My art piece, Elephants, was accepted into the juried art exhibit, Call of the Wild, displayed virtually at San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Center Sfvacc.org/call-of-the-wild offered through SCORE (Southern California Open Regional Exhibitions).
The online exhibit was juried by Carla, Laureen Bollinger, watercolor artist.
About three years ago I joined a Friday night portrait sketch group, The Pretentious Cleveland Portrait Artists. The website is at www.literarycafeartists.com and the weekly model sessions can be found at the blog link. The group (formerly known as The Pretentious Tremont Artists of the Literary Cafe) was founded in 2005 by Tim Herron and Brian Pierce, who wanted to practice portrait drawing and drew bar patrons late every Friday night at the Literary Cafe in Tremont, Ohio. Over that past 15 years the group has grown. It is unique that it pays the model for their time with the finished portraits! Though the original meeting location has changed, the group has still been open to all for both drawing and public viewing while the artists work.
Since March 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic and stay at home orders, the group was able to move to an online streaming platform, thanks to the help of seasoned arts interviewer, Roger Miller, of Tues@7 on Facebook and YouTube, managing production for the first 12 weeks. This has enabled even a broader reach of artists to join in the weekly drawing session, beyond the Cleveland area. Artists then send in their portraits to give the model.
Around April of 2020, Tim Herron was interested in drawing portraits of doctors and nurses as a thank you for their service on the frontlines of battling the Coronavirus. Several artists around the world were making the news at the time involved in similar projects. Through his network of models, artists, and friends and their connections, he started receiving photographs and selfies of healthcare workers from different locations and hospital systems, including MetroHealth Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic. He opened up the project for any artists in his Friday group that wanted to participate.
So far (as of March 23, 2021), 18 artists have participated in this “Doctors and Nurses in Covid 19 Times” project, creating 155 original portraits, which are showcased on the group’s website at www.literarycafeartists.com/doctors-and-nurses-in-covid-19-times.
I personally have produced 28 portraits for the project to-date, and will continue to do more. It’s great practice and I enjoy being part of a group of artists working together. I have an individual webpage on the group’s site at www.literarycafeartists.com/janet-dodrill, where they can be viewed under my general portrait gallery. We are following along with the idea of giving the portraits to the models, in this case the doctors and nurses.
MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland currently has an exhibit in their lobby, since last fall, of their portraits, which is visible to the public when they visit for their Covid vaccines. Linda Jackson at MetroHealth organized photos and exhibit. They also produced a video on the project, Local Artists Honor Frontline Health Care Workers.
As a result of posting some of my doctors and nurses portraits on instagram (@janetdodrill), I have been asked to tag these works for a curated North American exhibit using hashtag #portraitsforcovidheroes for inclusion in the project by Jules Smith @jules_smith_artist and @portratisforcovidheroes.
Thank you, to all healthcare workers helping to battle this virus in this pandemic and save lives. You are true heroes.
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Snippets of portraits of doctors and nurses on the frontlines by Janet Dodrill.
Snippets of portraits of doctors and nurses on the frontlines by Janet Dodrill.
Portraits of Covid frontline healthcare workers exhibit at MetroHealth Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio (photo by Roger Miller).
Portraits of Covid frontline healthcare workers exhibit at MetroHealth Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio (photo by Roger Miller).
Many of the sketch groups I participate in (on Zoom) feature two models in their sessions. Here is a sketch of a lovely couple for the month of February from one of those life drawing sessions.
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Figure life drawing of a couple by Janet Dodrill, 2020, watercolor, 5.5 x 8.5 inches.
Cleveland, Ohio wallpaper manufacturer, Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964), designed and produced beautiful high quality wall murals and panoramics for homes and institutions. Here is a selection of just of few landscape designs from their 1941-1942 catalog, “Scenic and Sectional Wall Paper.”
The company produced large-scale chromolithographs and was maker to Kro-Mura, San-Kro-Mura, and Venwood wallpaper brands.
