Stark ARThology

The launch party and art gallery opening for the new book Stark ARThology was last night at the Canton Museum of Art. Music, food, beverages, and hundreds of art patrons. The book Stark ARThology was the brainchild of Jessica Bennett and IndigoInk Press to feature the artwork of some of the finest Stark County artists. The book launch gala was well attended and beautifully detailed in the main gallery of the Canton Museum of Art.

Most of the featured artists were in attendance and were there to meet the public and sign books and talk about their work. For me it was great fun and a real rush to have so many people ask for my autograph. The book is a beautiful work of art itself and includes a picture of each artist, a photo of one piece of art from each artist, and a short artist statement and bio. of each artist. My painting "Jungle Moon" will hang in the main gallery of the CMA until the end of the month.

I know what many of my friends and family are getting for Christmas this year.

Cleveland By Hand

Last weekend was the Cleveland By Hand Art Show at the IX Center. It was a successful show, one of my best of the year, and a weekend full of friends, art, food, drama, and fun. Several friends and past clients made the trip to Cleveland to see the show and my new artwork. The art show was very high quality...over 250 artists from all over the country. My booth neighbors were from Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and New York. I had a great time meeting them and getting a close-up look at their amazing art and a glimpse at their creative spirit. Like I've said before, the human factor of these art shows is so powerful and continues to be the most rewarding experience of the shows. Talking to the other artists and learning a little about their life story and their art, remains the highlight of all my art show experiences.

St. James Court Art Show

What an experience !! The St. James Court Art Show lived up to its reputation as being the No. 1 open air art show in the country. The Old Louisville section of Louisville, KY was converted into a three day fine art show featuring 750 + artists from all over the country. The show was spread out over a several block residential neighborhood of the most beautiful homes and mansions that I have ever seen. Each home and garden was more beautiful than the next. We were set up right in their front yards or on the sidewalks and lawns near the street. This was the most impressive art show that I have ever been involved in or that I have ever been to.

As you can imagine, parking was a nightmare but it worked out as I found a nice church parking lot for the three days. The show was actually several shows in one, similar to Ann Arbor, in which each neighborhood had their own set of helpers, volunteers, judges, jury, hosts etc. All the neighborhoods together call themselves the St. James Court Art Show.

I was set up on a beautiful tree lined street called 4th street in front of an impressive three story brick mansion under an old maple tree. There were artists booths on both sides of the street and a street full of art shoppers for three days. At times, there were so many people that the crowd just seemed to stop as they seemed to be unable to move in either direction. Each artist was asigned a host couple that treated us like honored guests. We were given breakfast in the mornings...on Sat. we were asked to have breakfast at one of the residences. We were provided with box lunches and snacks during the day and on Sat. evening we were invited to a wine and appetizer get together for the artists.

During the show, when there was room, I would set up and easel and paint in front of my booth. That was fun and seemed to attract a lot of interest. In fact, I sold two of the paintings right off the easel to a cute couple who paid me before they were finished and came back the next day to pick them up. I also traded one of the paintings that I was working on to an artist across the street who said she loved watching the painting come to life during the day. She makes amazing artsy purses. Now Gail has one of her creations and she has one of my paintings to decorate her home in Florida.

All in all it was a great experience that I won't soon forget. I plan to return next year if I'm accepted again and will be looking forward to exploring other parts of beautiful Louisville,KY. It's a very difficult time to try to make money at selling art. Most of the artists I've talked to are having record low sales this year. Several have said that this year's sales are down as much as 90% from past years. For me, I tell myself often that I must savor the experience... the travel to new and beautiful places, the meeting of new friends and interesting creative people, the amazing art. I have to separate the experience from the sales. Last weekends experience was amazing... the sales were just OK...just enough to meet my expenses for the weekend.....that being said, I came home much richer from St. James Court.

Oh, BTW... on Monday we came home by taking a little side trip down "The Bourbon Trail". We visited several Kentucky Bourbon factories such as Makers Mark, Jim Beam, and Wild Turkey. Beautiful country and what fun...each of these places gave tours and Bourbon tastings !!!

Riverfront Art Festival Columbus Ohio

The Riverfront Art Festival was a fun event full of great art, great music, good friends and good weather. The event was held on the banks of the Scioto River that runs through downtown Columbus. The event coordinator provided activities for the patrons until 10PM...the most spectacular being the WaterFire activity in which fires were lit on the water as music filled the night air. We had a great time with several artist friends ... the quality of the artwork was outstanding... the musical groups were top notch... but the sales were below average for all I talked to. On to Louisville, KY for the St. James Court Art Show in a couple of weeks.

Black Swamp Art Festival

Just back from a weekend in Bowling Green. The Black Swamp Art Festival was a well run high quality event. Very easy load in and load out and close parking for artists. HUGE crowd all three days (Not sure where all the people came from. Bowling Green seems to be out in the middle of nowhere,,,but the people came in big numbers and the sales where good) Top quality artists from all over the country....many of them say that this show is always one of their best for the year. A very talented stained glass artist next to me from Florida sold 15 pieces ($450-$500 each) For me, it was a good show but not my best...a few sales and numerous "Be Backs" that never did. I think they came back and then decided to buy stained glass instead. The sales paid for my expenses and our little weekend trip and that's always my minimum goal...oh well... maybe next week I'll WOW them in Columbus. Next weekend River Front Art show in Columbus.

