Art Shows and April Antics

This past weekend I was involved in 2 Art Festivals. Art in the Park in Fontana, Ca. and Art on State Street in Redlands, Ca. You sure meet a lot of interesting people at these Festivals and you get a lot of questions. Both days the weather was absolutely beautiful. While at the Fontana Festival they like you to be creative so the people can watch you work. I started this oil painting of April. This will be the second in a series of 12 x 12 inch paintings of April called "April Antics". The first is one I showed a month ago in my blog called "April in the Comforter". I want to paint as many as I can of her as time allows. She has so many crazy things that she does. This one is in her hibiscus bush in my garden. She goes under the bush (it is huge) and sticks her head out from the leaves and flowers and just stands there. She also has another bush in the house that she seems to love and will stand in that bush for quite sometime. We can't think of any reasons why she does this other than the leaves might tickle her back and it feels good. Enjoy the art, until next time. Terry

Banning, California

This weekend my plein air group PAAR painted in the little town of Banning, Ca. This little town is nestled right below the San Gorgonio mountains. I knew it was there but never realized how beautiful it is and how many places there are to paint. The event started on Friday. It was very cold from what I understand and some of the artist painted from inside art galleries to keep warm. The local art galleries and artist were very happy to see us there, visit with us and share their stories. I didn't get to paint on Friday, this was my day to pick up my dog Tootsie from the vet clinic in Woodland Hills. She had been there for 1 week under the watchful eye until she was ready to be bred. She was bred to a one of my most favorite afghans of all time. Ch. Shylo Marquis Malachite. I believe he is her 4 great grand sire. So everyone keep your finger crossed that the breeding took and we will be having babies in Jan. Now onto Saturday. Saturday was the second day of the event and I arrived around 7:30 in the morning. It was cold. I had dressed for the occasion and brought my gloves and hat to be sure and stay as warm as I could in the open air. I drove around town to the different sites that the Art Alliance had given us to paint. While standing next to the Methodist Church I spotted a very small Catholic church in the distance. The fog was in, but it would move up and down the mountains in the back ground. I managed to paint the first 2 sets, but there are mountains even further behind but they were not there in the morning. I noticed them in the afternoon. Here is the morning painting. The second painting is Ramsey st. The famous Fox Theatre, built in 1904, still stands. Although they say they have remodeled it inside the outside they have tried to keep. Another spot on this painting is the red building in the far distance. Copeland House, this was on the list too. So I managed to get 2 important building in one spot. After painting and freezing most of the day we all stopped at the local Chinese restaurant for hot tea and soup. It was delicious and fun to discuss every one's day. Sunday I returned around 9 a.m. I met up with Luz and we went over to paint the Banning Women's Club. I don't have a photo of that painting. At 1 p.m. the Women's Club put on a very nice lunch in our honor. I had to give a speech about our club and thank all the participants. I think I am a much better artist than speech giver! But I got through it. Eddie had told me to write some things down, boy was I glad I did. When they called my name and I started walking to the front I think my brain went on hold. Luckily after starting I felt more comfortable and got through it. After the luncheon all the artist were asked to bring their paintings to Banning Center of the arts. Today was the opening for the show that is up there (see previous post about animal paintings to see what I have in the show) and to set up our paintings on their patio for all to enjoy. While there the Mayor came (I cannot believe she is only 30) and gave us a certificate thanking us for the the time we gave their city and a nice certificate from the Riverside Board of Supervisors. She then asked if it were possible that all of the paintings could be hung at the City Hall. So that is why I don't have a photo of the painting I did today. But here is my second painting from the first day. "The Fox Theatre". What a fun way to spend a weekend. I look forward to painting in Banning again real soon.

Enjoy the ART! Terry

Some doggie and kitty paintings

Banning Center for the Arts is having a 6 week long show starting Nov. 2, which will feature the artwork of animals done by local artists. These are 4 paintings I did for the occasion. I will also have on display "Cover Boy" and "My Brass Bed".

