Ocala Symphony Orchestra "Flight of Fiddles" revisited

The 10th Anniversary Horse Fever project wasn't my first time painting on a nontraditional curved surface. In 2003 and 2004 I explored violins. The close up nature scene is something I had in my mind for a long time, inspired by the plants and critters around the studio and down a woodland path. It captured a moment in time, letting you explore a small patch of earth that might easily go unnoticed in our busy lives. This violin was part of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra's wonderful "Flight of Fiddles" exhibit featuring exciting painted violins created by many of the talented regional artists.

The Appleton Museum themed violin was used in an auction to help raise funds for the museum which was struggling at the time. The community came together in support. I don't believe the fiddle was exhibited after the auction so here's a peek. If you are familiar with the very long fountain in front of the museum you might see something special in the clouds.


Today I read about plans for a fabulous performing arts center as a renovation for the historic Ocala City Auditorium in Tuscawilla Park. This venue will be a great cultural asset for our community and make this park an important travel destination. -pw

Ocala Symphony Orchestra (link)
Appleton Museum of Art (link) celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012
Ocala Star Banner's ocala.com (link to story) read more about the planned art center

What inspires me to paint "Days Apart"...

While at the On The Balcony exhibit last weekend a friend and very talented artist asked what inspired me to paint Days Apart. It's a great question since a caterpillar and Pawpaw blooms isn't the typical floral subject.

Lots of folks know me as a graphic artist and photographer. Some know I paint and draw and others seem surprised. I can't imagine being a graphic artist without good drawing skills. What many folks don't know is I have long been interested in plants and gardening. For years I belonged to the American Camellia Society which has a local chapter and the American Azalea Society in order to learn more about hybridizing goals and plant attributes. I'm crazy about azaleas and did some evergreen azalea hybridizing many years back.

Our last move turned my gardening world upside down, loosing the shade and good soil I had taken for granted. So instead of forcing my favorite plants on this plot of land I decided to take my cue from what was thriving naturally. When we moved from our last house we only brought a few specimens. The one original azalea hybrid I moved with us has flourished against the odds. Our current location is an often dry, sandy, pine/oak scrub micro climate which makes a formal landscape high maintenance. Near the studio you immediately see oaks and pines, a few black cherry trees and weedy Mimosa thickets. A closer look, beyond a few common nursery plants, reveals a rather diverse assortment of native trees, bushes, perennials and vines. Something is always flowering or putting on a show of color. Lots to inspire.

Why a Pawpaw? Pawpaws are not well suited to nursery production, not fast growing or easy to relocate with a tap root that can reach twelve feet. They are rather inconspicuous in the wild so few viewers of the painting will find the blooms familiar. Days Apart is an exploration of the color change that particular Pawpaw's bloom goes through over a few days. Those blooms are quite different from the creamy white blooms on the other Pawpaws near the studio (as shown in this photo).

Here's a partial list of native plants I have identified around the studio.

• Flag Pawpaw
• Narrow-leaf Pawpaw
• numerous Oak varieties
• Sand Pine
• Longleaf Pine
• Mimosa
• Scrub Plums
• Parsley Haw
• Flowering Dogwood,
• Redbud
• Black Cherry tree
• Winged Sumac
• Devil's Walkingstick
• Blackberry
• Sparkleberry 
• Wax Myrtle
• Beautyberry
• Saw Palmetto
• Spanish Bayonet
• Gopher Apple
• Milkweed
• Sandhill Wireweed
• Blackroot
• Snakeroots
• Hair Indigo (non-native)
• Tickseed
• Green Eyes
• Silky Golden-Aster
• Dotted Horsemint
• Florida Elephant's-foot
• Blazing Star
• Dog Fennel
• Tread-softly (ouch! Stinging Nettle)
• Lopsided Indian Grass
• Saw Grass
• Hairgrass
• Cherokee Bean
• Prickly-pear Cactus
• Muscadine Grape
• Butterfly-pea
• Virginia Creeper
• Carolina Jessamine
• Coral Honeysuckle
• Passionflower

and a few we have added...

• Sweetgum
• Fringe Trees
• Coontie
• Lovegrass
• Firebush
• East Palatka Holly
• Flame Azalea

Many gardeners might think of these plants as weeds and well, some easily earn that title even in a native landscape. Yearly weather changes have some natives thriving and send others into quick decline. You need to roll with the changes if you want to experience native plants as they naturally grow. I can't say I miss the messy Pokeweed. The Poison Oak, Greenbrier vines and Tread-softly are welcome to leave any time! -pw

New Pawpaw Painting On Exhibit

I'm honored that my latest Pawpaw floral painting will be part of the Ocala Art Group's juried exhibition at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, FL. The 30 piece group show titled On The Balcony runs from May 19 to June 17, 2012. Opening day, Saturday May 19 from 10-5, is the Appleton's annual Community Day with FREE museum admission to the public plus OAG’s new Silver Toast to the Arts Art Fair. Drop by and help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida. The museum is well known for it's world-class permanent collections that include European, American and Contemporary art, plus Asian, African, Islamic and pre-Columbian artifacts and antiquities as well as hosting amazing temporary exhibits.

OAG’s Silver Toast to the Arts one day Art Fair will be held in front of the museum with original paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pen and ink, color pencil, mixed media, photography, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, and wood turnings created by over 30 artists from throughout Central Florida. There will be live entertainment, food and children's activities. Food provided by Horse and Hound, Mo Jo Grill, and The Chocolate Factory. Entertainment includes Treblehawk, Ron Frosig, Town and Country, and Lonesome Willy Earle. Auditorium artists include Civic Chorale and Ocala Storytelling.

