Mission Accomplished

I've really been getting onto Adobe Photoshop quite a bit these past few weeks. My official Photoshop training starts this week, but I love to experiment to see what tools do what. Let me tell you about the artwork below, which will appear for the month of April at Park Station. This is my first experiment with Photoshop CS5...

The Goal: Use a disposable photo and a pencil sketch to create a fresh "pseudo-real" artwork.

The Photo: This image was taken during a fall festival at Heritage Village. The old train station was one of the few buildings not being used for reenactments and the abandoned structure urged me to capture it's image. With little action, the old platform was not a gallery-worthy shot but has been a great reference for wood grain and trees.

The Sketch: Originally a pencil sketch of a young painter with windswept hair, the sketch became the foundation of a self-contained figure who meshed nicely with the perspective of the old train station.

Step one - The original pencil sketch was scanned into my PC and loaded in Photoshop. A transparent over-layer was applied and used to draw the outlines with the pen tool.

Step two - Editing. removing the original, edits were made to the outline. The flowing hair didn't look realistic and was replaced by a shorter sporty cut. The curvature of the legs and arms was re-done to give a more appealing image.

Step three - Base colors were added and then given highlights and low-lights with the airbrush tool. Multiple texture filters were added to the clothing to create a denim texture and ripples.

Step four - Using the train station photo as a guide a "high pass" layer was created and used to generate an outline of the scene. Then a slightly brighter color scheme was used along with the watercolor filter to generate a new background.

Step five - A small sketch of an easel was found and used with another photograph with good wood-grains to generate an easel for our painter. The same watercolor filter was applied to mesh it with the background. Fan brushes were drawn in manually.

Step six - After a Gaussian blur was applied to the edges of each figure the multiple layers were re sized, merged and given drop shadows to create a final image.

Conclusion: The end product is meant to flow from the caricature of the painter, through the easel, to the pseudo-reality of the watercolor train station in a manner that compliments the whole work. This is meant to suggest that the image on the painter's canvas is the watercolor we see as a backdrop.   

Art Auction to Benefit Adoptable Pets

If you've visited my website, I hope my love of animals was more than obvious. The candid expressions of our furry, feathery and scaly brothers and sisters is not only a foundation for superb art, it is also food for thought. So I'd like to take a moment to tell you about an upcoming fundraiser in support of a local organization which is dedicated to caring for our areas lost and injured pets.

On May 12th, Pet Pal’s Animal Shelter will host its 10th Annual Puppy Love Fundraiser at the downtown St. Petersburg Hilton. This event will provide dinner, live music, a full cash bar, live and silent auctions, 50/50 raffles and a doggie kissing booth. I've already submitted a new 16x20 Gallery wrap to the art auction and I hope my friends in the artistic community might see fit to join me.

If you would like to partake of the festivities, tickets are $60 in advance ($550 for a table of ten) and can be purchased by calling Pet Pal Animal Shelter (727) 328-7738. Proceeds from this event provide much needed funds for the care and recuperation of our animals. Likewise, if you would like to contribute artwork or other actionable items please call the above number to arrange a drop off.

Learn more about the Shelter at http://www.petpalanimalshelter.com/

Thanks for reading!

(2 C More art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)

The Beach Art Center

I just returned home from the Beach Arts Center. What a showing they had at reception night! A casual, yet bustling crowd of artists and curious onlookers arrived to view the art which ranged from sketches to paintings in watercolor, oil and acrylic to photography, three dimensional wall art and a life-sized, free standing Tiki statue adorned in lights and basked in the wispy clouds of a fountain mist-maker. I recognized a few familiar faces from The Pinellas Park Art Society as well. Quite the collection of fine art and imaginative minds. I have secured my application and will be joining the Beach Art Center as a new member so that I can showcase art in another popular venue. Thanks to all for a wonderful evening!

(The following snapshots are taken from my smartphone)

Thanks for reading!

(2 C More art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)

Greeting Card Art

Bottom Caption 5x7 folded card

Modern shower invitations and holiday cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

An Art Museum's Revival

As quoted from a 2009 Saint Petersburg Times News Article -  "Struggling with low attendance, the Gulf Coast Museum abruptly closed its doors for good Monday, "a sad and disappointing end," according to a statement sent to its members." The campus of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art, on the Grounds of the beautiful Florida Botanical Gardens and the historic Heritage Village, has been abandoned for these last three years.

Now under the care of a dedicated local, the campus will be re-opened a serve a goal both educational and artistic. The Florida Gulf Coast Center For Fishing will call the old museum its home and feature educational programs, artistic opportunities and attractions to area enthusiasts and visitors.

The New Museum's founders have published - "The mission is to establish a multipurpose Center for fishing activity, dedicated to introducing and teaching children about life through fishing, and a training center for adults, in conjunction with an Interactive Museum commemorating the past, present and future of fishing on Florida's Gulf Coast... The Florida Gulf Coast Center for Fishing and Interactive Museum is housed in an architecturally award winning 30,000 square foot educational complex complete with an auditorium, classrooms, historical and marine art galleries, seafood cafe’, marine store and fishing lake."

The gallery, truly museum sized, will house the work of local artists, some of them, like myself, from the Pinellas Park Art Society and other local groups and well as private artists. As of now, I have eight works due to be installed. It will be a pleasure to see this Museum take shape again and it's already a great honor to be among the first artists offered this opportunity.

Empty walls soon to be filled. 

Empty walls soon to be filled.

The grounds.

  The grounds.

  The grounds.

  The grounds.

 The grounds.

Thanks for reading.

