Needed to take a break from the heat of painting Robot head in the direct sun.

Went to my friend Ben's cabin on Canandaigua lake, took the french easel. Hiked down into Tichenor's Gully from Ben's cabin and walked way up Gully to the falls.

Long wet walk but worth it

Setup the easel and got ready to paint.

Twenty minutes in on the painting.

Getting close to being done

Action picture of the old artist painting away

Done

Congratulations on having two of your artworks chosen for the Neighborhood of the Arts traffic utility boxes!

Well tickle me pink!

There was a completion to decorate two TV Cable and two Traffic Control Boxes early this year and I made my submissions and got two jobs awarded.


To do the submissions I went out to the sites and took pictures of the boxes and then came home and using Photoshop, created and wrapped the designs around the images of the boxes. 

Lots of learning, frustrations but it all worked out and I can now do things in Photoshop that I could not do before. Thanks to all the folks on Youtube that post Photoshop tutorials.

Here are the pics that submitted. 

TV cable box seen from the road

Traffic Control Box seen from the road

Dealing with all groups involved with getting permission and engineers was quite involved. The forms and list of materials and rules of how to create the work was also very interesting. I spent more time helping do the applications and dealing with questions than I did doing the work. 

I have a new appreciation for those artists that do public work. EVERYONE has to have input. Amazing.

So I started painting the TV cable box first and I spent a couple of hours just cleaning the box and getting all the stickers and grunge off.

Then the painting started.

Then as I got going a photographer for the local paper stopped by and the next thing we know, Colleen and I are in the paper. 

Utility boxes become public art along University Avenue 

Once an eyesore, a few utility boxes along University Avenue will undergo an extreme makeover.
Three utility boxes along the 1000 block of the street will soon become public art, part of a project by the Neighborhood of the Arts Business Association.
Two local artists have been commissioned by the business association to paint three utility boxes with their own designs. They were chosen after an open call for artists, said Priscilla Auchincloss, president of the assocation.
“It’s an absolutely fantastic idea. Most people are stuck with the utility boxes, and they can get dirty or tagged,” said Doug Steward, one of the artists and responsible for two utility boxes. “They’ll become something to look at when you’re at a stoplight.” Working outside earlier this week when temperatures were in the mid-90s, Steward had to stop earlier than planned because the heat was drying the paint on his palette.
Colleen Virdi is responsible for painting the third utility box. Her design is of silent film actress Mary Louise Brooks, who once lived in a small Goodman Street apartment off University Avenue and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
Artists were given a $400 stipend for each utility box in addition to $125 for supplies, Steward said. Both artists hope to have their utility boxes painted by the end of June. The project was inspired by other neighborhoods in Rochester, Auchincloss said. Other neighborhoods have also painted bus stops.
“The idea is to create interest and appeal from people driving by,” Auchincloss said. “What the city wants, and what we want, is for the public to feel curious and welcome so they will come and explore these neighborhoods.”

I finished the TV cable box and it looks a lot like the image I created with Photoshop.

Then I moved on to the traffic control box and started to paint. Hotter than blazes out there.

The Shoe Factory Art Co-op 2012 August Art Exhibit "Crow Show"

"Crow Show" Call for artwork relating to crows and ravens.

Well I have been thinking of entering this show even though I will be up in Canada. Perhaps I can drop any accepted artwork off before I leave?

Well I have done one quick painting of a crow.

Crow

Now I'm working on another idea so more on that later.

For Katy

Now that I finished up the paintings for Cara, it was time to have some fun. I remembered that Cara had mentioned that she wanted to get Katy a painting of skulls that she saw at the last art show I was in. Since Katy is getting her PhD.  in anthropology and is specializing in bones, People bones that is. I thought that I would jump in and do a painting for Katy that would fit the bill.

Katy's Skulls - 12" x 5"

 More work.

Katy's Skulls - 12" x 5"

Final.

Katy's Skulls - Done -12" x 5"

Lots of work going on. Here is the first piece.

I promised my very dear friend that I would do primitive paintings of her children many years ago. Painted her son back in 2010 in Nov. and when Katy (older daughter) saw the painting she stated she wanted to be a Queen. Bother Matt could stay a General for all she cared.

Matt as General 13" x 13"

I pulled this painting idea from the following painting.

So for Katy I decided to go with a Scottish Queen since she got her Masters at Edinburgh University.

