My Art as an Ohio Painter

Iranian actress banned from returning home after posing nude in French magazine | Mail Online

2012-01-19T08:36:00.000-05:00

Iranian actress banned from returning home after posing nude in French magazine | Mail Online

Sexed crazed religious fanatics keep her from going home.

Darrell Turner: Nudists folk-devils for moral panic - National - NZ Herald News

2012-01-09T10:49:00.000-05:00

Darrell Turner: Nudists folk-devils for moral panic - National - NZ Herald News

The author makes the point that the fear and panic of sexual deviation is worse than the actual crime. Mass hysterial is the worst thing that can happen to a society.

World News: The power of nude protests - thestar.com

2012-01-08T09:39:00.000-05:00

World News: The power of nude protests - thestar.com

Never underestimate the power of the Nude to change society.

Love without limits: Homage to Aliaa Magda Elmahdy | Maryam Namazie

2011-12-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

Love without limits: Homage to Aliaa Magda Elmahdy | Maryam Namazie

Ideas makes allies!

2011-12-14T08:20:00.001-05:00

I attended my usual Tuesday evening nude figure drawing group last night and as I was working the thought came to me that in most of the middle east this would be illegal and forbidden as an offense to religion. Such a shame that great people's are held in bondage by beliefs that were supposed to liberate them from ignorance but now enslaves the sprite and the artistic soul.

PanOrient News | Tunisian Artist Blacklisted, Condemned for Posing Semi Nude

2011-12-07T11:40:00.000-05:00

PanOrient News | Tunisian Artist Blacklisted, Condemned for Posing Semi Nude

Pakistani Actress' Nude Pose on FHM Sparks Controversy

2011-12-05T15:04:00.000-05:00

Pakistani Actress' Nude Pose on FHM Sparks Controversy

Once more the twin gods of ignorance and superstition raises their very ugly heads!

در حمایت از وبلاگ نویس برهنه مصری و آزادی بدن naked photos « زیبا ناوک Ziba Nawak

2011-12-02T18:12:00.000-05:00

در حمایت از وبلاگ نویس برهنه مصری و آزادی بدن naked photos « زیبا ناوک Ziba Nawak

Something is happening in the East. Who knows where it will go?

Lady Gaga topless and eating cereal in shocking Marry The Night video set in a psychiatric ward - mirror.co.uk

2011-12-02T18:08:00.000-05:00

Lady Gaga topless and eating cereal in shocking Marry The Night video set in a psychiatric ward - mirror.co.uk

Artistic expression and its best.

Nudity, Niqab and the illusion of ‘free choice’ – The Express Tribune Blog

2011-11-28T08:11:00.000-05:00

Nudity, Niqab and the illusion of ‘free choice’ – The Express Tribune Blog

The artist under siege.

Facebook

2011-11-27T08:26:00.000-05:00

Facebook

This is a warning to the United States to keep out of the Egyptian Army's business!

Save the Nudists! The Florida Young Naturists Keep the Clothes-Free Lifestyle Alive - Page 1 - News - Broward/Palm Beach - Broward-Palm Beach New Times

2011-11-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

Save the Nudists! The Florida Young Naturists Keep the Clothes-Free Lifestyle Alive - Page 1 - News - Broward/Palm Beach - Broward-Palm Beach New Times

Good for them!

2011-11-19T09:17:00.001-05:00

The new medication seems to be having a good effect. The bronchitis is a little better but I am very weak. Life goes on. Go paint something.

Cops: Woman poses for nude photos near Gwinnett church | ajc.com

2011-11-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

Cops: Woman poses for nude photos near Gwinnett church | ajc.com

Freedom of expression must be stopped in the name of Public Decency. How silly.

مذكرات ثائرة

2011-11-18T11:56:00.000-05:00

مذكرات ثائرةThis young woman is incredibly brave to take such a stand for self and artistic expression in a culture that forbids it and in a world that is increasingly intolerant.

Young Nudists Are Busy: OWS and Baring it All for Charity : RushPRNews - Newswire & Global Press Release Distribution

2011-11-18T11:53:00.000-05:00

Young Nudists Are Busy: OWS and Baring it All for Charity : RushPRNews - Newswire & Global Press Release DistributionInteresting that the younger generation is trying to help.