More University of Redlands Paintings

This was the first day of painting at the University of Redlands Centennial Celebration. I should say the first day for me. The event started on Sat. I was up north at the Northern Afghan Hound Club Specialty show where Apache was awarded an award of Merit by judge Ed Gilbert. The following day judged by Edith Hanson, Chief was awarded reserve winners dog. It was a very nice weekend. Matthew and his girlfriend Taylor joined Abbe, Bruce, Bobby and me on Sat. evening for dinner and then came back to spend the next day with us at the dog show. This was Taylor's first dog show and I am sure an eye opening experience. Anyway Eddie had called to tell me the fires had started in Malibu and that I needed to be sure and check when I got to Abbe's in Santa Barbara if the freeway was open before I tried to come on home. I really wanted to get home Sunday night as I had life drawing class on Monday morning and I needed to get ready for the Paint Out at the University. When we arrived at Abbe the 101 was still open so I headed out. The wind was blowing so bad. By the time I got to the 210 which is after Pasadena the wind was blowing so bad that I saw 5 big wheelers turned over on their side. This was after midnight, so one could say I was getting really frightened. Signs were blowing, debris from everywhere. I just held onto the stirring wheel and made it home. I was saying my prayers. Now back to the Paint out. The first 3 paintings were the first day. You can see that there were no mountains in the back ground as compared to the same views I had painted a couple weeks before. You can go back in the blog and view these. It was so strange how the sky constantly changed colors. In Redlands we don't usually get the winds. The winds are all around us and the Arrowhead fires were right behind these buildings. At night you could see the flames. It was very scary. So we painted all day. The next morning I wanted to arrive at 6:30 as I thought early morning looking East I could at least get some colorful skies. That was the painting I did in the previous blog named "Rose Garden at Sunrise". After the Rose Garden I met up with my friend Pat and we liked the trees as they were turning Fall colors against the roof tops and the clock tower. By this time the smoke was very bad. We had to paint with masks on. The ash was floating around, it was unbelievable. Remember on a clear day this setting has beautiful mountain scenery behind them. That afternoon after a bunch of us PAAR painters met at the commons for lunch and rest. We walked around and looked at different views to paint. I decided to call it a day. I was very tired. On Thursday I got out to paint around 8 a.m. I had remembered the beautiful light the morning before on the Larsen Hall and was hoping the sun would peak through again, this is the painting with the dome, so I set up on the quad at the University and looked up the street to paint the dome and the way the nice shadows were hitting this particular side of the building. After lunch a few of us decided to go back to my house and rest before painting our last painting of the day. This painting is on the blog before this, named "Sunset at the Alumni House". Eddie thought it would be nice for me to invite the PAAR group over on Friday morning after take in of our paintings for the GALA Friday night, as many of our members come from quite a ways away. Here is a photo of some of the group who came over to spend the day before the Gala and in between an Artist luncheon that they had at the University for us. Also a photo of my booth which was set up on Sat. for a sale of the weeks work and some paintings I had done of some surrounding areas of Redlands. I also had available ceramic tiles, music boxes and note cards. It was a great selling day for all. Ceramic tiles, music boxes, note cards of the paintings and some of the paintings are still available. If you are interested be sure to contact me at shacone@aol.com. Well thanks for listening about my week, it was a great time and I only wish Redland's University would make this an annual event. Terry

