Painting In Assisi, Day One

We arrived in Assisi in the middle of an intense heat wave, and that did affect our choice of painting spots.  If you recall, last summer we had perfect weather and we never left the Comune (the town square).  This year, we were only able to be there the first two mornings.  The weather was very dry, so humidity was not a problem, but the sun was so intense it was impossible to stand in a spot without shade.

We parked ourselves in front of the Minerva Temple as there was a bit of shade there.  Gregg started off the workshop by setting up and then doing a demo for us.

We set our easels up right next to the temple.  It was easy to just go up the steps and sit in the shade for a few minutes when it got too hot.  Many other people had the same idea, so it was a bit crowded, but when you are painting outside you have to expect those things.

This is my easel set up facing the cafe in the square.  They had a big fan that was misting water and we all ran over there a few times to cool off.  Luckily, the shopkeepers in town are very welcoming to artists, so they didn't mind.

This is the block in that I did in the few hours we were out there.  I would have loved to finish it, but it just was not possible.  That happens with outdoor painting and you just have to move on to the next thing.  I do feel like I captured the heat of the day and it will be a nice memory to have, finished or not.

This was our shady spot.  You can see through the columns on the left a stage was being set up.  There is free music all over Assisi and it is such fun to see these shows.  Last year there was a Beatles show taking place while we were painting!

This is the Minerva temple at night.  It is incredibly beautiful and a bit surreal that people are just hanging out on the steps of a structure that is thousands of years old.  I did go inside one day and the interior is beautiful and there is a ton of amazing art work.  You can see free art all over Italy just by going inside the churches.

So that is a recap of my first painting.  We did find a shady spot the next day and we were quite productive there.  I will show you some of those paintings in future posts.

Hope everyone is having a good September 1.  I can't believe summer is almost over :(

I'm Back!

Hello Everyone.  I hope all of you are enjoying these last weeks of summer.  I have to apologize for my unintended blog break.  Unfortunately, I had an accident a few weeks ago and I am just now getting back on my feet.  I hope to be blogging regularly from now on.

One good thing that happened this summer is that I returned to Assisi, Italy for the yearly painting workshop held there by Gregg Kreutz and Art Workshop International.  We had a great time and painted everyday, though in different spots than last year.

I left New York one day early so I could visit Rome.  I had a great time, but it was 95 degrees so I did not do as much walking around as I had hoped.

The newsstand on my corner carries this paper, but it was fun to see it on all the newsstands around Rome #travelgeek

I was having a great time wandering around these little alley ways, but when it was just too hot to stay out any longer, I found a pizza place that advertised air conditioning.  It was really just a couple of fans, but definitely better than nothing, so I went in there to relax and have some pizza.  We have good pizza here in New York, but there is nothing like having pizza in Italy, which I proceeded to do nearly every day of the trip!

The guys who worked in the restaurant were great and we had fun taking pictures.

Back out on the street, I wandered over to a park that was nice and shady.  I came upon this fantastic little place that someone needs to copy here in New York.

The Biblio Bar had books, wine, prosecco, cappuccino, sandwiches and pastries.  It was just the greatest little place.  Even the police came by for a snack!

I think every big city in the world has the same tour buses!

I took this shot of the Vatican on my way back to the hotel.  Luckily, I went there a few years ago because there was no way I could wander around there in the heat.

My painting buddies were waiting for me at the hotel and the next day we traveled on to Assisi to begin the painting workshop.  I actually like two of my plein aire paintings (very unusual for me) and I will tell you about them in my next post.

Glad to be back!!

Plein Air Painting, Flatiron

Last April my painting bestie was in town, and we decided to hit the streets for some outdoor painting.  We set up in the Flatiron neighborhood, just outside of Madison Square Park.  This is a great painting location.  You can see the Empire State Building to the north and the Flatiron building is to the south.  You can also paint in Madison Square Park or on the Fifth Avenue median.  Most important, Eataly is across the street if you need a loo or something delicious to eat.

We set up just outside Madison Square Park in a little area of the street that is closed off to cars.

I somehow neglected to take a photo of the view that I was painting, but I was looking north toward the Empire State Building.  This was my initial block in.

In a landscape, the sky is your background, so that went in first.  It is way too blue, so I spent some time toning it down.

That is me in my classy painting outfit and the end of the Sikh Day Parade (more on that in a minute) in the background.  I'm sorry to say that I did not finish the painting.  The perspective was just not working out and I spent a lot of time trying to get that right.

This is as far as I made it, but I didn't care.  I had a great time painting out there.  Here are a few more photos from the day.  Painting on the busy streets of New York City is not for everyone, but I love it.


It was a gorgeous spring day and the neighborhood was packed.  We had just had a freezing cold spell and it seemed like the entire city was out and about.  Flatiron is always a busy neighborhood, but this Saturday was busier than normal.  The annual Sikh Day Parade was ending in Madison Square Park and three weddings were performed in the park!

Marchers relaxing after the parade

Everyone was out celebrating the fact that it was finally spring!

This guy was running around all over the place with his big peanut :)

We were very excited to see some blooming trees after our never ending winter.

Flatiron building at dusk

We stayed out there until dusk, then headed off to Nanoosh to revive ourselves.  A great day with my great friend.  I'll have some more cityscape painting coming up soon.

A Small Still Life

As regular readers of this blog know, I work on medium to large canvases unless I'm painting outdoors.  But I recently got the urge to do a small still life.  I have to say, it took me as long to paint this little 9x12 as it did the 16x20 before it.

Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten to take a photo of the original set up, but here is my initial block in.

After the block in was completed, I put in the background, then the shadows and color.

I always like to get the entire canvas covered the first day of a painting.  It makes it much easier the for the next time you work on it.

This shot was around day three of this painting.  At this point I got fed up with the pears and replaced them with lemons.  This worked out very well for two reasons.  One, pears are the hardest fruit for me to paint.  Number two is that the lemons provided a good pop of color that the painting needed.  In the photo above I felt everything looked too alike and it did not make for an interesting painting.

I just finished the painting this weekend.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.  It was a bit of a struggle doing a small still life, but it is always good to challenge yourself. However, the new painting I just started is an 18x24 :)

New Paintings

Just a quick note to let everybody know that I photographed all my recent paintings and added the photos to the drop down menus above.  I'll post them here as well.  Hope you like them!

Peonies In A Blue And White Vase, 11x14, oil

Blue And White Vase With Fruit, 12x16, oil

Peaches and Grapes, 12x16, oil

Sunflowers And Apples, 14x18, oil

Brass Teapot With Fruit

Pussy Willows In A Ginger Jar, 18x24, oil

Brass Teapot With Lemons, 12x16, oil

White Pitcher With Fruit, 12x16, oil

2015 Members Showcase at The Art Guild Of Port Washington

Hello Everybody.  I have some big news.  Remember my painting of the pussy willows?  It won first place in The Art Guild Of Port Washington members show!  This is very exciting for me.  The first time I have won first place.  The Art Guild had a lovely garden party reception and we all had a great time.

Pussy Willows In A Ginger Jar (sold!)

Some more paintings in the show and the second place winner.

The weather was perfect for an outdoor reception.

Some of the board members of The Art Guild.  They worked really hard to make this a great day.

Me with Gregg Kreutz and Ilene Silberstein (The Art Guild co-president)

We also had wonderful music by Chris Kennear.  I apologize for this horrible photo!  I snapped it at the end when I was running out of time, but the music was a great addition to the party.

We had a great day and thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen.