Leroy's Art Blog

Over the weekend the outdoor Rittenhouse Square Art Show was also underway, almost just across the street from the Newman. Snob that I am, I liked about four of the hundred and some artists who had booths. Dexiang Qian lives in Philadelphia and was showing marvelous paintings of mostly Chinese subjects, including lots of intense portraits. But my real "find" was Michele Byrne, who paints beautiful, bright on-location ("plein air") urban scenes - along with lots of other stuff. She was also giving a demonstration of how she paints, and I spent an hour or so just watching and marveling at how she works. Her handbill features:

She inspired me to try my hand at painting a landscape in Rittenhouse Square, and to do another painting in Java Coffeeshop. Both were sad by comparison to her work, but I learn a little more about what NOT to do, just from the attempts. Call them learning experiences.

Actually, I have been trying some new things since I am free of art courses and homework assignments these days (except for the drawings of hands and feet that come with my classes with Neil di Sabato). These paintings are rather crude but I think have possibilities, in a very different style from what I've been doing up to now. If anything comes of them, I will be sure to post them.