The Karaoke Singer

This is done from a reference photo I took in March of 2010 when I was on my cruise to the Bahamas. A group of us often hung out in the evening in the karaoke lounge, and quite a few folks did get up to sing!

This was Christina Denton, who belted out a fine version of The Beach Boys' "Be True to Your School". I had long hoped to paint this image and show it to Christina. But, sadly, she passed away last year only months after the cruise, as a complication of a minor cosmetic surgery. Our same group will be cruising again in just a little over a week, May 1-7. I'm sure many of us will be thinking of Christina.

Dinner at Dysart's

LOL, after the hustle and bustle of '42nd Street' I needed something more soothing to paint. And what could be more soothing than a nice slice of pumpkin pie topped by freshly whipped cream! I took this photo last summer when I stopped for a meal at Dysart's, a truck stop/restaurant in Bangor, Maine that has been a family favorite for at least 30 years or more. It's not at all fancy or elegant, but serves good home-style food 24x7, 364 days a year (closed only for Christmas).

I stopped and ate there last summer on my way to Canada, and had a nice cup of lobster stew and a lobster roll, followed by this slice of pumpkin pie for dessert, and I just had to take the photos to send to family to show them I was there. Yum, dessert is finished now. Maybe next time I'll paint the lobster stew and roll since I took a photo of that too. :-)

Done on 9x12 art spectrum as usual.

42nd Street

Today was the second day of my 2-day workshop with Frank Federico. Yesterday he had us do landscapes, which was something most of us were familiar with. But today he wanted us to do cityscapes featuring vehicles and people! Everyone in the entire class, all 16 of us, admitted this was *way* out of our comfort zone. Eeek.

But I did bring in a photo that suited the theme, even though I was terrified with its "busyness" - but heck, it was a workshop. Being forced out of your comfort zone is part of what a workshop is all about. So the above is the painting I did from my own reference photo. It's done on my usual 9x12 Art Spectrum, with a pastel and turpenoid underpainting. The scene is 42nd Street in New York City, by Times Square. The three foreground figures on the right are actually my daughter-in-law, my son, and my daughter-in-law's sister.

Interestingly, Frank liked my photo well enough that he asked if he could have a copy, as he said he'd love to paint the scene himself - so I gladly gave him the copy I'd printed from my computer. I'd love to see what he would do with the scene! Way more than I did, that's for sure. :-)

Conch's Point

I'm taking a two-day workshop, today and tomorrow, with Frank Federico. He's a funny guy, great teacher, and like all good artists - seems to make turning out a beautiful painting look so easy! We were all in awe of the demo he did. Then it was our turns. Today we were supposed to do landscapes and tomorrow cityscapes. For my landscape I chose this photo I took a couple weeks ago down in coastal North Carolina, where I was visiting with my sister. This lovely view is just a couple blocks from her house, and I walked down there every morning with my dog Flo.

This was done on a sheet of 9x12 art spectrum, with a pastel and turpenoid underpainting. Now to try to find a cityscape reference photo! Eeek, city paintings are not generally my thing.

Ospreys

I had such a great time birdwatching while visiting with my son and his family in Jacksonville Beach, Florida for Christmas. I especially enjoyed the frequent visits from a pair of ospreys that often flew over the apartment complex. I did my best to take some photos of them, most of which didn't turn out, naturally. LOL. But I finally finished up this painting last night, which is actually an amalgam of two different photos I took. Done on 9x12 art spectrum paper.