Here was the starting point.

Mary Queen of Scots 

  Had some photos of Katy taken last summer and I used photo shop and got the following.

Love Photoshop!

Then I got the rough tracing done on my 13" x 13" board and blocked it in.

Didn't like the smile so I  looking at the painting I did not think that Katie's smile would be appropriate for the Queen of Scotland. So I decided to change it out for a different mouth. Needed to keep the everything else, so I found another pic of Katy that I took and then cut and pasted the new mouth over the smiling one.

A little tweak here and there and now I have a new design to use. 

Old picture new mouth ready to be moved about and into place

New mouth in place and sized right. Now to blend it in.

Ready to go!

Then I reworked up the rough painting and got to here.

It just painted its self!

I forwarded it on to my friend's husband and he asked that I use Katy's formal name "Kathryn". I translated her name (Greek spelling) to the Latin version to suit the paintings age ... but not a biggie and I fixed that and finished it off.

Kathryn Queen Of Scotland - 13" x 13"

New painting

Well I've been busy painting but have not been able to post any updates since the subjects of the painting were not to see it till it was done.

So here we go.

My Sister-In-Law and Brother-In-Law's son (Joseph) is engaged to be married to Gabriella. So they wanted me to do a portrait of them. I agreed and they sent this picture to me.

OK, well I had some issues with the background so I made a couple of changes with Photoshop and then we went back and forth a bit. I was using Sylvia Shap's portraits as a starting point. You can find more of her work here Sylvia Shap Contemporary realist portraiture

I liked the figures floating on a solid background of color but everyone seemed to like them to be sitting on something. Needed to add a bit of discordance to add more action to the painting I found a picture that had a niffty couch in it and decided to use the couch as a base for them to sit on.

So Photoshop to the rescue, lopped off the couch and flipped it so the pillow would be next to Gabriella and changed out the background color.

Felt that there might be some concerns with the Gabriella's hair being up so I found some other pics of Gabriella with her hair down and did a quick edit to see if they wanted hair up or down.

Hair up was chosen so the painting started.

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Final 24 inches by 16 inches

Long time no post.

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in posting but... been busy cleaning up from our trip down south and finishing off the kitchen rehab.

In between all the tasks I have been working on four pieces of art for the RoCo 6x6 art show coming up next month. More posts on the trip down south will end up on the Prius Camping for Three Blog later today.

In the meantime here are the 6x6 art bits that I have been working on.

Skull 6x6 inches

Boy's Thoughts 6x6 inches

Girl's Thoughts 6x6 inches

Acrobat 6x6 inches

Hanging out at the Sands of Islamorada

Well we found a nice place that would take dogs here in Islamorada, and Boo loved being off leash and running with other dogs and swimming in the ocean. We checked in at the "Sands of Islamorada" at 11:30AM this morning and got to just hang out all day. Going off to an outside restaurant called the "Islamorada Fish Company" tonight and they will let Boo stay with us on leash at the table. BONUS!

Here is an Osprey her chicks that is roosting on the boat house next to hotel. Really cool. 

Close up zoom.

Here is a quick painting I did of the boat house and the nest.

"Islamorada Fish Company"  

Well not much art work getting done on this road trip

No work but lots of fun!

The pics should speak for themselves but more information can be found at my other Blog:
http://prius-camping.blogspot.com/

Heading down south for a change of scenery and sun

So we are heading down south this week and most of the fun stuff will be on the
Prius Camping for three (Us and the Dog) Blog site but I'm bringing my old college pochade (fancy work for painting) box. So I can use 12 x 16 inch 1/4 inch luan panels to paint on. The night before we left I used the table saw to cut out a bunch at the right size and then gessoed the lot of them.

Here is a pic of them stretched out on the easel to dry.

More later as time and free WI-FI permits. Engoy!

Kitchen Renovation

Well here we are two months into this project and I can really see the end now. I just finish installing and wiring the last of the recessed lights. Then crawled around and used painters caulking to fill any of the gaps in the floor trim and then onto the latter to to the same to the top of the cabinets where the trim touches the ceiling.

Old house painters trick. Then you paint right over with your colour.

Here are the three new recessed lights right by the cabinets 

Here are the three new recessed lights by the Patio door
  

  So the counters are coming in on Thursday and then back splash goes in and .... paint goes on.

Can not wait till this is done so that I can get back to my art work.