2011-11-15T17:26:00.001-05:00

I can't believe its been a year since I posted anything. Too much Facebook!

Carnivorous plants fascinate their growers | cleveland.com

2010-10-28T08:03:00.000-04:00

Carnivorous plants fascinate their growers | cleveland.com

White's Mill painting competition

2010-09-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

OPAS at the Park of Roses

2010-06-18T09:40:00.001-04:00

Click here and see OPAS at the Park of Roses painting and educating the public about plein air painting

OPAS in the news

2010-04-12T13:24:00.006-04:00

is a news story of OPAS in Athens, Ohio having a great day painting the town (not red but more pink).

No April Fool's

2010-04-02T09:05:00.004-04:00

I got out and did the first real plein air of the season yesteday with a small 8 x 10 oil on canvas panel of a clump of daffodils I planted as a lark last fall. I found a bag of bulbs in the garage purchased Zeus only knows and got them in the ground before the frost. Up they came so looking for a motif their it was. Not bad but I am not happy with the grass. I need more practice with grass. Must do more daffodils while they are around.

Lots going on.

2010-03-24T15:09:00.003-04:00

I just finished this 36 x 48 oil on canvas studio work. It will hang at the Holzer Clinic lobby show starting April 1st. Last Saturday OPAS held its 7th annual business meeting with 75 members and guests attending. Three excellent demos were given by Carl Dalio, Karen La Valley, and Joe Lombardo. It was a very good meeting. The annual workshop and OPAS competition is coming in September. The April paintout in Athens is April 10th. Lots going on.

Painting again

2010-01-26T10:35:00.002-05:00

After a rather long illness and other issues I am painting again to prepare for show this coming April. This is a study for a much larger work of a huge sunset glory after a thunderstorm. Its sky, clouds, light, dark, urban. I just painted in the background sky of laverders, violets, gray blues thin and its drying so the yellow and orange pink clouds can go on. I have a good feeling about this. Its a studio work from a photo so no plein air today :(

Workshops in Italy

2009-12-27T10:20:00.013-05:00

I received a comment today reminding me I have not talked the two workshops I attended in Italy during May and June of 2009. Well let me say they were the two best workshops I have ever attended. I learned more and worked harder. I have taken workshops before and none were bad, all were good, some better than others but I left with more than I started with. The one's in Italy surpassed anything previous.

For about a year I had this growing feeling I really needed something to kick me in the ass and get me to a new level of technique and experience. I needed a group of highly motivated artists and a different learning environment. When I have a problem to solve my default mode is to research and read. At my local Little Professor's book store I found a copy of American Artist's Workshop magazine, Spring, 2008. It was filled with workshops to and beautiful photos. Just what I needed. At home in the evening reading about this workshop and that workshop I got to page 104 and there was the picture of a an artist painting the Tuscany landscape. All the way up to page 117 the article and picture captured my attention and interest. Two American artists, Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson had for the past 13 years ran several plein air workshops in and round Tuscany. The more I read and looked the more I became convinced that this was the one for me. I checked out their web site, http://www.landscapepainting.com/, sent them emails with lots of questions. This was a big decision for me. To leave home for about 6 weeks, pay a lot of money that I really couldn't afford to do, get involved with people I didn't know, perhaps make a total fool of myself and waste everyone's time and my money. Doubt, indecision, late middle age crisis, it was all there. But I did it anyway. I enrolled, sent money, bought plane tickets, got new paints, brushes, canvas board and push my way along. I made it. Other than a slight jet engine malfunction flying over France (it shook like a washing machine that is in spin cycle and out of balance). Got to Florence, took the train south to Buonconvento and found my hotel. I had dinner with Maddine and Joe the next evening and it was great cooking. I found out that in addition to teaching art during the spring and summer, they run a gourmet workshop in November when the white truffles are gathered. After tasting Maddine pasta I could see why it was always full. After all this is Tuscany and food and wine are king and queen here. The next day we picked up my fellow students at the train station and went to our bread and break farm, an agri tourismo, called La Ripolina. It a working farm estate, with sheep, vinyards, fields for crops plus lots of surplus peasant cottages. These beautiful field stone cottages dated from the 17th century and were also storage rooms, workshops, and stables. The manior house dated from the 15th and the abbey across the road from the 6th! This was where the first workshop called Open Air Fundamentals would be based out of. Here we would have our breakfast, sleep, evening art lectures but dinner would be in Buonconvento at Mario's. From Saturday on their was no let up. It was up at 7, breakfast at 8, painting by 9, lunch from 12 to 1:30 (it was gourmet too with fresh cheeses, fruits, salads, meats, and wine) back to painting till 5, rest till 7, lecture, than dinner, finally and gratefully sleep. Two to four works per day were expected. No scrappers or wipe out accepted. Everything was critiqued in the evening around 5 pm. Tough love and good advice. First we did value studies in charcoal, next in monochrome in oils with a knife. Then we went to compostion of the landscape in pensil and in oil, values and atmospheric perspective, lectures in the evening about Nature as a subject in Western Art and Technical aspects of landscape painting. The palette was limited to zine white, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cad yellow light, chrome green, yellow ochre and burnt sienna. Landscape followed landscape in a blur, we got a break on Tuesday by a field trip to Siena to see the frecos of Ambrogio Lorenzeti in the Sala dei Nove at the Palazzo Pubblico. No pictures can be taken inside so be happy with building itself. Next day it was painting as usual. Maddine and Joe teaching style is a short demo and than go around observing and offering advice. They never took the brush from my hand and did it themselves. You learned to squint down, nail the values, simplify the composition. By Friday afternoon I was whipped but we got a break. A field trip and lunch in Montalcino. A mountain side town famous for its wine.

