I see a painting here!

Taken this morning at Cox Arboretum. I was take by the great hat this lovely lady was wearing. I don't think the Mom brigade walking through the background will make the final cut in the painting though.  Value sketch is next, right now the flowers and the background trees appear to be the same value, if I don't change it the painting will have no depth.  

Huffman Historic District Garden Tour

Thanks to the guy who handed me a flyer yesterday morning at the Second Street Market and told me about the garden tour that happened today in the Huffman Historic District. I saw beautiful homes,  beautiful gardens and met very friendly people who spend a lot of time gardening.  I have a lot of photo references for my watercolor paintings.

Clouds

What a beautiful evening it was yesterday.  The clouds were perfect and the sunlight about 6pm was magnificent!  I could not resist the chance to walk around the Oregon District and snap some reference photos for my paintings.  

Newport, RI Watercolors

This one may need a little value work when I get home but it was getting too hot to finish.

The Lobster Shack where we purchased dinner. It was excellent!

Painting in progress

Love painting outside with my watercolors.  This was Tuesday when I painted at Stroud's Run outside Athens, Ohio.  The picnic tables were a nice luxury!

Landscape watercolor paintings from Stroud's Run State Park

Anyone who has gone to Ohio University down in Athens, Ohio has probably been hiking at Stroud's Run.  I spent Monday and Tuesday there with my watercolors.  What a peaceful place! There was quite a population of Oriole's, not a bird I see in Dayton. Stop by the Gallery 510 during the First Friday art walk to these in person, matted and framed.  

Summer 2011 Workshops with Loretta Puncer

ONE DAY INK & WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP  

June10 · Friday 9-3 · Cost $50

July 15· Friday 9-3 · Cost $50

Ages 16+  Spend the day learning techniques that Loretta uses to make her travel journals using ink drawings and watercolor.  We will meet at her gallery to discuss the basics and then move outside into the gardens of the Oregon District to work with the beautiful light of summer. Lunch and supplies are at student's expense.

ONE DAY STILL LIFE OIL PAINTING WORKSHOP
June 24 ·  Friday 9-3 ·Cost $50

July 22 · Friday 9-3 · Cost $50

Ages 16+  Loretta will do a demonstration painting, explain supplies and discuss the basic techniques of working with oil paint.  Students will work from still life set ups placed around the gallery. Lunch and supplies are at student's expense.

DRAWING STUDIO with Loretta Puncer

Wednesday Mornings - 10am-12noon - $68. a session

June 1, 8,22, 29, July 6, 13. (no class June 15)

Wednesday Evenings - 6:30-8:30pm - $68. a session

June 1, 8,22, 29, July 6, 13. (no class June 15)

Ages 16+

Refine your drawing skills and/or learn new ones.  Whether you're a first-time beginner or an advanced student continuing to refine your skills, this classwill help you see as an artist. Working with pencil and charcoal students use still life set-ups to learn the fundamental skills needed for realistic drawing. Suppliews are at student's expense.

·      All summer classes are held at Gallery 510 Fine Art, Loretta's gallery/studio located in downtown Dayton's Oregon District at 508 East Fifth Street.

·      Parking is available behind the gallery and on Jackson St. just West of the gallery.

·      Registration and payment are required one week prior to class date.  Cash, check, Visa & Mastercard are accepted. Space is limited.

·      Please call Loretta at 937-672-6717 to register. Supply lists are given upon paid registration.

My newest paintings.

2011 Oregon District Calendars

Available at Gallery 510 Fine Art, 510 East Fifth Street, located in the Oregon District.  Call 937-672-6717 for more information.

A Bridal Shower at Gallery 510 Fine Art

Last Saturday evening the gallery was rented for a bridal shower. Here are a few photos of the lovely event. There was gift giving and mingling in the large gallery and food and refreshments in the small gallery... and of course a champagne toast!

Five Small Watercolor Landscapes

Paintings are 4" x 6" mounted and framed 10" x 8", $48. each.

Here's my latest commissioned paintings!

These paintings were commissioned to hang in the conference room of a defense contractor. They are painted on stainless steel and will be framed in a glossy black wood.  The inspiration for the top pair of paintings was the Wright Brothers First Flight.  The bottom piece was created to represent Modern Flight.

Watercolors from La Quinta, CA

Oregon District Holiday Art Walk, Saturday, December 13, noon to 6 p.m.

Get in the holiday spirit as you stroll the galleries, sip cider and check off some of the names on your shopping list during the first Oregon Arts District Holiday Art Walk.

The event runs from noon to 6 p.m, Saturday, December 13. Enjoy lunch beforehand or dinner afterward at one of the district's many fine restaurants and taverns.