33rd Annual Lakewood Art Festival

Just got back from the Lakewood Art Festival. What a beautiful day and what a great show. 160 artists from around the country on the main street of downtown Lakewood...on the west side of Cleveland near Lake Erie. The crowds were HUGE. Nonstop flow of appreciative art patrons from 9 am to 6pm. The setup and tear down was easy and the show was well organized and very artist friendly.

We Gallery

This month (Aug. 2010) the WE Gallery on N. High St. Downtown Akron is featuring the work of Joseph Close, Tiffany Marsh, Marcy Axelband, and ME !! The gallery is in a hip downtown club area of Akron and is on the monthly Art Walk circuit of Akron. The gallery is run by two lovely women and is a cool happening place with a wine bar in the back, coffee house and music club in the basement, and the Akron Museum of Art across the street. The area around the gallery has several unique and upscale restaurants.

This month's show includes an eclectic mix of some outstanding artists. Joseph Close is a talented visionary painter/sculpture/poet/creative genius. His work at the show is deep...VERY DEEP... composed of found objects, fabricated metal objects, wood sculptures, paintings, and deep...did I say DEEP ....visual poetry. Joseph is an up and coming superstar in the art world. Tiffany Marsh is a talented painter and owner of Bliss Studio in Canton. Her paintings show a quiet creative spirit ranging from beautiful figurative studies to her raw and earthy abstracts that are my favorites. Macy Axelband is a deep thinking, exceptionally talented painter and owner of the DA Studio in Canton. She creates "stop you in your tracks"paintings that are more powerful than you can sometimes stand. Looking at her paintings sometimes forces you to look deeply into yourself as you are absorbing their power and beauty. And of course I'm there...you know me... with several of my larger paintings.

The We Gallery experience this month is a beautiful creative roller coaster you don't want to miss.

new small square paintings

Here are my newest and smallest mixed media pieces. These are 8 x 8 unframed squares on the cool new Ampersand Artist panels with a 1 1/2 inch profile. They have a smooth fine canvas texture and are very nice to work with. These started out with a heavy gesso texture created with a pallet knife and them layers of yellow oxide, pthalo green. pthalo blue, purple, and burnt umber with layers of gloss medium in between color pairs. After rubbing off and adding more, the final result is a nice mix of all the colors and hues created by the various colors.

Akron Arts Expo

Just finished the Akron Arts Expo at Hardesty Park in Akron. 160 juried artists, food, and entertainment. The weather was killer...90-95 degrees the first two days and on and off thunderstorms throughout the weekend. The crowds were still large and people seemed to have a good time. Seven tents were lost during the first nights severe thunderstorm. Here are a few pictures of my booth and other artists near me.

Newest creation from start to finish

Here's my newest. I started it a couple of days ago. First step was to gesso both sides of the illustration board and apply some interesting texture with heavy gesso and modeling paste using a pallet knife. After drying overnight, I masked off areas in random but pleasing manner. I just "zoned out" listened to the music and taped off some interesting shapes. I then applied some color. Started out with primary yellows and reds and blues and let it dry again overnight. I then removed the tape and added more color and blended it in. Now the hard part...I tinkered with it all day adding and outlining and rubing with alcohol to remove top layers of paint and expose under colors. Finally adding some highlight colors of copper and bronze. The hard part at this point is to know when to stop and to not reach that overworked look. I tried to maintain the look of a spontaneous mix of colors and shapes even though it took me three days.

What do you think? Is it finished? I need a name for it. I'm thinking about matting and framing it under glass. It'll be huge...the board is 30 x 40.

Gervasi Vineyard Art Show

The new Gervasi Vineyard in Canton has established a monthly art show on their beautiful grounds of the winery. The show was first class and attendance was great. It was a beautiful night of art, music, and wine. The next show will be Aug. 16.

Boston Mills Artfest 2010

Had a good show this last weekend at Boston Mills. The quality of the artwork in the show was outstanding. I made some new friends and met some very talented artists. The weather was hot and crowds were good for such a hot weekend. The preview Friday night was fun and the Sat. show was very successful for me. On Sun. the temperature was 92 degrees and a severe thunderstorm kicked up just at the end of the show. I was able to get all my paintings packed up and in the van before the rain but my tent and everything else was soaked. That's the chance you take when you do outdoor shows. We survived and nothing was damaged.

Looking forward to the new Gervasi Winery Art Series starting in a couple of weeks. Check back for details.

6-23-10 Latest one of the "Angel Flight" Series

Well, I think it's finished. The dark brown frame sets it off and it looks cool on my wall. It was hard to get a good picture because of the shiny metallic paint. It looks much better in person. I think I'm finished with this series of star burst "Angel flight" paintings. It was fun trying to create paintings that have energy and movement like the rapid wing beat of a butterfly or an angel spirit. I'll show this painting for the first time at the art show this weekend.

My van is packed and I'll start setting up tomorrow at Boston Mills Art Fest. My plan is to set up the tent and all the display walls tomorrow and then return Friday morning to hang all the paintings. Hoping for good weather and good crowds and good sales.

"Angel Flight - Starburst" Series

Here are the first two "Starbust" paintings in the series mentioned in the last post. The first one in warm browns and orange is called "Angel Flight" and was a demonstration painting at the 2010 Art is Alive Art Show. The painting is now part of the Kristina and Matt Belliveau collection. The second one in blues and white and gold is called "Angel Flight - #3" and is hanging in my living room.