Another amazing life drawing session, and this time with a ‘Parrots’ theme with Macaws, Cockatoos and Parakeets with the special online event produced by The Henley on Thames School of Art and Oakley and Crew. Birds were shown flying, landing, sitting on perches, walking on the ground, and an unexpected trick at the session end, and was held on November 27, 2020.
Below are highlights of my drawings from the session.
There are more online animal life drawing sessions scheduled for December 2020, featuring Wild Mountain Gorillas, Draft Horses, and Reindeer at www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/online-classes. Artists are welcome to join!
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Incredible live drawing session with ‘Birds of Prey’ theme. Beautiful Owls (Dark Breasted Barn Owl, Little Owl, and Long-Eared Owl), Harris Hawk and Peregrine Falcon with event produced by The Henley on Thames School of Art and Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre (handler Sadie) via Zoom. Great lighting, camera work, and props, held on October 30, 2020.
Below are highlights of my drawings from the session.
There are more online animal life drawing sessions scheduled for November and December 2020, featuring Longhorn Cattle, Fjord Horse, Raccoons, Kinkajou, and Coati, Parrots, and Wild Mountain Gorillas at https://www.thehenleyschoolofart.com/online-classes. Artists are welcome to join!
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Because of Covid-19, it has been safer to stay at home. As an artist, the art life drawing groups that I once attended have not met since early March, 2020. A couple of the groups have moved to Zoom or Facebook Live. I have found dozens of additional art groups online, both out of state and out of the country. I have been fortunate enough to stay busy with these drawing sessions, while meeting people, and fulfilling the sense of community that I seek in addition to improving my drawing skills. The life models have their own remote cameras and setups at their homes or studios, and these sessions have brought people together from all over the world.
I am especially impressed with the talent, professionalism, athleticism, and creativity of the models. Additionally, the organizations have been offering theme-inspired live drawing sessions on Zoom. In the past couple weeks I participated in a Picasso’s Vollard Suite inspired session featuring models Andrew Crayford @andrewcrayford1 and Annie Mae @amlifemodel both of London, a two-day live performance by Juliano Hollivard @julianohollivard of Brazil with constant movement by the model with lighting, music, poetry, video, props and masks, and most recently a session in the style of Matisse, the Odalisques, with model Valentina Rock @valentinarocklondon. Another group simply draws each other’s portraits. Most of them I discovered on Instagram, and there are many more yet to be discovered.
Some of my favorite (online) life drawing groups during the pandemic, on Instagram:
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Matisse, the Odalisques, theme with model Valentina Rock, by the collaboration of Adrian Dutton Life Drawing and Madhouse Studios, watercolor and ink by Janet Dodrill.
An ink drawing by Janet Dodrill of Juliano Hollivard’s Day Two, The Sacred, performance life drawing session through The Renaissance Workshop.
Hugo Max Schmitz, photograph, early 1900s (recently-discovered).
On a recent trip out of town to visit my cousins, some items were discovered in my uncle’s possession. Unseen artwork by Hugo Max Schmitz, my great-grandfather, all of which I had not seen before. In a couple of the works, there are similarities to his previously-known work. He was an artist and a co-founder of Cleveland wall covering firm, Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964). The stunning painting comparisons are below.
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Watercolor portrait of young girl by artist Hugo Max Schmitz.
Possible study for watercolor portrait of young girl by artist Hugo Max Schmitz, oil or gouache, early 1900s (recently discovered).
Self-portrait by artist Hugo Max Schmitz, oil, 1898.
Self-portrait study by artist Hugo Max Schmitz, oil, early 1900s (recently discovered).
Peninsula Art Academyhosts a Plein Air competition, open to all artists. Paintings are created (or 2-D work) outdoors in natural available light over the course of three days (Friday through Sunday) around prime landmarks and locations around beautiful Peninsula, Ohio including in the Cuyahoga National Park. By the end of the weekend the work must be completed (two pieces allowed per artist), framed and ready to hang.
The following weekend there is an art exhibit and reception and the work is juried. Prizes are awarded for first place, second, third, and honorable mention.
This was my first year participating in this type of event and though both demanding and challenging, it was a very enriching way to build my skills and technique, and the experience even allowed me to meet several local area artists. I am looking forward to future events offered by the Peninsula Art Academy.
The exhibit runs October 26 – November 15, 2019
Peninsula Art Academy
1600 Mill Street West
Peninsula, OH 44264
(330) 657-2248 www.peninsulaartacademy.org
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 11am-5pm
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Pumpkins on Wagon, Acrylic on Canvas, 18″ x 24″ (painted at Szalay’s Farm & Market).
Steeple in Autumn, Acrylic on Canvas, 16″ x 20″ (painted at Peninsula United Methodist Church).
