Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Strong Cabin

The Strong Cabin is a rental cabin located at the Hogsback Ridge Reservation of Lake Metroparks. It has a great view of the Grand River Valley, and of a pond just down the slope. This setting is about as good as it gets around here, since the topography is rather flat being so close to lake Erie. I think I'll rent this place myself!

Steelhead season


The fisherman in the painting caught two nice steelhead in the two hours I spent at Chagrin River Park. The steel pedestrian bridge over the river is a landmark in the western part of Lake County. More people visit here than in any other Metropark. Most people I've spoken with here have never seen the other great parks of the system. The city folks are missing out!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Sunrise at Arcola Creek

I stepped onto a trail through the marsh and saw the backlit cattails glowing in the morning sun and knew I'd found a scene to paint.
When I was a kid we used to soak these in kerosine and burn them as torches at night.
SOLD

Friday, November 5, 2010

Early morning in Fairport


This view was painted at the Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park, looking up toward the bluffs. It was 36 degrees, and no one was there, preferring their chair in a warm house to a chilly park bench with a great view.
I played at this park in the early 50s when my father was fishing at the nearby pier. Theplace was dirty and sleazy then, but Lake Metroparks now manages it and it is a jewel on the coast of Lake Erie.

Lonely Pine-Riverview Park


This majestic tree resides at the bottom of the hill on the old road leading down to the river at Riverview Park. The sky looked like a blender with the yellows, violets and blues boiling in the morning sun.

Late afternoon-Lakeshore Reserve


Lake Erie was about 100 yards behind me when I painted this at the Lakeshore Reservation of LakeMetroparks. Lots of dogs walk their humans here.

Monday, November 1, 2010

The Doyle Road bridge


While painting this bridge during the Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival last month, about a thousand motorcycles came rumbling down the road and through the bridge.

River Road Winery


This winery was once a church in southern Ohio,where it was dismantled and reassembled in Geneva Twp. by Amish craftsmen.

My father's school revisited

The first time I painted this historic schoolhouse which is now the Lake Metroparks nature learning center, I used an 8" x 10" panel, which I did alla prima in about 2 1/2 hours. This version is 16" x 20", and I went there three days in a row at the same time to get the same light, which took me about eight hours.