Yes, this will be Final Friday

Hard to believe it's almost Final Friday again but I spent most of the day clearning and rearranging the studio in preparation for March 26.

Work on the new Krippendorf Lodge painting for the Cincinnati Nature Center benefit April 30 is progressing nicely.

Today, I laid down the shadow layer in oils over my pencil drawing and tomorrow will begin lifting out light with a kneaded eraser. Many thanks to C. F. Payne for demonstrating some of these multimedia techniques.

With the success of the Laurel Court painting, I'm encouraged to do more of this style work.

Last Friday night, I was captivated by DeVere Burt's presentation on John James Audubon. I had no idea JJ was the first director of what is now the Cincinnati Historical Museum. Nor did I know his original Birds of America was about 2 x 3 ft. and sold for $1,000.

But I was glad to learn Cincinnati has one and that it's on display in the downtown Public Library. DeVere told the Cincinnati Art Club that every day they turn a page so you can see a different one of the 400+ illustrations. So I decided that whenever I'm downtown, I'm going to pop in and see Audubon's "bird of the day." Today it was a yellow breasted warbler; beautiful!

Kind of interesting that at the same time I'm learning this info, I'm also out hiking and bird-watching myself for the first time; hmmm.

Winter Wildflowers: Looking and Seeing vs. Painting

If you've ever lived in this part of southwestern Ohio, you've seen scenes like this photo before. And even though I've seen many different paintings and photos of this subject before, I was inspired by the sight on Saturday.

I keep track of how many hours I paint, and how many hours I walk outside, each day. Sometimes those facts can be discouraging. But despite painting fewer hours than I planned Saturday March 13, I did walk outside in the rain and had a successful day as an artist, despite not painting very much.

Let me explain. I am learning that time spent looking and seeing is just as important to my work as putting brush to canvas. I've always been kind of a "fair weather" walker, so I really had to push myself to go out Saturday afternoon. But I'm so glad I did! I'd never been to Withrow Nature Preserve on Five Mile Rd. and will definitely go back there. There's a lovely home on the property that was deeded to the Hamilton County Park district and I toured it and took some great photos for future painting reference.

As you can see from the photo I took of the river, it was a cold, wet, gloomy day: pretty typical of Ohio in March. But when I got down into the forest on the trail, the canopy of trees kept me pretty dry and I couldn't believe all the colorful wildflowers I saw blooming! The naturalist had showed me photos of what to look for and I saw every one: bright yellow, soft Lenten rose, white snowflake and snow drops. They looked especially beautiful I think because they were wet, like seashells look better wet on their beach than they do when I get them home.

Then I got a magical surprise. I saw something large and white flying through the trees in front of me and thought it was some kind of bird, only to realize it was the huge white tail of a deer and then I saw more than half a dozen of them. Their tails were huge and white; they looked like the plumes on marching band helmets. There are definitely some great places in this park to paint when the weather gets nicer. And I am actually inspired to try to paint the more subtle beauty of these river scenes, and I never thought I would be.

Stay tuned for my progress on the large acrylic painting I'm finishing of the John Roebling Bridge. And for more work employing the multi-media techniques I learned from C.F. Payne, like those used in my Laurel Court painting. I'm thrilled that sold as a result of the Cincinnati Art Club show, which runs through this Sunday. So I started a painting today of the Krippendorf Lodge at the Cincinnati Nature Center, hoping to finish in time to sell it at the "Nature's Symphony" benefit on April 30.

Laurel Court at the Cincinnati Art Club

The Cincinnati Art Club put my mixed media painting of Laurel Court on their invitations to the Associate Members' show opening next Friday night; yay!

The Club is located at the base of Mt. Adams near downtown Cincinnati on 1021 Parkside Place. There will be a nice party there Friday March 12 and I will be there personally from 6-7 pm. Please stop by and say hello if you can!

If you've never been to Laurel Court, on the West side at 5780 Belmont Avenue (next to McAuley high school), it's well worth a visit. My friends and I toured the home and gardens last spring; they are available to rent for events like parties and wedding receptions.

This house rests on the highest point in Hamilton County. It was built 100 years ago by Peter Thomson, the founder of Champion Paper and is now owned and operated by the Moyer family, who can be reached at info@laurelcourt.com, (513) 542-2000, or http://www.laurelcourt.com/.

Resembling the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's home in France, the Beaux-arts designed home has 36 rooms and nearly 20,000 square feet. The grounds include a formal French garden with marble statuary and carved stone balustrades, a Japanese garden with Koi ponds, and a pool near a wisteria-covered pergola.

Cincinnatians may remember this house as a former LaRosa's corporate headquarters or Archdiocese residence.

The Cincinnati Art Club is also more than a hundred years old and famous artists such as Frank Duveneck, Henry Farny and Joseph Henry Sharp were members.

Was it finished?

We had a really good Final Friday at the Pendleton Art Center on Feb 26; so much so that I had this painting on the easel but never got a chance to work on it!

I haven't touched this since I first started it at Performance Lexus last September for the Mason Arts Festival Kickoff and now I'm eager to get it done.

It was interesting though. Two different people who saw this Friday night told me they thought it was finished and that they liked it!

I don't know about other artists but for me, knowing when a painting is truly "finished" is one of the most difficult things. Often when going back into working on a painting like this, I'll ruin the quality that I liked about it most before starting up again. In fact, the home portrait I finally finished last Thursday was like that; I kept going back and back and back to it trying to regain the freshness and the qualities I failed to preserve when finishing it off.

To see today's work on "The Roebling Bridge," check out my Facebook page. I don't think I'm finished with this one yet, so you'll probably see it here again sometime in the coming weeks.