Greg Canda (right) of Peninsula Art Academy introducing exhibit juror Jose Sacaridiz.
Listening to juror Jose Sacaridiz review the winning art pieces. (Photo: Jennifer Newyear)
Juror Jose Sacaridiz critiquing first place winning oil painting by Mark Erdelyi.
Thanks to a few who put the Peninsula Art Academy Plein Air competition on.
Plein Air paintings by 27 artists, on exhibit at Peninsula Art Academy, October 26 – November 15, 2019.
Plein Air paintings by 27 artists, on exhibit at Peninsula Art Academy, October 26 – November 15, 2019.
Lately, I have been using primary colors (red, yellow, and blue from the color wheel) in my portraits and life model studies, and am exploring this direction in my artwork.
Below are a few examples of my artwork utilizing primary colors.
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Schmitz-Horning Company’s Old South 1930s-1940s scenic panel detail (Photo: Cooper Hewitt).
Carl Fuchs designed the Old South scenic wall paper pattern (1930s-1940s) for the Schmitz-Horning Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The color lithograph (chromolithograph) inks and (washable) paper used were of the highest quality. Old South depicted plantation life in early America, and included a steamboat and fox hunt. There were twelve sections, each approximately 40″ x 80″ in repeat pattern.
The company was co-founded and run by my great-grandfather, Hugo M. Schmitz, and after his death in the late 1930s, run by my grandfather Warren R. Schmitz.
I am almost certain this 1920s Art Deco decorative pattern, Dekorative Vorbilder (Decorative Role Models), which I came across on an auction site, is by the same artist.
Dekorative Vorbilder by Carl Fuchs, 1920s Art Deco decorative pattern (Photo: Liveauctioneers.com).
Carl Fuchs was also hired by my grandparents to paint an oil portrait of my mother, then a girl of eight years.
Oil portrait of Schmitz-Horning president’s daughter (my mother) by artist Carl Fuchs, 1939 (Photo: Schmitz family).
The Cleveland Museum of Art currently has an exhibit by artist Charles Burchfield (1893-1967) in its Focus Gallery through May 5, 2019. The show is titled Charles Burchfield: The Ohio Landscapes, 1915-1920.
The show has numerous drawings and watercolors done in both Cleveland where he attended the Cleveland School of Art (now The Cleveland Institute of Art), and Salem, Ohio, his hometown.
I admire his strength and energy in depicting landscapes. He created his own visual language with almost abstract shapes from nature symbolizing emotions such as fear and sorrow, which are pointed-out in the exhibit.
The Pretentious Cleveland Portrait Artists group (formerly The Pretentious Tremont Artists of the Literary Cafe), conceived over 30 years ago by artists Tim Herron and Brian Pierce, meets weekly and attracts artists from all over the greater Cleveland area, giving them a place to practice portrait drawing from a live model.
Open to all artists, I started participating in the group last fall on an occasional basis. The sketch session is three hours with breaks, and the portrait model or ‘sitter’ gets the artwork at the end in exchange for their sitting time. Models are on a waiting list that is full months in advance.
Originally the group met at a tavern in Tremont on Cleveland’s west side, but now they incorporate various east and west side locations.
It is a privilege to draw with such talented and established area artists. The quality and diversity of the art is amazing. The artwork is photographed later that evening and posted in albums on the group’s blog and on Facebook for all to enjoy.
Below are a few of my sketches from the past five months.
Paul A. Meunier was a Cleveland area artist who enjoyed painted nature and wildlife. He worked on staff as an artist at Schmitz-Horning Company, a wallpaper manufacturing firm, in the 1920s and 1930s. Of interest to me because of my family ties to the company, I published a list o known artists that were employed there.
A couple people contacted me regarding their Paul Meunier artwork.
One had six etched acrylic or plastic panels, two of which have a date (1970) and the artist’s name, acquired locally in Cleveland. (They are available for purchase through my source.)
The other individual purchased a map that Paul Meunier’s created of his family vacation travels from Ohio through parts of the western U.S. (1939). The contact wrote me stated that the lithograph was purchased at a Bay area market.
It’s interesting to see the broad range of work and depth of this artist, and even more interesting to speak to others who have his art work.
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Etched or engraved plastic art panels by Paul Meunier, 1970, owned by Charlie Grenier. Panel size is approximately 3×4 to 5×7 inches.
Etched or engraved plastic art panels by Paul Meunier, 1970, owned by Charlie Grenier. Panel size is approximately 3×4 to 5×7 inches.
Etched or engraved plastic art panels by Paul Meunier, 1970, owned by Charlie Grenier. Panel size is approximately 3×4 to 5×7 inches.
Name and 1970 date on art panels by Paul Meunier.
Map created by Paul Meunier of his family trip across the country, owned by Peter Bartels.
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