Come Saturday I had to say goodby to my new friends and especially to my room mate Bill, a fine gentleman if there ever was one.

The next week I spent in and around Buonconvento sketching and painting. Maddine and Joe were kind to let me borrow a french easel. Most of the equipment, including easels and canvas, they provide as part of the course. I really love this little town. Its a walled town with a gate that is 500 years old. I hung around the cafe's and coffee bars and watched how the farmers would stop by for a quick espresso and a grapa (grape brandy) and down both in two swallows and then back to the fields. Children were everywhere and so were grandmothers and grand dads, sitting in the door ways on near the park fountain. Evening was the time for everyone to come out and stroll. Young parents with babies and old women who seemed to never has seen a baby before by the excitement they created. This town of maybe 2000 has a sacred art museum, Museo d'Arte Sacra della Val d'Arbia, that was having an exhibition of a breast feeding Madonna. Middle Ages icons and early Renaissance works were present showing the artistic progression of the Madonna and Child. From a rather stern almost bored looking Mary and a rather homely baby Jesus to a very humanistic and living mother and child nursing in front of saints and exposed to the whole world. I was amused by the contrast of children's reactions to an exposed breast in Buonconvento and Columbus, Ohio. In Columbus the George Tooker exhibition had female nudes and children giggled, laughed, fell on the floor in embarrassment. In Buonconvento it is an everyday natural experience. How else could a baby feed? I took walks and rode bike in the country side and said "buongiorno" to everyone. The artochokes were in harvest so all dishes had artichokes and the hill town had artichoke festivals. Joe and Maddine were very kind and we spent a whole Saturday going to one festival after another. In Tuscany they know how to have a good time.

My week break came to an end and I moved from Buonconvento to Abbadia Ardenga which is only 8 miles down the road. Its an old (what isn't in Italy) Abbey built in the 11th century that once had 3 naves but two fell down. It was also a hospital and large Church estate. This workshop 6 artist plus a couple of spouses and was called the "elements of landscape painting" based on work by P.H. Valenciennes in the late 18th century. He broke landscape painting into basic "elements" such as time, trees, clouds, water, fields and said that each element had to be mastered and that is what we all attempted to do. Now the pressure was on. Rise and shine, eat, paint, eat, paint, critique, lecture, eat, sleep do it all over again the next day. One days it was cloud studies, another trees, another how time effects a scene. I painted on a sand bar in the middle of a stream in the morning and in the afternoon. I had failures and success but Maddine and Joe always kept me going, make me push myself harder. I had a bad tree day on the second day. It was discouraging, I was tired and feeling my age but I didn't quit. Joe made suggestions, showed me what to look at, gave advice. Maddine demostated and I learned. Clouds are hard, water is hard. Its all hard at first. I was running with fast people. One lady was a surgeon from New York who found all this very relaxing! She had a great eye for detail. I did have a break through of sorts. I painted a stream in the morning and the results were ok. Break for lunch then

