Plein Air Alms Park

Continuing SWOPA's tour of regional parks, this is a painting of "Pavilion– Alms Park", 9x12, oil on canvas panel.

Overlooking the Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood in eastern Cincinnati, this park sits on the hill's brow with views up and down the Ohio River and Lunken Airport. The pavilion is built from local limestone and is very appropriately Tuscan in flavor.

Trumpet Flowers 3

I'm going out to paint with the SWOPA group this afternoon at Alms Park in Cincinnati, but before I do that, I wanted to finish this 8x10, oil on canvas.

The Trumpet Flower Series is a group of paintings that are like close-ups from the Fence Row Series. I started painting these trumpet flowers just after doing some research for one of my stained glass windows. They are a native species to this region and can be found climbing over fence rows and up telephone poles out in the rural areas around here. The humming birds love them and they bloom for an extended period, from about mid-June till the end of August.

Going Backward– Beckett Ponds 28

Just off the easel and waiting for the heavy white paint to dry… Beckett Ponds 28, 42" x 54", oil on canvas. This one may be too big for me to frame, so I just painted the edges of the canvas. Don't know where it's going either, but it better be a big spot. We only have one wall in our house where I can hang it. Maybe it needs to go straight to the gallery?

Plein Air with SWOPA

Out today in the swelter at Mt. Storm Park in Cincinnati. Not many of the SWOPA people made it today, much too hot. I found a shady place under some trees and painted the "Temple of Love".


That gazebo-pavilion is all that remains of Robert Bowler’s once grand 19th-century estate; it was designed in 1850 by Adolph Strauch, former supervisor of the Imperial Gardens in Vienna and designer of Spring Grove cemetery. In his magnificent home (razed in 1917) Bowler entertained the Prince of Wales, Charles Dickens and other 19th-century celebrities.

Jumping Ahead

This is Beckett Ponds 29, which if you're following this blog, is out of sequence. That's because Beckett Ponds 28 is taking some extra time. I've worked on 29 over the last three sessions at the Mason Area Painters and finished it this last Monday. It's a 8x10, oil on canvas panel and looks to be a bit more "bright" than the other small painting in this series.

I don't usually show my work in process, but here is Beckett Ponds 28, 42x54, oil on canvas. It's taking a bit longer to complete than I thought. I keep plugging away at several lily leaves per day. Once I get all the canvas covered I'll start balancing the color across the work. I hope about another week will do it!

Plein Air with SWOPA

Thursday afternoon and evening I was out painting with the Southwest Ohio Plein Air group at Devou Park in Covington, KY. I decided not to try to paint the famous view of downtown Cincinnati from the lookout there, because the humidity and smog was so bad. Everything looked like it was in a fog. Also, there was very little shade to paint from and with temps in the 90's I didn't want to fry.

I found a position under some trees just off the green for hole #2 of the golf course. This is the view of a knob with trees, with the green out of view below and to the right of the painting. Foreground left are the women's tees for hole #8, with the men's tee to the right of the cart path jog and out of the painting. The seventh green is below the silhouetted tree, with the ornamental grass between it and the cart path at top right.

I set the timing of this "View Across 2 and 8", 12" x 16", Oil on Canvas, at about 6:00P, about two hours into the session. The area was all almost in direct shadow, but secondary lighting came from the glowing haze in the air.

Beckett Ponds 27

This just finished 24" x 36" painting harkens back to the first of the Beckett Ponds Series... painting water surface reflections with just a few lily pads to anchor them to reality.