Workshop: Landscape Painting in Oils

Do you feel like painting out in the fresh spring weather? I'm conducting a two-day workshop on a property with old barn and farmhouse, plant nursery, and arboretum. We will loosen up by doing a couple of small, very quick oil sketches just to establish major areas of light and shadow, color and value. Then we will develop two paintings, one in morning light and one in afternon light. You will need to bring all materials and a box lunch.

Dates:

May 11, 12

(rain dates: May 18, 19)

Please contact the Wayne Art Center for details.

http://www.wayneart.org

Small works show

Recently I entered a landscape and a portrait into the Philadelphia Sketch Club's Annual Exhibition of Small Oil Paintings, and both were accepted.

This may not seem significant to most people, but to me it was curious because I've always heard artists are supposed to develop a "label" or a "brand," which means painting the same thing over and over until you are recognized for it. Sounds boring to an artist. Why shouldn't we paint whatever moves us and be appreciated for it?

Up to this point I've had two separate careers as a landscape artist and a portrait artist. Everything is separate: gallery representation vs. portrait commissions, publicity, and collectors. It sometimes feels as though I'm coexisting in two parallel worlds.

So that's why I find it so curious (and very exciting) that these two paintings were accepted into the same show.

One of my favorite things

For the past few years I've been finding time to go on painting trips, during which time I travel around Maine painting outdoors. This is a small scene (12" x 24") painted in about an hour and a half while slapping mosquitoes at Long Pond, Mt. Desert Island, Maine.

The good news is that it was juried into an exhibition, Favorite Things, at the Atlanta Fine Arts League. The show runs from March 8 to April 2, so please stop by and see it if you are in the area.

Children's Portrait Competition Finalist

They say good things come in threes, and I guess that is true at least sometimes. I had entered a members' competition sponsored by the Portrait Society of America, but the notification date came and went, so I assumed I had not won anything and went on with life as usual. Then I got a congratulatory call from a fellow artist, John Ennis, who was also a finalist! Thank you, John, for notifying me, thanks to the Portrait Society and to my subject, George.

Trip to Estonia

There's been a lot happening recently, and most of it relates to portraits. This fall I painted a posthumous portrait of my father, Louis Kahn, for the Union of Estonian Architects. It found a home in the Town Hall of Kuressaare, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia, where my father spent the first five years of his life before emigrating to the U.S. The UEA hosted a symposium in Saaremaa in October, which I attended with my mother, daughter, and brother. The portrait unveiling was only a small part of this very exciting trip. You can read about it in the latest issue (Jan/Feb 2007) of the Pennsylvania Gazette, the University of Pennsylvania's alumni magazine. Here's a link to the online Gazette: http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0107/feature1.html

Woodmere Museum Exhibit

Welcome to my news blog! Just want to let you know that one of my portraits, Nancy Bea Miller, was accepted into the 67th Annual Juried Exhibition at the Woodmere Museum in Philadelphia. To my surprise, it even won an award, the Pearl and Lloyd Van Sciver Award! The opening is on January 27th from 5 to 7 p.m. in case you want to drop by and join the festivities.