The 20" x 16" Pawpaw painting is titled Days Apart for the way the blooms change appearance over time. This Pawpaw bush grows near my studio and is the most unusual variety I have encountered. The painting shows the blooms about two and a half times their actual size. The springtime blooms start out green and in a few days mature to a deep magenta with pink and creamy white drooping petals. The Pawpaw is a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

We have numerous other native plants near the studio that we take great care to leave undisturbed. Some are short lived and were only present for a couple years after we disturbed the soil to build. Others like the deep rooted pawpaw I hope to enjoy for many years to come.

While you are at the museum do not miss the incredible Art and the Animal exhibit. 45 works from The Society of Animal Artists. This show also runs until June 17th. Enjoy! -pw

Appleton Museum of Art (link) celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2012

Ocala Art Group (link) since 1950

Cute stuffed toy horse looks very familiar

What's more fun and lovable than a life-size painted horse that resembles a colorful, furry stuffed toy? How about a real stuffed toy that resembles one of the new Horse Fever painted horses. That's exactly what Arnette House has created with the approval of MCA. Cuddly's sponsor, Arnette House, had this toy horse MADE IN THE USA! They look fabulous! Here's a photo of one of these fun loving horses hangin' out on the bales of straw by the studio. There's a whole herd of these cuties waiting to bring smiles to anyone young at heart... just in time for the holidays!

some details...

• he's cute and cuddly
• about 10" long though he insists he can reach further
• made in the USA
• only $15.00
• all profit goes to support Arnette House, Inc.
• can be purchased at Arnette House (352) 622-4432, and very soon at the main office of First Avenue Bank, on the "S" curve in Ocala, where Cuddly is on display 

Arnette House, Inc. offers emergency shelter services, non-residential counseling services, group homes and an Independent Living Program to youth and families in our community.  They will be opening a Therapeutic Group Home within the next few months.

Help support Arnette House with this fun keepsake toy. -pw

[UPDATE] The stuffed toy horses are also available at the Brick City Center for the Arts at 23 SW Broadway St., Ocala. The Brick is the home of MCA. 352-369-1500 for more info. -pw 

[UPDATE 2] The Horse Fever Auction raised $208,000 for MCA and local charities. Cuddly has a new home at Heaven Can Wait farm! -pw  

Cuddly on the web

Here are a few more links to Cuddly and the other Horse Fever 10th Anniversary artists and their magnificent horses. Maps are also available at Brick City Center for the Arts, downtown Ocala, home of Marion Cultural Alliance (MCA). Thanks to Tammy Griffin for shooting the great studio shots of the finished horses. -pw

More of Paul's Horse Fever photos (link) check back for new photos

MCA's Cuddly listing (link) plus the rest of the new herd

ocala.com Cuddly listing (link) at Ocala Star Banner online

ocala.com Horse Fever Interactive Map (link) locate the new herd

google Horse Fever Map (link) interactive map plus list of horses

Tool tips for painting a bulky life-size fiberglass horse in the studio.

It's all too easy to collect fancy art tools that don't get much use. Here are a couple I got plenty of mileage out of working on the Horse Fever public art project this summer.

First the low tech. I'm fortunate to have space in my studio to spin Cuddly, my horse, so I built a low platform on casters to let me turn any side to the light at the north window. My wraparound design had Cuddly moving frequently. The fiberglass horse weighs only 135-150 lbs. but anything that helped it turn effortless, and turn, and turn, and turn at all hours, was a blessing.

Lighting the bulky horse required more ambient light than I normally prefer in the studio. I needed to bottle some sunlight. Cuddly would ultimately be on display outdoors so I wanted to paint in northern light as much as possible. Though I absolutely love the quality of light from the 4700K Solux lamp I've used for years, I didn't want to add a bank of hot halogens. I had recently read Aaron Westerberg's blog (see links below) about a special Philips 5000K fluorescent bulb he uses in his studio. These bulbs turned out to be a great solution for lighting Cuddly after hours.

You might be wondering about this odd photo. It's no Photoshop trickery. When painting you often want to back off and view your progress from a distance. The horse is big. My studio's no warehouse so I found a great alternative to walking out the door for a more distant view of Cuddly. Alvin makes a 3" reducing glass that looks like a magnifying glass until you look through it. Everything looks further away. It's not a dramatic reduction at 2x but enough to be useful. Mine came from Daniel Smith art supplies. It should be really helpful when I'm up close stippling a pen and ink drawing and want to quickly see how the values look at a distance.

Where did I find the bulbs... The Philips F32T8/TL950 4' T8 bulbs can be bought online by the case. If you only want to pickup a few locally as I did call Besco Electric Supply in Leesburg, 800.541.6618. The T8 size is designed for a modern electronic ballast. Don't waste your $$ on the daylight bulbs at the hardware chains. They only sell 5000K with a lower color rendering index (CRI). It's not the same 900 series phosphors that make this particular Philips bulb so special.

Besides the normal art supplies here are a few things that helped me get the job done; inspiration, a plan, occasional sleep, a supportive family, AC to beat the Florida summer heat, plenty of water, lots of coffee, ice cold Yuengling Lager, more water, more coffee, great tunes filling the studio (RIP Steve Jobs), and a ball of string. -pw

Aaron Westerberg's blog (link) 

Daniel Smith art supplies (link)

Yuengling - America's Oldest Brewery (link)