Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanskgiving. The two paintings here were done a couple of months ago, in Wyoming County...I think on Durfee Road. The first one, "Goldenrod Vista", was done in the early afternoon. It's a 6x12 oil on canvas. I don't know how it looks on your screen, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and am thinking of using it as the basis for a larger studio painting.

The second painting was actually done earlier the same morning, at the same location. It was more of a warm-up painting and while there are some things I like about it, I don't consider it overly successful. It is OK as a study. It's also oil on cavas, 8x10 in size. This is a beautiful location that I plan to return to...it's actually very close to where my painting "Wyoming County Vista" was done (posted in January 2008)

This has been a difficult year painting. I've had to work a lot which has severely cut into painting time. Then about 2 months ago I had a flare-up of a disk problem in my neck...which made it impossible to do much of anything for a while! I think I'm healthy enough now to get back to painting, but of course everything else - including work - has piled up in the meantime. So the viscious cycle continues.

However, on the bright side - part of the reason for the heavier work load is that I will be leaving my desk job early in 2009 (end of January most likely) so that I can devote my time to painting. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. At that point I plan to be updating the blog on a more regular basis - with paintings but also information about what I'm learning along the way. Hopefully it will be useful/interesting to someone.

Now, I have a request - I know there are people looking at the blog...I use a hit counter that reports the number of hits and their general location (but no specific information). A few of you have left comments, but not too many. So - I'm asking for you to write a quick comment, let me know where you're located, if you have a website or blog. Don't feel obligated to say anything about my paintings unless you want to - I'm just interested in who is looking (and I really want to know who keeps checking in from Trinidad and Tobago!)

Chris

Pines Over Rocks

This larger (12x18) pastel required several sessions to complete. The inspiration was, of all places, a highway interchange...where the Lake Ontario Pkwy intersects Manitou Road. There was a very nice field of grass and wildflowers with a clump of pine trees...and a few lonely small pines off to the right. I have a very difficult time with foregrounds and this one was a major challenge. I'm not entirely satisfied with that part, but I do like the painting overall. I may adjust the distant horizon...as I think it would look better if it was level. This painting received a second place (in pastels) award at the most recent SRAG Fall show.

The ever present problem of photographing paintings...this one looks pretty good on my laptop but the colors look a bit too saturated on my CRT (especially the greens). Who knows how it looks to you!

Greece Ridge Mall Show

I will have work on display (and for sale) this Friday (Nov 7) and Saturday (Nov 8) at the SRAG Fall Show at the Greece Ridge Mall (Rt 104, Ridge Road, west of 390 interchange). The show will be open during Mall hours (9:30 am to 9:30 pm both days), and will be located in front of Macys. Stop by and check it out! Over 20 artists from SRAG will be represented. I'll have about 15 pieces at the show, including some that have not yet been posted on this blog.

Unfortunately, for the past month I've been dealing with a back problem that has prevented me from painting (or doing much of anything, for that matter). It's a flare-up of a disk problem in my neck that causes severe pain in my back and left arm, along with numbness and weakness in my left arm. Fortunately I am right-handed! The symptoms have improved considerably but I'm nowhere near 100% yet. I hope to start doing some artwork in the very near future...so check back for new paintings soon (I hope!).