(2 C more art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)

Art Hop 2012

The 2012 Art Hop at Largo Library was a stunning success. Set-up started at 3:00PM yesterday and, with some new display hardware, I was able to get my table visitor-ready in under an hour. That gave me enough time to finish a barred owl drawing and start an anhinga sketch - which I worked on sporadically for the remainder of the night. The Greater Largo Library Foundation was kind enough to allow me a table by the reference desk again this year, which gave me ample room to set up my print rack and my new wire-mesh display column – from which I hang my canvases. I had enough room to station a chair and an easel to give my visitors a live demo.

The evening was wonderful, I had the opportunity to socialize with a number of friends whom I’ve not seen since my last big art show – Arlen Thorensen, the oil painter, Mary Byrd the owner of Frame Factory, and a number of my friends from the Pinellas Park Art Society. The night opened with music by a local pianist and catered hors d'oeuvres from seventeen local restaurants. I sampled a full gambit of delicious samples – marinated mushrooms, herbed meatballs, chicken parmesan, vegetable stir fry, pad-thai, sushi, roast pork, Cuban rice and flan. Quite a selection of artists presented their work both indoors and on the patio and the genres of art presented spanned all aspects of the creative spectrum… Oil and watercolor painting, caricature and sketch, computer generated art and photography, pottery, jewelry and textiles, music and the culinary arts.

I presented a number of different genres – my wildlife and landscape photography, my canvasses, my sketches and my comics. I sold a few prints of beach scenes and enjoyed the visit of a couple who saw my juvenile burrowing owls and recounted the story of a clutch of owls who had called their yard “home.” For their time and an enjoyable discussion, I felt compelled to offer my barred owl sketch to them as a gift. The canvasses of the owls and the macaw garnered attention, the print of “Beach Boardwalk” was the top seller again, but the comics were my attention-grabber again. The laughs of my readers and their refrain of "Aww, that character is so cute" tell me my job is done right.

At eight o’clock the piano music ceased and a local brass band – the Treble Clefs – took over. They set up directly opposite me. A better opportunity for a few caricatures of musicians in action could not have been wished for. And I spent the remainder of the night sketching the saxophonist, the trumpet-player, the drummer, vocalist, and piano man. I suspect my friend Diann Franks, who specializes in jazz-themed art, would have been proud. At the end of the night each musician took home his likeness as a gift. The auction ended at ten o’clock and my 24x36 canvas – “Cape of the Twilight” – has found a new home and my family has acquired two new curio cabinets for ninety dollars.

The Art Hop is as usual among my favorite art events of the year and the only one to so involve the community and bring together so much talent under one roof. Every year the show gets better. My heartfelt thanks go out to all who make this night such a wonderful success year after year.

Thanks for reading!

(2 C More art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)

Live from England Brother's Park!

This post is coming to you from Pinellas Park's England Brother's Park where the city is hosting the Country in the Park Fest. It's a beautiful day, the band is playing from the stage, there's and assortment of fair foods - Funnel cakes and strawberry shortcakes to my right, burgers and bar-b-que to my left. I'm presenting here with the Pinellas Park Art Society and we have an assortment of art today, come out and see us - we're under the blue tents. I've got a collection of matted photos for sale today and some new gallery wraps.

Thanks for Reading!

(2 C More art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)



March Madness

It's getting busy again. The spring breakers are in town and the art exhibit schedule is picking up pace. Last week we enjoyed a three day art show hosted by the Largo Community Center. Fine works of art in various genres were presented upon flowing linen curtains which really set off the plenitude of colors. Friday was the reception, free to artists and their families but with a twenty five dollar entry fee to other visitors. It was really very enjoyable and well presented and I had the opportunity to speak with some friends in the artistic community whom I had not seen in some time.

I'm following a lead I received from friends at the Pinellas Part Art Society. Within the grounds of the Florida Botanical Gardens and Heritage Village is the structure which was once the Gulfcoast Museum of Art. It has been abandoned for some time, but once hosted a number of artists and events that had the surrounding gardens as an inspirational backdrop. This structure is being re-opened as a gallery and interactive museum which will celebrate the area's maritime and fishing history. I am hoping that a collection of my work may be included.

Last night we attended the reception for "Off The Wall," an art exhibit hosted by The Exhibiting Society of Artists at the SunTan Art Center. The Gallery is immediately beside the popular Don Cesar Resort at the south end of the Island Beaches. My new work titled "Fractured Rhythm" joined the collection. The show featured a fine assortment of abstract art, a potluck fare of snacks, good company a casual atmosphere and a belly dancer. Yes, a belly dancer... see my photos below. We all had a great deal of fun after which my family invaded the Don Cesar to browse shops and take in the beach scenery. It was a wonderful night.

I have received my copy of Adobe Photoshop CS5. I recognize the familiar painting and ray tracing tools which I've given some use already, but this program is packed to bursting with features I've never heard of before, so I'm off to Borders to get a "How To" book and I've enrolled in a few classes at SPC to learn from the masters just what other fascinating things this software is capable of producing.

Next week is "Country in the Park" - an art and music fair just behind the Pinellas Park City Hall. PPAS will be present and I will be among them selling art and raising art awareness. The weekend following is the Largo Library Art Hop where I will again be "peddling my wares" and during which one of my works will be held for auction. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at Frame Factory on East Bay Drive. Proceeds will benefit the Library. See you there?

A special thank you to my readers from PPAS and TESA.

To all of you I wish a fun and artful week. Be on guard, you never know when inspiration will hit.

Thanks for reading.

(2 C more art go to www.artoflylepolyak.com or visit www.themindscapeartfoundry.com)