I occasionally come across a piece of my art I have not seen in years or decades. Its often like coming across an old friend that I hadn’t even thought about for years. Sometimes its a friend I forgot even existed as in the case of this drawing I did of of my old friend Mark Brown back in the early 80s. I’m not sure why I did it so tiny. Its only 3″ x 3″. I did it with a Bic pen and a little color pencil on tan paper. Mark kept it all these years and just showed it to me. He will be playing at the Horse Show Bar in Medina tonight (10/20/17).

Shawn’s Gate is sponsoring a fundraiser October 7th, in Lewiston, NY. The proceeds are going to Breast Cancer Network of WNY.  Mannequins were given out to artists who did their thing on them and then donated them back to the art auction fund raiser. I only had a vague idea when I started painting mine. It was fun to not plan. I just picked a color and dove in. I made it up as I went along and I did it all in one sitting. The fundraiser will be at 402 Center St. 2-6pm… but you don’t have to be there to bid.  The Art Auction is 2-5:30. Special thanks to Barb Gray of Shawn’s Gates for putting this on.

Of late my creative tools have been hammers, saws and shovels. I figured drawing from a model would give me an opportunity to get back into my groove. I attended a painting session at the Lamp Lighter Gallery in Middleport, NY last night where they had this lovely model. It was good to spend some time with fellow artist both old and new. While others were painting I used the session to get back to the basics and I stayed with drawing. I used pencil and white charcoal on gray mat board. Although the model will hold the same pose for 3 sessions allowing people to complete finished paintings I decided to complete the work in one session. A little on the rough side but a good start I think. I’m not sure what I will do next week.

For the second year in a row I was invited into my third cousin Felicity’s class to share my art. I brought along 5 x 7 cards of one of my drawings and gave them out to the students to paint. I demonstrated how to paint over them in watercolor and then just let them do their own thing. It was a lot of fun and it was interested to see what they came up with. Felicity is the sweet, blonde girl to my right. To my delight the children remembered me from last year and gave me a warm welcome.

In 1994 I was visiting my cousins Keith and Hazel in Whitewell, Wales when they took me to visit the local church near their house. I fell in love with the place. I took photos of the church and vowed to come back the following year and paint it. They took us to the airport and we said our goodbyes.  I would never see our Hazel again as she died suddenly a few weeks later at the age of 47. I returned to the church the following year to find her buried in the churchyard cemetery. I thought of her as drew pictures of the church and the gate wrapping around the graveyard. I later sent prints of the finished works to Keith, Miss Audrey who lived next to the church and a wealthy gentleman who was interested in commissioning some work from me. Last April I revisited the church with Keith who got a hold of the key to the church and let me inside. I was quite pleased to find the two prints I had given to to wealthy man framed and hanging in the foyer of the church.

Keith and Hazel had two children Vern and Debbie who I think dearly of. Debbie was my lovely date at the AT Ball in Chester, England last year. Vern always seemed to have a mischievous gleam in his smiling eyes. He even stayed with us in the States for a bit. He was my go to guy in the UK. I knew I could count on him if I needed anything. I could show up at the airport broke and call him and he would come get me. Sadly, like his mum, he died young unexpectedly and was buried here. I paid my respect to both my cousins. This post is a tribute to them. It was a bitter sweet day for me but I was honored my art had been appreciated so much.

I don’t always scout around for subject matter. Some times I just sit myself down with a sketch pad and look around as was the case here. I was visiting my friends Annie and Leon in White Bluff Tennessee and just walked out there front door and sat myself down on the porch and did a sketch of the scene in front of me. I painted it afterwards using my imagination and memory.

My friend Doug’s dog Crow got all comfy on the couch. I got a quick sketch of him in ink before he moved around. Normally I draw from life and paint from memory or imagination.But in this case I got to paint it from life too. I gifted the painting to Doug who has been a good friend of mine since the early 80’s back in Nashville.

I’ve been on a roll lately in terms of sketching. I’ve been using  permanent ink pens on 9″ x 12″watercolor paper so I can paint them later. I’ve learned to scan the drawings before I paint them so I basically get two images from one piece of art.  It’s something I wished I would have done many years ago. Still, I have many them squirreled away. With the popularity of adult coloring books I wonder if I could some how print my  black and white prints on watercolor paper for others to paint. I could include a colored print of how I painted it so the person could copy it or choose to color it how they see fit. Something to think about.

I came across this oil painting I did back around 1989. I hope to get back to oil painting again.  I have taken the skills I have developed in my watercolors and I’ve turned to acrylics which is also water based.  It’s my hope to eventually get back to working in oils again.

Rob Robinson and I have been friends since the third grade. Over 20 years! We both had our bouts with cancer too. This weekend there will be  a benefit for him in our home town of Medina, New York. I am donating an original pastel in support of the cause. It’s going to be a fun night. Rob is a well respected piano player and plays in several bands and many of his musician friends will be there. So there will be some great live music to go along with the Spaghetti dinner. Bring along your dancing shoes. I hope to see you there!