Gallery 510 Fine Art will host special events during the Holiday Art Walk:

1 to 3 p.m.: Cathy Jeffers will demonstrate felting. Guests also may make and take a felt ornament during this time for a $15. fee, which includes all the supplies to create one or two ornaments, a felting needle and block, and instruction from Cathy.

2 to 4 p.m.: Curt Dalton will sign his new book about the history of the Dayton Arcade, his 32nd book on Dayton history.  All proceeds from the $25. purchase price of the book, as well as any sales of $5 Dayton Arcade book bags, will be donated to the "Save the Arcade" effort.

4 to 6 p.m.: Gallery owner Loretta Puncer will demonstrate oil painting. Pears and apples are Loretta's favorite subjects for her small-scale oil paintings. She will create a painting from start to finish, and guests will have an opportunity to ask questions. Her new schedule of classes also will be available.

Panel Discussion on visual performance

Add some food for thought to your Thanksgiving weekend.  An artists' panel discussion on visual performance, "Physical Endurance and Extended Time," will be held at 7p.m. this Friday, Nov. 28, at Gallery 510 Fine Art, 510 E. Fifth St.

The discussion is being held in conjunction with the visual performance art exhibit "Approaching Metronome" at Goloka gallery, in which sculptor and painter Ryan McCullough is seeking to discover the space where sensory deprivation, identity and social expression intersect by becoming the very concept his art aims to explore. On Nov. 7, a sensory-deprived McCullough - outfitted with industrial earplugs and his eyes covered - began a residency in the gallery, creating art that was a visual representation of his experiences in his quiet darkness.

McCullough will participate in the panel discussion, along with Landon Crowell, the sculpture technician at Wright State University who has worked on extended time physical endurance art, and Jason Nein, who is in the Master of Fine Arts degree program in sculpture at Ohio University.  Thomas Macaulay of Wright State University will moderate.   

Gallery 510 Fine Art

Hi! I have not posted here for quite a while.  Lots of new things are going on with me and my art.  In October I expanded my gallery into the empty storefront next door.  I tripled the size of the gallery to 2400 sq. ft.  Part of the reason for doing this was to have more room to teach workshops.  I now have a space at the rear of the new gallery dedicated to teaching.  I also have room to showcase more of my artwork as well as the artwork of other wonderful artists.  

Currently on exhibit at Gallery 510 Fine Art are 20 of the watercolor paintings I did over the summer.  They are of the homes in the adjacent Oregon Historic District neighborhood. While I was painting a friend on mine, Doug Taylor, was taking photographs of the same locations and those photos are hanging with my paintings thru the month of November.

Gallery 510 Fine Art also has a wonderful group of paintings by Dayton artist and educator Curtis Barnes Sr.  The show is a preview exhibit for his upcoming retrospective at the University of Dayton December 9, 2008 thru January 30, 2009.  We have 23 of Mr. Barnes paintings, many of them recent 2008 canvases.

Gallery 510 Fine Art has many great holiday gifts...paintings, photographs, sculptures, fine pottery, handmade jewelry, art quilts, greeting cards, handcrafted natural soaps.  Please plan on stopping in sometime soon.  Gallery hours are Wed, Thu & Sat. 12-5, Fri 3-8 & by appointment.  Plan to lunch at Dublin Pub, Trolley Stop, Blind Bob's, Pacchia, Oregon Express or Thia 9 and stop by the gallery for a visit!

Miami for the Weekend!

I'm heading down to Miami, Florida for the weekend, if I can get there through the snow and ice.  I want to see what the art scene is like in the Wynwood Arts District. A fellow artist has recommended that I visit the Steve Martin Gallery.  They have an interesting website www.stevemartinfineart.com. I am "stuck" as some people say in a non-productive funk and I need some new inspiration.  I'm sure the sun and surf will help things along as well as looking at some new and different art. 

Car Painting Number 4

Done! Delivered to the framer a few days ago.  I've been working on this commission for the last year and I just finished the fourth of five large car paintings.  

As I'm working on them I feel frantic that I am never going to finish but you get to a certain point and you know you are just about there.  The hard part about realistic painting is that there is no set time schedule.  You can think that just because it took you 2 months to finish the last painting that it will take the same amount of time to finish the next one of similar size and detail, but art never works that way.  Each painting is its own entity with its own life and it takes its time being born.  It leads you along at its own pace and after you've sweated and struggled and sworn that you need to find an easier way to make a living, it enfolds you in its arms and says, "Yes, this is working and feeling very, very fine indeed!"

And so I begin a new painting!

Firmament, acrylic on canvas, 11"x14"x1-1/2", $95.