back in the water for the same scene but different shadows and atmosphere. I knew as soon as I touched the canvas with a long hair #1 brush to sketch the scene I had it. I just knew and I did. It was the best of the workshop. All our dinners were at the Abbey and we sure needed them. I slept in a convented monk cell now bed room with a window that faced west. I got great view from it as the sun sat over the distance hills and mountains. The bed was from the 13th century. Too narrow and too short and designed to help a monk repent for something. I was too tired to care about it. Slept like a log. I was only an eating, painting, sleeping machine. On Friday afternoon we took a 10 mile field trip to the Abbey Monte Oliveto Maggiore and I loved every minute of it. This functioning Benedictine monastery has incredible frescoes depicting the life and career of St. Benedict by Luca Signorelli and Il Sodoma and are 500 years old. The most interesting thing for me was how beautiful were the paintings of the boys and young men and how plain were the women and how few they were. The young gentlemen were far more numerous, feminine and erotic and the artists did not hesitate to show it. The church is now baroque from the 17th century and is beautiful. I had great people around me and great teachers. Maddine and Joe live and breath art 24/7. They have working studio in an industrial park in Buonconvento and a sales gallery. They run 6 or 7 workshops a year. Usually they come to the US during the winter to their apartment in New York and teach various workshops around the country. This year with the bad economy they elected to stay in Italy for the winter and paint. I truly envy them.

Would I do it again? At the drop of a hat. I would suffer the awful air plane trip and discomfort to do it. I highly recommend it.

New Web Site coming

2009-12-19T15:05:00.003-05:00

I have a new website called http://www.risnerart.com/ and its under construction. It will have a gallery of my work and other items for attracting art buyers to my art. I recently sold a commission work, as yet untitled, and its turned out well. I did it on December 1st. A studio but

alla prima. I like the earth tones in the foreground and the violet browns and grays of the tree in the background. I like doing knife work and give the sky some texture and energy that is really there but hard to describe with a brush.

Shows over and did ok

2009-11-05T13:13:00.002-05:00

My first solo show is over and I did OK. I sold two painting out of it and generated some modest interest. The big one Red Sun Blue Snow sold as did one I did in Italy called the Italian Door. Nothing beats a good sale. I have been painting and have a couple that I like and will upload sometime soon. I got the leaves before they fell.

10-11: Plein air artists

2009-10-11T10:02:00.003-04:00

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910119990 This is a story from the Toledo Blade Sunday Oct. 11, 2009 about local plein air artists and the joy of plein air painting. The Ohio Plein Air Society is mentioned and I am interviewed. It is all part of spreading the word to the world. I am but a voice that cries out from the wilderness!

Teaching Plein Air

2009-10-06T10:56:00.003-04:00

I started teaching a small plein air class at the Dairy Barn Art center in Athens last Saturday and ever Saturday till November 7. Just 3 students so far and all are artists who want to get more pratice in plein air. Teaching is the best way for me to learn new things. I lectured about equipment, surfaces, paints and brushes, and we than went we and painted outside for an hour in the beautiful weather.

Time to Solo

2009-09-29T09:54:00.006-04:00

Last Friday I had the opening and reception for my solo exhibition at Studio 4 in Nelsonville, Ohio. From 6 PM to 9:30PM about 60 people came through and 2 painting sold. I am pleased. I have 24 works: oil on canvas in frames and oil on water color paper in mats. Prices range from $1000 to $100.

The title of the show is Red Sun Blue Snow after the title of the largest painting, a 30 x 40, which is visible on the right side of the picture above. It sold as did a painting of a Italian stone cottage door at night. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the wine and cheese was consumed rapidly. A few of my friends came to offer there moral support which was very welcomed. The show goes on to October 24 so please come.

Columbus Museum of Art and OPAS Show

2009-09-11T15:33:00.002-04:00

Last night was the opening of the Ohio Plein Air Society's juried group exhibition in the lobby of the Columbus Museum of Art. The theme was to document the Russell Page sculpture garden before it is destroyed by a new expansion project for the museum. About 40 to 50 of our artists submitted works and 18 works were chosen from 13 artists. A art auction will be held next Friday and part of it will go to the museum fund.
The opening went very well and I am sure many of the patrons of the museum were impressed by the quality and skill of our artists. I am very proud of this society.

