Helen's Sunflowers

Helen's Sunflowers, oil on canvas, 20"x28", $495.

Here is the finished sunflower painting that I've been working on the last few days. I titled it Helen's Sunflowers because I was with my brother-in-law's Mother, Helen, when I found the flowers. We stopped at Treadway's Gardens south of town and the field of sunflowers was adjacent to the fruit stand. I bought the last five in the vase and the cashier headed for the field to cut more. I'm a sucker for two subjects when it comes to painting and that is pears and sunflowers. I could paint either of them everyday and not get tired of them. The painting is hanging in the window of Art in Motion at Town & Country next to BW3's restaurant.

Today I am headed downtown to the Cannery. Our monthly "First Friday" open house is coming up this Friday, August 3, from 5-10pm. I want to rearrange things and add a few new pieces. I will be out of town on Friday so leave me a note in my book if you stop by.

P.S. If you want to leave a comment on my blog all you need to do is place your cursor on top of the word comment at the bottom of the blog and click. It should open a window that allows you to post a comment.

The Sunflower Painting

Here is a photo of the results of the first layer of painting for the sunflowers. I have the canvas completely covered with a first layer of paint. I like the composition...where everything is placed. It has dried overnight so that today I can go back into it and add a second layer of paint which will clarify and define all of the edges. I will try to finish the flowers and leaves because they will be starting to die off by tomorrow. I can leave the background for last as it won't change on me like the living things will.

Sunflowers

I always like to have four to five paintings in the works, all at different stages of development. That way you never get stuck. If you run into a problem with one painting you just put it aside and work on another. I believe that putting paintings aside gives you a chance to mull things over and come back with fresh eyes and ways to solve problems. I had to make a trip to Cincinnati today. On the way home I stopped at Treadway Gardens and bought some sunflowers that were just cut from the field. They were the ones with the bright yellow centers. I stuck them in a great metal pitcher that I found last week and got a new painting underway. I will work on it tomorrow first thing because the leaves on sunflowers only last a few days before they start to schrivel up.

I attended the artists meeting tonight at the Cannery Art & Design Center. The gallery space there has just undergone some remodeling which is now complete. It's a great place to view art. The space is now filled with about 35 artists. Our next open house "First Friday" event is coming up on Friday, August 3 from 5-10pm.

A New Painting

Yesterday I started a big canvas using a photo that I took in Portofino, Italy. I always begin a painting by drawing with a filbert paint brush using a lot of turp and french ultramarine blue or raw sienna. I outline and place everything this way. It is very easy to erase it if it is not in the right place. I got about half way finished with the drawing and plan to finish it today. This is the hard part... getting everything in the right place...you can't move on until it looks right...it's harder to change later so you better work with it now while it's easier to fix...then the fun begins when you get to add color.

Plein air painting at Lake Loramie

These were all painted up north, near Sidney, Ohio at a beautiful state park, Lake Loramie. It is a good exercise to set up and paint outside. The detail that you see when you are looking at the real thing is different than painting from a photograph. It trains your eye to see the important characteristics of a place. It also helps you learn to paint quickly.

What I'm working on today: I have 2 students coming for portfolio sessions. I help them compile a portfolio for college admission. Then I am headed over to the studio space at Town & Country to paint.

All set up and no canvas!

You've heard the expression, "All dressed up and no place to go!", well how about "All set up and no canvas to paint on!. I headed over to the Art in Motion space at Town & Country Shopping Center to paint. I was careful to seatbelt the sunflowers in the front seat so that they didn't get smashed in transport, I grabbed a spot light and a background cloth as well as all my usual painting supplies, set everything up, looked around for the canvas and realized that I had failed to retrieve one from the pile at home. See... we artists have problems just like everyone else.

"Art in Motion" is a temporary space that is being used to create art. It is a place where artists and the public can interact and share ideas about making art. We are in the process of publishing a calendar of events that will include art demonstrations, workshops, performance art, music, book club gatherings, art club gatherings. If you want the calendar sent to you by email please drop me a line with your address. If you or anyone you know is interested in making art in this space let me know that also and I will put you in touch with "the man".

"Art in Motion" is located in the Town & Country Shopping at the corner of Far Hills and Stroop Rd. in Kettering, Ohio. It is in the center on the mall, just east of the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant. Stop by and visit.

New Painting of Peaches!

"Peaches caught in a blue patterend room", oil on canvas, 10"x8", $75.

I decided to do another small fruit study to get back into the painting mode after being on the road for three weeks. At first I was not going to paint the busy pattern of the napkin that these peaches were resting on but then I thought why not give it a try. You can always change an oil painting if you don't like it. You just grab your palette knife and start scraping it out. My challenge was to paint the pattern on the back wall flat, as it was in the napkin, but to give that sense of foreshortening to the surface that the peaches are resting on so the pattern becomes distorted. Otherwise, it would look like the peaches are floating in the air. I think I did acheive this. These are the little things that I like working on when I do a small study. I can finish a painting in a couple of hours and then take what I learned to my larger and more complex paintings.

What I'm working on today; I printed out some of my travel photos and plan to begin some oil studies. I will be working 14"x11" and the ones that I really like I will paint larger ones of. I'm setting up on my driveway because the weather is so gorgeous. Stop by and watch me paint if you have a minute.

I started to stretch some 54"x 42" canvases yesterday over at the Town & Country space and hope to convince my daughter to help me finish them today. You really need two people to stretch canvas that big. One to pull and one to staple.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting please contact me at 937-672-6717 or lpuncer@woh.rr.com

I'm joining Town & Country Fine Art Gallery!

Several of the artists that share gallery space with me downtown at the Cannery Art & Design Center have asked me to join them south of town at the Town & Country Fine Art Gallery. My work will be hanging there as of Monday, July 16. I will have an official opening sometime soon after I've had a few weeks to produce some work from my recent trip.

Today I am spending the afternoon painting with a friend and great artist, Mike Elsass. He has acquired the use of an empty storefront in Town & Country Shopping Center next to the BW3 restaurant for the next several months. We will be there painting this afternoon from 2-6pm. Stop by if you want to see what we are working on today. Mike is planning to use the space for art encounters with other artists and the general public. He is calling the space "Art in Motion". It will be used for everything from art demonstrations and lectures to slide shows of my world travels. If you know anyone who would like to make use of the space let me know and I will put you in contact with the right person. A calendar of events is being compiled and will be published soon. Let me know if you are interested in the calendar and I will make sure you recieve an email.

I am also publishing Day 4 of my Mediterranean Trip. Scroll back on the blog if you are interested.

I'm home!

This is the last photo that I took from the hotel in Barcelona.
It was a wonderful trip, but I'm always glad to arrive home. I've not readjusted to the time yet which is why I'm blogging at 5am. I will be adding all the missed days to my blogspot and adding photos also. So please go back and take a look.
Favorite big city- Rome. Italy
Favorite small city- Ibiza, Spain
Most picturesque spot- Portofino, Italy
Favorite food- dulce de leche gelato, fresh mozzarella
Favorite drink- sangria
Favorite activity off the ship- Sistine Chapel, visitng the local markets, sitting at an outdoor cafe, people watching
Favorite activity on the ship- dinner; meeting people from other countries; visiting the bridge of the ship; enjoying a glass of wine with my sister, Hubert and Sandy. Sandy and I closed a deal for a commissioned painting for his office in Connecticut!
Favorite view- eating breakfast in my cabin on the ship every morning looking out onto the Mediterranean Sea. Exquisite!
Favorite new experience- getting off the boat onto the tender to go into Portofino. The waves were very high and the tender was really bumping around. Better that a ride at King's Island.