U of R paintings

Well the week is over and I am beat. I wanted to try and get a couple paintings up for your viewing this morning before I leave for my life drawing class. The paint out was a huge success. Over 75 Plein Air painters from all around took part and what an exhibit/show we had. The fires in southern California did not stop the juices from flowing from the artist who set out to paint no matter the circumstances they had to overcome. I was not able to paint on the weekend so I didn't get one painting with a blue sky or with a clear view of the mountains that are so beautiful behind the gorgeous buildings at the University of Redlands. I did paint some paintings previously and I will put them up along with the new ones so you can see what I am talking about. The 2 paintings here were my choices for the art show. I painted the first one "Rose Garden at Sunrise" on Wed. morning. I wanted to try and get a beautiful sky and a hint at the mountains from the south east corner looking out over the rose garden. I got there at 6:30 a.m. and set up and waited patiently for the sun to start its way up. It was everything I had hoped for. The colors were remarkable and I just love the vista in this painting. The second painting was on the very last day of the paint out. A few of the painters were getting really tired by this time and I said lets take a break and go to my house. After the break we left around 4 p.m. back to the University. I had in mind what I wanted to capture in my last painting until I took the back way into the University. I wheeled my car around when I saw this view and set up on the northeast corner of Colton Ave. overlooking the entrance and the Alumni house in the distance. The beautiful sky captured the moment as the sun was setting. This is "Alumni House at Sunset". I will post the rest of the paintings later today and tomorrow so you can see them all. I did 7 paintings in 3 days. Any questions, please ask. Until then, Terry

Chapel Tower w/flags

Today is October 7. 2007 and 2 weeks away from the Redland's University Centennial. I woke up and the sun was shining, the sky was really blue. My son Matthew is here visiting from Monterrey and he and his dad went out golfing. They left around 6 a.m. I fell back asleep and woke up after 8. I jumped up, hurried to get everything ready and was at the University a little past 9 a.m. I wanted to get a painting done before my guys called me that they were home from golf, so I figured I had a couple of hours. I drove around the campus and notice how beautiful the full length column flags were against the crisp blue natural sky on the Chapel Tower. It was begging me to paint. I know I have done the tower twice before, but never had I actually noticed this corner view from the administration building up on the hill looking across the campus with the beautiful San Bernardino mountains in the back ground. The only difference in the flag view and the view I was seeing was the mountains in the flags have snow on them. This is beautiful in the winter time and I need to go paint this view after a snow fall. I set up and began to paint. At first I could not get the mountains the right color and I kept working. They were rosy color against the blue mountains in the background and they also had some gold color in them. I scraped the paint off once and started over and finally got the result I wanted. After finishing the painting and feeling quite satisfied, Matthew called and said they were home. I said I will be there in 5 minutes I am just finishing up. I finished up the clock on the tower and started to pack up. Low and behold when I went to grab the painting off the easel it fell hitting the easel in several spots but I saved it from hitting the ground. Well the 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes, but I manged to save the painting. On my way home, my friend Pat called to see if I had any paintings in the Stage Coach days in Banning. She said they had called her to come pick hers up as the wind was blowing so bad the tents were unstable and flying everywhere. When I got home, my friend Ada called, said she heard I was out painting and she said in Riverside the wind was blowing just terrible. I could not believe how beautiful it was in Redlands. No wind to be found. Often time when the wind is blowing in surrounding areas we are just as calm as can be. I think it is these beautiful mountains that surround the community. Enjoy the painting and the beautiful Redlands view, I know I enjoyed creating it. Terry

Moving Afghan Hound

I got up this morning hoping to go painting in Plein Aire at the University, but it was windy, cold and trying to spit rain. I worked a bit on the computer getting packages ready to send to customers for the week. I then decided to watch a new video I had ordered from Susan Sarback. Susan is my mentor when it comes to painting with the palate knife. I have taken 2 workshops with her in the past and she actually started me using the palate knife. She has always said to me that I can paint my dogs with a palate knife but I have never given it a try from start to finish. Most of the time I might use the palate knife to finish up a painting for highlights and edges. So watching the video was very inspirational. I then found an 11 x 14 canvas and a photo of Apache that Wynne Kalish took at the 2006 nationals and started in painting with my knife. I got about 1/3 done and thought this is just awful. The paint was going nowhere. I then decided to step back and take a look at where I was going wrong. Trying to remember the steps I take to create a painting in Plein Aire, I started painting shapes instead of painting the dog. Got all the ground work in using the masses that I was seeing, painting the lights with warm colors and the darks with cool colors. Guess what it worked. I am very proud I finally did this technique that so many have said I should try. The photo does not really show you all the colors that I used, you will have to take my word that it is very colorful in real life. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it. Terry