30 Painting in 30 Days

2009-09-02T20:41:00.003-04:00

On Sept 1st I decided to do 30 painting in 30 days to get myself motivated and to make up for lost time in August. Well 2 down and 28 to go. I don't want to just do 30 painting but to do 30 painting that use what I have learned this summer in Italy in the correct manner. Old habits are hard to break especially if they are bad habits. For example just jumping in and throw paint on the foreground, than back ground, back to foreground and oh yes some middle ground work. In other words have a plan and a method of get down a design, determine the values and where the darks and lights go, start from the back and get in down and move forward. Painting is a discipline, a Zen and sometimes excitement or impatience's can get in the way. I study a copy of American Artist Workshop, Spring 2008, article of Maddine Insalaco, one of my instructors in Italy and how she put down the overall design, blocks in with dark colors the major forms, puts in the light values, redefines the design, works the details with values and moves step by step to a completed work. Painting is the act of defining the problem (the subject) and arriving at a solution.

I have a painting now in the High Road Gallery in Worthington, Ohio as part of a group show of the Ohio Plein Air Society. Its a juried show. The painting was done shortly after I came back from Italy using the palette and techniques I learned there. I like it.

Columbus Museum of Art Exhibition

2009-08-29T13:42:00.004-04:00

The CMA is hosting a plein air exhibition and art auction for the Ohio Plein Air Society beginning Sept 10 - 18th. Members of OPAS, myself included, have made plein air painting of the Russell Page garden which will be destroyed to make way for a new museum expansion. We have submitted our painting to a judge who will decide who will be in the exhibition in the museum. I submitted one which took about 3 hours last Thursday. First real painting since I became ill.

It looks it too :). I call it Garden as Teacher for there is a lot to be learned in plein air by painting this garden with its shape angles, solid geometry, sculptures, and foliage. Not at all like the gentle feminine landscape features of Italy or Ohio

Its Monday

2009-08-24T08:59:00.002-04:00

Well its Monday. I look at the calendar and I see so much time gone and little to account for it. Too many sick days and recovery days to get much done. Over the past week I have been cloud studies using oil paint on water color paper. I like the feel of it and they dry fast. Turner and Constable did this in their oil sketches and studies. September is coming up and OPAS has a lot going on.

Pneumonia again

2009-08-12T17:43:00.002-04:00

Yes pneumonia again. Second time in less than 4 months. Got it on the 3rd of August and its still with me. I have gotten nothing done art wise. No energy or desire at this time. All I want to do is sleep. Poor me. :)

Paintouts and things

2009-08-05T10:21:00.005-04:00

The Ohio Plein Air Society has 2 paintouts this month and it looks like I will miss the one on the 8th since I have something like flu in my lungs. I was working on a studio painting of water lilies on a small pond near yesterday and began feeling bad with cold symptoms which lead to chest congestion and so on. Its time for the doctor and a wonderful health care "system". The lilies are, of course, inspired by Monet but its been an idea that has been nagging me for a while. I want to do some still life foliage works of pitcher plants. Since the pitcher is not a flower you can't call them "floral". They are growing in my bog garden so why not take advantage of them. Robert Mapplethorpe took pictures of pitcher plants but labeled them incorrectly as "jack in the pulpits". I should contact the Mapplethorpe foundation about this some day. Pitcher plants are phallic looking, especially Sarracenia purperia and Sarracenia alata, and carnivorous as well and very beautiful. As you can see in this photo the plants are kept in by an electric fence to protect the local dogs and cats.

Presidental duties and other things

2009-07-27T09:12:00.007-04:00

I have been wearing my OPAS president hat alot lately since so many OPAS events are coming up in September. The Annual plein air competition at Lakeside/Marblehead, Ohio this year, the High Road Gallery exhibition and the Columbus Museum of Art Russell Page Gardent exhibition are all in mid September and lots of little details to work on. Emails flying and phone calls to get clear communication between organizers and artists established. And trying to paint. I was in painting at the Inniswood Metro park on the 19th of July and did two small works while a large annual tour was taking place. I was part of the park and the show. A live artist painting in the part was my exhibit, I was the art and making art.