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Treasure Island, no. 8044 natural coloring on rachelle, five sections each 40″ wide by 80″ high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Woodland, no. 367, two sheets each 36″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Heron, no. 608, natural on off-white ground, two section each 40 inches wide by 60 inches high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
The Forest, no. 601, two sections each 40″ wide by 60″ high, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Sierras, no. 363, three sheets each 36″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Ming Floral, no. 8036, turquoise ground, four sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Larkspur, no. 8020, pastel colors on light yellow, three sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Elysia, no. 8032, pastel colors on old ivory, five sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Die Niederlaender, no. 410, two sheets each 40″ high by 60″ wide, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Chinese Floral, no. 80733, full color on wedgewood, four sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Chinese Embroidery, no. 808014, pastel colors on ivory grass cloth ground, two sections each 40″ by 80″, by Schmitz-Horning Co.
Schmitz-Horning Co. 1941-1942 catalog, Scenic and Sectional Wall Paper.
Who doesn’t have an appreciation for an artist’s handmade Christmas card, or one displaying their artwork?
My grandfather, Warren R. Schmitz, who ran the Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964) from 1938-1964 received Christmas cards from artists who were either associated with the company or family friends, including Harvey Stief, Walter Sinz, and Charles Reiffel. Here are a few examples of the wonderful artwork on cards he received from them in the 1930s and 1940s.
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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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Wells Fargo was a scenic wallpaper pattern manufactured by the Schmitz-Horning Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The pattern can be seen in the late 1950s company line and catalog, Murals of America. It was available in two ink color options and two paper colors choices, pattern numbers 77411, 77412, 77421, and 77422.
The Cleveland History Center of Western Reserve Historical Society has a complete set of this pattern in their collection. Another pattern in the same style and color schemes and by the same artist, was called Anchor Inn. It was considered a companion to Wells Fargo and could be used in the same room if ordered in the same run.
Recently, someone in Pennsylvania contacted me who purchased the Wells Fargo wall mural set from an auction in New Jersey, still in the original box.
Paul A. Meunier, an artist at Schmitz-Horning in the 1930s, who became president of Cleveland’s R.E. May, Inc. (lithographic plate company), had a personal collection of lithographs, and in a 1960s company catalog photo taken in the office, a framed version of the Wells Fargo mural can be seen hanging on the wall.
Specifications (Murals of America catalog):
A washable scenic paper in four sections each 40″ wide by 80″ high. It is a self-finishing “vignette” style mural. The wings L & R are printed on one section which must be cut apart. Lowest point of design starts 6″ from bottom of the paper and extends 45″ high, leaving 29″ of background above highest clouds. Background sections are available to file in at ends, top, and bottom of the mural.
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Schmitz-Horning Company’s Anchor Inn scenic wall mural pattern, no. 77311, a companion paper by the same artist and using the same color schemes.
A photograph of the Wells Fargo pattern in Schmitz-Horning Company’s Murals of America catalog. Catalog description: Wells Fargo is a self-finishing vignette 12′ 8″ in length. It will cut down for shorter walls or will center nicely on much longer walls. There is excellent detail in this mural of a frontier town.
Wells Fargo mural hanging in the offices of R.E. May, Inc. litho plate company as shown in this photo from a 1960s catalog. (Source: remay.com)
Did you know that there is a popular restaurant in New York CIty with a collection of thousands of pipes? Keens Steakhouse (formerly Keens Chophouse), founded in 1885 in Herald Square Theatre District (now the Garment District), houses more than 90,000 smoking pipes.
How did I learn about this? In documentation written by my late mother about my great-grandfather, Hugo Max Schmitz. I have been researching him and his art career as well as the company he co-founded in 1905 and ran, the Schmitz-Horning Company of Cleveland, Ohio. According to her statement, Hugo was one of the first Greenwich Village artists in the last 1800s. In New York, he had a prize-winning portrait painting exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also had a pipe hanging at Keens Steakhouse!
Hard clay churchwarden pipes were checked-in and returned to patrons from storage by a pipe warden. Their pipe club included such names as Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, General Douglas MacArthur, Robert F. Kennedy, and Buffalo Bill Cody. More recently, online photos show that celebrities have left behind autographed pipes.
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