office window, I think I saw a smirk and a wink. Wearing a crisp blue oxford shirt with carefully turned sleeves and dress dockers, he wasn't quite what we expected. Neither did he fit into the crowd of hip city folk in edgy fashions and attitude. I went home with a few 'Obey Giant' stickers to share in WNY.

Much of the work at this exhibit was directed at corporate America, in particular oil barons and waste producing unhealthy products. THe litho plates were mounted, along with prints, paintings and embellished works of the same images, most of it in the red/black/warm color schemes of this work. Loved the show!

So, the weekend also included revisiting the 'Sargent and Friends' exhibition at the Met and MOMA's Picasso sculptures, a few other galleries, lots of walking and meeting artist friends and ended with packing my solo show of ocean, jetty and water scenes in Long Beach, where they have been hanging for the last three weeks. 15 paintings, carefully packed, fit into my big leather carryall and I was able to squeeze it through the security lines at JFK as a carry on. Did I mention how much I love this job?

#30. The final painting

When I posted 30 paintings in 30 days I was also touching up the large picture 'Glory's Bath Takes Too Long'. The final was posted earlier. These images show the progress of that painting which actually spent several months on my easel, a good bit of that time was 'thinking' or evaluating the progress, how the colors should look, the proper perspective and light for the space, how edges could soften or be sharp. The slump of the back, expressing the difficulty of waiting until the washing machine would finally finish is the most obvious difference, but the hair and legs and the facade of the machine also changed. 

Glory's Bath Takes TOO Long, 48x24, oil

Summer Plein Air

Allentown garage in Arlington Park, Buffalo

Center and 7th in Lewiston, NY

Considering a Cruller, the Niagara Falls Hiker

Summer is outdoor painting season whenever there is time and decent weather. Each of these three paintings had a different reason to be made. The 'Fairweather Paletteers' of East Aurora met up with Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters in Allentown for the garage view.  It had a red tricycle in the driveway but the scale was wrong, so I overpainted it and hope to find another tricycle to put it back, larger this time.

The second was a demonstration painting at the Lewiston Art Festival, a view of their wonderful street gardens. It took two mornings to get the light right as I was facing west and the sun moved the shadows quickly.

The last was painted in the park across from the NACC in NIagara Falls, included two well known landmarks. Freddie's Donuts has been there longer than I have lived in this area, and the Hiker was placed early in the last century, at the corner of Portage and Main Street. I hope no one decides to clean up his gaudy blue patina.

Allentown Garage, 11x14 oil on canvas

Center and 7th, 7.5x10.5 oil on Arches Huile

Considering A Cruller, 9x12 oil on Arches Huile

Third Street mashup

  Annually, the NACC has a fund raising auction of paintings created on selected Sunday evenings at Wine on Third. This year I had planned to capture some of the building architecture up close but when I arrived the tents were up and the sidewalk was full of painters and friends as well as patrons. I decided to work across the street.

Originally interested in the perspective view of Third Street, I became attracted to the signs. As long as I have lived here, there have been complaints about signage, especially for tourists. This was my view and the painting in early progress. It is a sanded canvas, originally a picture of Chautaqua Lake swimmers and boats which I turned upside down-you can see a boat and docks where the 2 hour sign will be, and a bit of the tree line on the bottom of my painting. Fortunately I was across the street from the crowd. People who saw this work in progress were quite confused about me and where I was headed with 2 pictures happening on one board. Not every painting is worth keeping and my power sander helps me reuse those boards.

 I am considering a few details yet, such as larger bolts on the signs and maybe some of the reflected light on the signs. Or maybe not.

Falls View 12x18 oil on board  c.K Schifano

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. 

Youngstown Yacht Club, 'Art on the River'

I think I return to this show just for the spectacular view of the lower Niagara and entry of Lake Ontario at sunset. The event is only a few hours, on the Thursday evening before the Lewiston festival, but my table has views up and down the river with unbelievable sunsets and light. They always manage to have great weather.

Adirondack getaway

A quick trip to the Adirondacks to visit Frances Gaffney involved several walks to Antler Lake, a bit up the road from her home. It is just stunning in all directions, we went one morning to paint and I chose the blue canoe in the third picture. Unfinished, I need to complete the painting in the studio, right now I am considering adding Dexter, her visiting grand-dog.

Antler Lake Reflections

Big Sky, Green and pink.

Turning around from the lake, some temptations

wonders of nature

The Lewiston Art Festival

As a rule, I only sell my work at one weekend outdoor major street exhibition, the Lewiston Festival of Art. The emphasis is on fine art and it is a juried event. I did break my rule this summer by doing the Niagara Falls Music and Art Festival. I am not planning to do that again, indoor events at local venues are so much better. This was my 9th year at the Lewiston Art Festival and I was pleased to be featured twice in the NFP newspapers, one image before the event of my tent last year and another this year when I was painting there. Thanks to Larry Austin for some fine photos! And yes, I will be back there as long as the judges jury me in.

2015 demonstrating plein air

2014 photo used to advertise this year's event

the tent set up August 8 & 9, 2015

Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters Exhibition

One more show.

Summer has been a season of painting and exhibits, at one point in June I had work displayed in 7 different galleries and venues and the absence of all those paintings gave me a bit of breathing room in the studio/gallery.

Today, I picked up the last two paintings from the Beyond the Barrel Exhibition at the NACC in Niagara Falls and am looking forward to a group show my plein air painting friends will have at 464 Gallery in Buffalo.

Be there. Or Be Square.