This is a bed of flowers at Inniswood

I did a another of roses Crimson Bouquet

I am trying to use what I learned in Italy. Darks, grays, a feeling of distance.

The Trail to the Mountain

I pushed the darks to almost pure UM blue and grayed greens to push the trail back in to the forest. It worked.

Catching Up

2009-06-23T19:28:00.015-04:00

I have been back from Italy for 2 weeks and am still getting my act together. I have been very negligent with my blog. I have been out painting trying to put to use the lessons learned in the Italian country side. Many of the exercises I did in Italy are just that: exercises to learn new techniques and concepts but a some have come out well. One already sold. A couple of other I hope to hang in a gallery in Columbus, Ohio. I could go on at length about how well the workshops were conducted by Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Buonconvento and how much I learned but that will have to wait till later. It was time well spent. The picture above is myself under a tent on the only day it rain on us located on a vineard near Montalcino. I am apply oil to acid free water color paper in the tradition of Valenciennes and the original landscape painter of the 18th century. It was very intense: up at 7 am, breakfast at 8, out the door to paint by 8:30 paint till 1pm, lunch in style till 2, paint till 6, critique at 7, lecture than dinner, bed by 10 and do the same again. It works.

This monochromatic study of the cottage of La Ripolina, Buonconvento was done with knife only and a mixture of burnt umber and zinc white. Values are everything. The sun is on the right and close to the horizon, shadows are deep and long, the sky reflected and scattered light. It was a challenge but fun.

This painting was done in a small stream near Montalcino in the morning with the sun on the left lighting up the right side of the stream bank and the tops of the trees. The greens contains chrome green which give a mint tone, a softer color.

This paint is the same scene but afternoon and the sun has move over to the right and now the left side is illuminated. It works well.

In Buonconvento, Italy

2009-05-08T07:57:00.007-04:00

Well I made to Italy yesterday after a very full day of travel and hanging around airports. All flights were on time or slightly ahead of schedule including the Air France through North West Air to Paris. This flight was interesting about an hour from Paris when a very noise vibration seemed to come from the right engine of the Boeing 777 200. Scared the hell out of me but I tried not to show it as did everyone else. We went lower and the thicker air seemed to do the trick and we arrived 15 ahead of schedule. I like 4 engines better than 2! From Paris to Florence in a 4 engine something and I was asleep most of the way. Florence Airport to train station via cab for 21 euros a distance of about 5 crooked miles through town, than on to a train to Siena, which left an hour early, than a connection to Buonconvento after an hour wait. Got in to town about 4 pm, jet lagged, tired, nervious, hungry. I walked to the hotel Gilbellino about a block away by asking directions in very broke Italian and following hand signs. Checked in with Federina with whom I had been emailing with. The room is small but nice with 2 small single beds, a small shower stall with moving partisons and the heat on. I am hot and the air conditioning systems are not on since is still spring and people are cold here. I like it. I got a shower, made contact with Maddine Insalaco and Jone Vinson, whom live about 200 yards down the street, and they suggested a good local ristorante l Pogglioli (I think that is how its spelled). Sea food is in town and had a spigettie with sea food sauce, non tomato, tuscany style and a tub of minestroni soup 20 euros. Could not finish half of it. Way too much for me. Went back to room, figured out how to us 220 v with laptop and connect to the Internet and did some emails home.

Today I have been out and about fighting jet lag with a nice little walk up a country gravel road and took pictures of the country side. Beautiful in an orderly way. I surprised a ring neck pheasent out of the brush. I didn't know Italy had them. Had a wonder lunch of flat noodles with articoke hearts, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes for 6 euros. Back in room catching up on email and will up load some pics I took of the land and a art exhibit at the Museco d'Arte Sacra della Val d' Arbia just down the street.

This work is 14th century, egg tempera on wood panel. The Humility of Mary breast feeding Jesus with two saints watching. Breast feeding is very common in public in Italy and for some reason no one gets upset by it as the nut cases do in the USA.

This is Buoncovento's city hall. 16th century on the Via Casia from Rome to France.

