Art, art and more art - second installment!

This second installment finally brings me to the present and our latest show which just opened last Friday, this time at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca in their lovely gallery space. The ladies from the church did an excellent job of hanging our art!

Above are Gilbert and Frank getting the space ready for the opening reception.

I had two paintings in this show and several of my photographs. Above is a painting of a male nude I did years ago, displayed in an antique frame an artist friend of mine graciously gifted me with.

The next painting, 'Candles and Bare Branches', I painted specifically for this show after a photo I took during an art gathering at Frank's home this past fall.

The multi-talented (she is also a biologist and she paints beautiful silk scarves) Paulina Melechkina recently created another gorgeous painting titled 'From the Distance'. It shows a Middle Eastern woman, head covered in a scarf and seated before a brilliant blue paisley wall design holding out her freshly hennaed hands.

A call maybe to learn more about a to us very foreign culture we have had all too negative impact on before really understanding it! It was hung next to her portrait of Benazir Bhutto - very appropriately in my opinion! Well, maybe we have a chance to have a more positive effect under the current administration - we can only hope!

Anne Parker Bloom exhibited a series of paintings representing the progression of the numbers 1-6 as expressed by groups of people she painted during her journeys in New Mexico and South America. Here is 'Four in Olde Towne', 4 older gents relaxing in the shade of a park bench in Albuquerque NM.

Incidentally, Anne has had a solo show some time ago in this same space. She has done many beautiful paintings I hope to show here in the future - maybe even with some of her wonderful poetry, if she permits me!

Sheri D'elia, one of our founders who is a very talented digital artist as well as a painter showed several of her digital works. Here is my favorite, it is titled 'Whole' and it has always had a deep effect on me.

Frank Muller, also one of our founders, is an accomplished photographer and here are two of the many beautiful nature scenes he is famous for. Above is one image from his series of "The ever changing moods of Lake Cayuga" and below is a lovely digitally enhanced winter scene.

Frank does not like to name his images as he does not want to influence his viewers in any way. He has a deep interest in nature and his images are often very lyrical in their expression. This winter scene is one of my favorites!

Above is a view of the gallery space with some of our visitors. Though we were not mobbed quite like at our opening debut in October the show was very well attended and seemed well received. It will be open for about 6 weeks.

Now you know what has kept me from blogging recently. I promise I will be good and post more regularly in the future as I have promised myself to make more art as well. I will keep you posted on my progress in both areas!

Art, art and more art!

It has been a while since I have had time to post here and I must apologize though I have a very good reason. I belong to a recently (this past summer) formed art group here in Ithaca and by last October we began showing our creative efforts around town. Our debut show went rather well, in fact we were literally mobbed. I suspect the nice wines and delectable gourmet refreshments our members whipped up for the occasion had much to do with the enthusiastic reception, but in no way do I wish to take away from the artistic talent of our members as a drawing force!

Our works were displayed in the Owl Cafe which is in a rather large, split level space upstairs from a centrally located used book store. A local guitarist charmed the crowd with classical guitar music and the place was abuzz with excited conversation. It turned out to be a great evening for all!

Here is Sage from the Owl Cafe smiling for the camera while Frank and Sheri talk with a visitor. Sheri and Frank are the founders of our little group. We now have 14 members and I have only covered a few of them in today's post. I will showcase some of the others in future postings here. Some of us are painters, some work in mixed media, digital artists, photographers and poets. So there will be much to cover - I am looking forward to sharing their talents with you!

Anne and Paulina look at the artist's bios while Matthew looks on and Melanie samples the refreshments.

Our accomplished guitarist lost in one of the many intricate classical guitar pieces he shared with us.

Yours truly contributed this painting on gold leaf, painted after a nearly 20 year hiatus. I was afraid I had forgotten how, but thankfully it came all back to me!

Anne Parker Bloom's lovely oil painting of a gazebo in the forest in the Adirondacks.

Benazir Bhutto's assassination caused Paulina Melechkina to paint this awesome portrait of the slain leader.

Next is a small sampling of the art quilts of one of our members, Ruth White, whose quilts reflect her work as a microbiologist as well as her interest in astronomy. Her work has been exhibited widely and she has won numerous awards. Unfortunately these images don't really do her work justice! A shortcoming I will make up for in a future post - as soon as I get better photos!

Looking towards the upper level of the Cafe, you can see some of our work displayed above the bookcases.

I think that our first show was very well received and all of us enjoyed meeting the many people who showed up for our debut. All in all a wonderful evening and well worth all the effort put into it!