Below are the two paintings from the NACC show, '8,000 Cubic Feet a Second', oil, 16x20 and 'Mist Over Three Sister's Bridge', pastel 18x24

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

Niagara Falls Red Coach Inn

Near the American Falls there is a grassy hill overlooking the rapids. I went there to paint the rush of a zillion gallons of water but again turned around away from my intended subject. The late morning sunlight on the famous Red Coach Inn was irresistible. I had to put in the shadows first and study the light and darks intently as the sun was heading around the building quickly. Early morning is the best time to 'catch the light' when painting but my cup of tea or coffee with breakfast and a newspaper is a treasured time and often delays my start. 

Red Coach Inn 12x16 pastel. 

Thinking About Frank DiGaudio

Frank was my stepdad and he suddenly died 3 weeks before 9/11. I'm glad he missed it but I wonder sometimes if he was lucky to be spared the experience. Anyway, his heart was with his BPOE group, the Elks, and he ran their Bingo, gaming nights, bought supplies and danced every song. When my friends went to Forest Lawn to paint I was immediately attracted to a huge elk sculpture inside the Main Street gate. Majestic and proud, mounted on a pedestal of rock I painted this elk and considered Frank. We had a lovely conversation. 

Where Elks Rest, pastel 9x12 

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

Niagara Falls Music And Art Festival

June's wonderful weekend was warm and dry, the music was loud and Niagara Falls was hopping. My tent was nicely shaded, I enjoyed seeing old friends, and I was able to work on a painting each day. Neither if these show the finished painting but it does show my set up and what I was working on. 

I decided to create a display of the 5 x 7 paintings I have been painting recently, what fun to see them all together. 

The Giacomo in sunset. 9x12 oil

Holding Back the Rain   9x12 oil

A plein air inspires a studio painting

On March 28 I wrote about an oil painting that was about to be installed in a dental office. It was quite recent and I really liked the captured colors of Fall and the rising mist of Niagara over the first bridge at Three Sisters Islands at the Niagara Reservation. Only on the brightest, sunniest high pressure days will the plume rise so high.

At the time, winter was still raging and I was not interested in returning, so I quickly sketched the picture on a large pastel sheet, in fact it was a UArt paper which I had wanted to try for a while.

Pastels caused my wrist injury and the surgery was not six months back, I was feeling reticent about diving into a pastel composition, however, I missed using the rich and reactive sticks I had pushed aside a year and a half earlier. By pacing myself, working in little bits of time, the picture remained on my easel desk for several weeks as I worked back into holding and coloring with my pastel sticks. 

Finished, it is mounted with museum glass, flush to the frame and glass and it looks like a painting. Not the same as the oil it was modeled after but it does capture the sparkle of fall color at Niagara.

Studio Work from plein air painting

Mist Over the First Sister's Bridge, oil 18x24 pastel, c. 2015 K. Schifano

NACC Artist and Friends Exhibition

These two large paintings are displayed at the NACC for the Buffalo Niagara Art Association Spring juried exhibit. This show is in the large main gallery. In addition, there is a second show in the 'Garden Gallery' on the second floor. The 'Niagara Painters' show is representing our local group of plein air painters, formed in 2014 by Shelley Collins and Kelly Buckley, we meet Thursdays to paint outdoors in various Niagara locations.

Next up at the Niagara Arts & Culture Center there will be the NACC Artist and Friends Exhibition, an annual event that is celebrating the 10th year as a community center. 

Both paintings were long term winter projects for me, the joy of pushing paint in the studio is second only to working outdoors.

Adirondack Architecture 48X24 oil on canvas c. 2015
Glory's Bath Takes TOO Long, 36x24 oil on canvas c.2015

#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, #26 Japanese Sculpture

For 9 days the Buffalo History Museum's Japanese Garden is now glowing with cherry blossoms and the 2nd festival to celebrate friendship between the two nations. 

Last year I painted this from a similar location but it was raining and the buds had not emerged on the trees yet. This was a spectacular Spring day, but cool next to the still cold water. Stepping back 10-15 feet was quite a bit warmer. I plan to return next week to paint the trees with leaves, perhaps a close up of cherry blossoms is on my list, too! Hoping for no breezes across the still cool Mirror Lake.

30 days of painting practice has really warmed up my painting skills and am quite pleased with how this little jewel turned out. 

Japanese Sculpture, 5x7 oil on canvas panel, c. 2015 

30 in 30 days, # 25, Blocks

These 3 blocks have been around for years. WHere is the rest of the alphabet? There was a flat truck, four wheels and a pull cord, why do I have just 3?

I am pleased with the final image. The blocks were painted first with nearly pure pigments, each primary stained a different white bristle brush. Permanently. I stopped using my best Rosemary brushes for this project because of the abuse I dole out...leaving a painting and dirty brushes for hours to do errands or even overnight because I have finished or I just walk away to eat. Brushes generally last me forever as I had pretty good clean up skills and need to get back to them!

These were on my work tabletop, with gloss white paper on the surface and I could see both shadows and reflections of the blocks. Again, FUN! Interested? Click here to email me. $65

'Down Side Up' 5x7, oil on canvas panel 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, #23 paint tubes

Some questionable paint tubes [too dry or duplicates]were set aside and I started fiddling with them while watching birds in my tree. It made me decide what to paint today. Unfortunately, the arrangement was on my 'active' palette, where I was mixing colors for these daily paintings. I used every bit of exposed surface to mix my paints for this picture and could have used a little bit more as my palette is quite small. I really need to do more thinking and planning before starting these pictures.

If you are interested in this painting, click here to email me. $65

'Put Paint, Not Tubes on the Palette', 5x7 oil on canvas panel, c.2105