Athens Paint Out

2009-04-22T18:19:00.004-04:00

The big paintout happened. The weather looked like it was going to be bad but it stopped raining, the wind dropped and 33 artists from all over Ohio, Indiana, and West Virgina came and painted. It was the best paintout OPAS has held since the September Competition last year. I painted a grove of Cherry Trees and others did the same or other landmarks around Athens, Ohio.

Two in one day and other things

2009-04-09T21:18:00.004-04:00

Well i did two 9 x12's today of the same subject from the same vantage point. It a crabapple tree that is leafing out with small red flowers. I did the first one at 10 am and the second at 4:40 pm and what a difference the light made on the leaves. I will post a picture later. Experiments in brush strokes and colors.

The big one Red Sun: Blue Snow is will hang in the gift shop at Acenet in Athens, Ohio till June. It is also for sale on the Art of Ohio web site http://www.artofohio.com/home.php?cat=310 along with two others: Jeff's World (shown here) and New Philli Sunrise.

Prepairing for the Italian adventure. Packing and stuffing and reducing weight.

First plein air this year

2009-03-17T12:30:00.002-04:00

St Patrick's Day. Its a beautiful day and I went out this morning to paint a view near by. The sun was very bright and I did not bring my umbrella. Big mistake. No matter how I turned the easel I was always in the sun and my values went to hell in a hand basket. A real scrapper. Too bad. A lesson learned. Hopefully tomorrow I will remember my lesson and produce something better.

Red Sun Blue Snow

2009-03-17T08:06:00.005-04:00

The big painting is finished as far as I am concerned. The ultramarine shadows and cad red spot of a Sun plus a little cad yellow pale mixed with white on the left hand hill set it off. I added a glaze of pale yellow/white with liquin to make a fog mist effect half way up the trees. Had to wait for the paining to dry first.

Trip to Italy

2009-02-19T16:59:00.005-05:00

I am planning to attend a couple of workshops in Italy run by Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Etruscan Places. Its in Tuscany near Siena: Buonconvento and Montalcino. They are a week each but I will be there a month. I want to visit Florence and paint around and bring back some good work. I will be there from May 7 to June 8, 2009. I may Internet and blog from an Internet cafe or coffee house. My computer is staying home. Traveling light and I will disposes of whatever is unnecessary to bring home to save space and weight for paintings clothing included. More info at www.landscapepaintings.com

Rapids on the Hocking

2009-02-19T16:52:00.004-05:00

I did this painting 11 x 14 on canvas panel late summer 2008 while holding a conversation with a gentleman who was waiting for the American Legion bar to open across the street. It is a good example of the left brain not knowing what the right brain is doing. The bar opened just as I finished.

big work

2009-02-19T16:30:00.005-05:00

I have been working on a 30 x 40 inch canvas of a sun rise in fog. Its winter, ice, snow, haze, fog. More difficult than I thought it would be. The picture is the first layout with out detail. More to come.

The Dairy Barn Show: Athens Voices 2009

2009-01-12T18:23:00.001-05:00

The show opened on Friday the 9th at 5 pm and by 6 pm about 150 people had arrived to see about 70 works of which 3 were mine. Many of my friends came and I received many favorable comments and some amazment from those who did not know I painted. The local newspaper, the Saturday Athens Messenger, Jan, 10, 2009, had a front page story with art photo (not mine) and my name was mentioned. It was fun .

A New Year:2009

2009-01-01T08:19:00.001-05:00

Its a new year. A new year to paint much and paint well. A new year to experiment and learn and too apply what I learn on canvas. 200 new paints of all sizes is one of my goals, to sell is another, to attend workshops as often as possible with at least one in Italy. To make art my life for the rest of my life however long t

hat may be. To have a passion that does not burn out but continues to feed on oil, canvas, and work. A new year to live.

My Elysium Fields, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

I have 3 paintings in a show this January, the Athens Voices, 2009 art exhibition at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, Jan 9 - Feb 22, 2009.

The Road to the Old Barn, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

The Crabapple Tree, oil on canvas, 8 x 10, 2008

My Painting in Exhibition

2008-10-29T20:22:00.000-04:00

Three of my oil plein air painting have been accepted for the Dairy Barn Arts Center Athens Voices, 2009 Exhibition, Jan. 9 - Feb. 22, 2009 in Athens, Ohio. This is a judged exhibition as well.

The Crabapple Tree