Pennsylvania Landscape

This is my effort on the Different Strokes challenge. This scenery is so similar to what I see in Ohio that I felt very comfortable with it. I wanted to emphasize the fields as flat planes of color, enhanced by the rooftops. I felt the sky would be the counterpoint of soft edges and colors.
My painting is approx 11 x 5 inches.

Chicago Rainy Day

A big thanks to Ms J for suggesting I paint a rainy day scene.
I have visited Chicago only once but it made a big impression on me. I love having the river in the middle of town. Bridges are always romantic and evocative. So I decided to combine those elements in one tiny ACEO



And while in a foggy mood I painted this ACEO of an early morning kind of mist on a pond.
In a kind of 'paint it and it shall happen' way this all brought on some much needed rain in real life.
Wouldn't THAT be a great super power for an artist to have?

Sunset

I did this sunset in response to James Parker's May Challenge on the Windows to the Words blog.

All artists, photographers and writers should visit the blog for inspiration!

My painting is an ACEO and is on auction on eBay here

It was a very busy holiday weekend but things are getting back to normal again. I'm getting ready for a show change at the MD Garage this weekend and framing my entry ready for the Artist of Rubber City show at Mocha Maiden. MOre about that later!

Virtual Paint Out

I think Bill Guffey is a genius! Bill has started a blog of virtual plein air paintings composed of scenes found using Google Maps. Bills Blog Virtual Paintout featured Paris this month.

We logged into Google and toured the city using the street view feature.I stumbled upon the Carousel that is near the Eiffel Tower and fell in love.

I did my painting ACEO size (2.5 x 3.5") and will list it on EBay. Its shown here in a virtual mat.

Summer ACEOs

So, its finally warm and sunny in beautiful Ohio. I've been painting some ACEOs that reflect that summer mind set. Those wonderful fresh greens and blues, teals and of course some violets.

These three ACEOs are on eBay ....and

For those of you in the area the Peninsula Art Academy also has my ACEOs.

This would be a good weekend to visit - there is a festival of Fairy Houses going on all over the town. Info here

The weather should be great for a visit to the park.

Art Show in Richfield

Frank Geric and I are doing an art show at the United Church of Christ, 4340 Streetsboro Rd, Richfield Oh.
We hung the show yesterday. Frank and I each brought about 2 dozen paintings and were really pleased with the result.
The church is planning an opening reception to meet the artists - we'll have the date and time soon and I'll let you know.

John Brown Abolitionist and Neighbor

Last week marked the 150th Anniversary of John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry. There is a blog set up to commemorate the event here and, as noted in their April 2 entry, our local library hosted a symposium on the life of Brown.

Brown grew up in Hudson, less than a mile from my own house. His home is in excellent condition, owned and maintained by wonderful people who were gracious enough to allow artists to set up their easels on the property. I have been lucky enough to be one of them.

This painting is of the three outhouses on the southern edge of the property. The creamery, the chicken house and the granary - one of the oldest structures in Summit County - they all now stand side by side. I painted this in the summer of 2008 on a blistering hot morning. The painting is 5x7" acrylic on ampersand board.

Another painting from that morning was featured on my blog here Clickback "John Brown's Well" which stands by the main door of the house.

Tenaya Lake

If you can't travel to Yosemite the next best thing is to have friends who did. Many thanks to Kurt for the photo reference for this ACEO. This is Tenaya Lake at Yosemite National Park.

From Wikipedia: "Tenaya Lake is named after Chief Tenaya, who met the Mariposa Battalion near the shores of the lake. Ironically, Tenaya protested that the lake already had a name: Pie-we-ack, or "Lake of the Shining Rocks."[3] This original name is now attached to a granite dome to the east of the lake."

I think I need to paint a much larger version of this scene!

Madison Avenue

Once again Karin Jurick gave us a great photo ref for the Different Strokes
"one photograph painted by many" blog.
This is the corner of 39th and Madison in NYC. I painted it 8x10" with the goal of giving the viewer feeling of activity, action, traffic. The cabs are more fun to paint than you would imagine. Of course I had to try an aceo of them too:

Notes from the Studio Dog

Even the best studio dog gets a little bored - Sure its fun when she brings out the bright colors or we get to paint outside but, oh! the long hours of watching boring gesso and primer, the time spent watching clear mediums and varnish get applied, the sketching, the framing. And here I sit on a beautiful afternoon, and I'm not even the subject. I guess I'll nap.

Bike Art -Cincinnati Show Opening

I am happy to tell you that I will be in an art show in Cincinnati starting this Friday. The theme of the show was Bike Art and I have these two pieces in the show. The first is a scene along the Bike Trail in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Lock 23 The second is a portrait of a cyclist as he races along.

Bike Art Show
Bike Art Show: a collaborative art show celebrating bike month
National Juried Exhibition

Opening Night will be Friday, May 8, 2009 from 6-9pm

http://www.redtreegallery.net/artgallery

Beach House

This is an 8 x 10" acrylic .. I was interested in painting the white glare of the beach light and sand. We use to vacation on Martha's Vineyard when my sons were small and we lived near Boston. We rented a small cottage near South Beach and I thought of this when painting this light.