Saturday, July 27, 2013

Gallery Sneak Peak 4th Friday in Pitman New Jersey



Yesterday I attended  the Sneak Peak or Soft opening at my friend Leigh Meinhart's new gallery
Meinhart’s Gallery & Curio  in Pitman New Jersey. The town has a 4th Friday monthly celebration where stores and the local businesses stay open late and people stroll about like the First Friday celebrations in Old City Philly. Pitman is a cool, chill little town with a lot of quaint and picturesque qualities.

Leigh and I attended PAFA together and when she decided to open her gallery she invited a few of our mutual friends ( and DPC and PPAP members) to show there in the PAFA Alumni Group Show: for Alumni from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.



 Its a nice spot for a gallery and a great space that both Leigh and her fiance Ernest put a lot of work into making the gallery look great. So Alina, Will, Lexi, Danielle and Cynthia all put work in the show.


 
 Leigh, Ernest and Alina put some final touches on things


 

Attendance was light as people were just finding out about the new gallery but the real opening and artist reception will be next week but some happy folks strolled trough and looked at the work and wished everyone good luck.

You couldn't have wished for better weather especially after the brutal heat of the past few weeks. Afterwards we all had a great dinner at Venice Italian Eatery where the owner comped us free appetizers and drinks. I look forward to the official opening next week, so if you are in the area stop by for the  artist reception next Saturday.

                                                                Alina with her work
                                                               Cynthia with her work
                                                              Danielle with her work

                                                                   Lexi with her work

                                                                Leigh with her work



Thursday, July 25, 2013

The Sunny Side

I've been wanting to finish this piece for a few weeks now and finally got around to doing it in the last day. I've been busy with commercial work and teaching so I had a break from painting, but I was excited to get back to it. I've been painting a lot of panel lately and I really like it. In the past it would bug me that at first the work is kind of slippery, as opposed to canvas with sucks the paint right up, but that doesn't seem to bother me now. This is based on a iphone pic I snapped while driving into town one the way to school one morning. I love when the sun slices over the top or through buildings and illuminates something. That golden shaft of light on any surface, but especially old buildings is a joy to try and capture. 16 x 17 Oil on Panel

Saturday, July 20, 2013

PAFA Comic Workshop


 The "Dog Days" of August came early this year as the East Coast was mashed down like a Cuban sandwich on the Bermuda High  for the past week in a heat wave that has lasted over a week at this point. With all this heat going on there was little chance to get out and paint, so its good that this was a week to be inside and teach my annual Summer Cartooning Class at PAFA. This is the third year I have taught this CE class as a week long intensive, and I had the most students take the class as well.



The class was held again in the 611 Drawing Room, which isn't the best room as far as seat wise, as its hard on your back to hunch over those tables. But these are young artists with spry backs. Once again I polled the class on likes and tastes and most of them love Manga with some ( 3-4) Superheroes and even some still reading the comic strips, many read on-line comics too.

 This was also by far the most prolific class I've taught, everybody was cranking out the pages! I usually tell the class that attempting to do 2-3 pages over the course of the week is a lot, but some students did 4 or more pages and the level of the work overall was I think a bit higher as well. I got to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each student, working on their pages, doing drawings to help show how-to do something, often drawing on tracing paper, on their work itself or inking some of their work. I would do a bit of chalk talk but I prefer the students to draw, not watch me yak away as the real way to learn is by doing. I gave out advice on books, like the Loomis books, Famous Artist books, etc. with links to various web sites and tutorial on-line.






Most students inked with markers, but I did get most to try the brush and ink with nibs after I gave them an inking demo.


 There were all kinds of stories, Stories about Cat Bugs, Kids adventuring into old attics, Avenging heroes, teams of Superheroes, Lunch Room Dramas, Re-imagining the Wizard of OZ characters and adventuring of all types. Its always exciting to see growth over the course of the week in the student's work and them bonding with each other as well. Cartoonists stick together!










The class was split pretty evenly between male and female students and there seemed to be a good vibe between them and interest in each others work, even sharing of tools and art supplies.



For some this was their first comic class, and their first comic page, like the story above, and I am always impressed by students like this who just seem to naturally take to the medium of comics and storytelling. Below you can see all of the students who completed the class holding their favorite page or drawing. Teaching a great group of young artists and cartoonist energizes me about art but specifically about the medium of cartooning which I think will be alive and well even if the Direct Market fades away.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

In Early

SOLD!
I decided to take a break from the country and jump back in the city for a painting or two. In Early, Oil on Panel 12 x 12.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Abandoned

SOLD!
This is one of those abandoned house out on Route 1 that I love so much. It looks like they are going to be torn down and turned into another roadside mall of some sort unfortunately. One has already soccumed  to the wrecking ball so I have made an effort to painting these cool places before they are turned into a Qdoba or a Panini. 9 x 12 Oil on Panel

Monday, July 08, 2013

Old Farm House

I came across this old beat up farm house out on my wanderings last week, 11 x 14 on Panel

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Across the Field

Across the Field, 11 x 14 Oil. This is a painting of a pasture in Delaware State Park.