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.