Painting Green Stuff in the Out of Doors

This is a class for painters of all levels. Beginners are welcome.
Spring Landscape class starting soon- Saturdays 10-1, April 27^th thru June 15. Fee $220 (Such a good deal. It really should be more- feel free to tip me). Supplies are the student's responsibility. A supply list will be provided.
Location: First class meets at artist's studio in Eden Park; then at various parks thereafter .

I have a very hands on approach to my teaching and give very thorough critiques. Enjoy the spring weather with "Cincinnati's most charming painting teacher", we will meet at a scenic parks to learn to sketch and to paint with oils. Drawing on the ideas of impressionism, you will practice the techniques needed to complete painted sketches, including basic composition, value, pattern, color spotting, and covering the canvas. Then, building on those skills, you will complete a larger fully realized landscape painting that will capture the impression of light and color of the Cincinnati landscape. Details and directions to the various locations will be given in class. No experience necessary
One thing I will be stressing is that what we are doing is landscape painting- and not Plein Air. We are Americans! Students are not allowed to call it 'plein air' unless they are actually French.

Springtime in Eden Park, 16x20, oil on linen, © Richard Luschek 2019.

Email me if you have questions at richard_luschek@yahoo.com
Or call 513-479-3322

 https://www.richardluschek.com/

Spring Landscape Painting Class- Taught by a Great Guy

I will be starting up my Spring Landscape Class very soon. If you have taken classes with me, you are gonna want to sign up again. If you have not taken this class, then you definitely should do so now.

Great Guy painting in Eden Park

The Class will be held on Saturdays from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. It will start April 22 - June 10th.
8 weeks for $180.00 (that is an amazing deal) -supplies are the student's responsibility.

The class is great for beginners or any working painter who would like to be introduced to the ideas of the Boston School method- which are the most awesome of ideas. I am very hands on and teach to each individual's level of experience.

We will meet at various  scenic parks around Cincinnati to learn to sketch and to paint with oils. Drawing on the ideas of impressionism, you will practice the techniques needed to complete painted sketches, including basic composition, value, pattern, color spotting, and covering the canvas. Then, building on those skills, you will complete a larger fully realized landscape painting that will capture the impression of light and color of the Cincinnati landscape. In case of rain, we will arrange in parks with overhead cover. Details and directions to the various locations will be given in class. A supply list will be sent when you sign up.

If you would like to learn how to not paint yourself in a corner like this guy, then you should talk to me. 

 Email me at richard_luschek@yahoo.com for more information and to grab a spot. Or call 513-479-3322.

There Is No Try

"Only Do", oil on linen, 11x14, © copyright Richard Luschek 2017
private collection

This year I'd love to post one blog post a week. So far not so good, as this is my first post this year, on the very last day of January. Get off my back.
I completed this painting a while a while ago. It now has a wonderful home in Brooklyn, NY. I had so much fun doing the painting and making the frame that I thought this would be a great topic to ramble on about.

This picture started out as a demo I painted for a group of kids in Ripley, Ohio. I did a talk and demonstration at the library before helping the kids set up and paint their own still lifes.
I have painted something very similar once before, as I am a Star Wars "kid" it is a recurring theme that I have no problem revisiting.
The idea was to have Yoda using the force to lift the toy plane- or at least appear to lift the plane.  You barely notice the coffee cup, right?

Demonstrations are fun- but challenging. I like to talk during demos and I've found I can either talk well, or paint well.  I tend to choose the former so I don't sound like an idiot. Honestly, I thought it turned out OK considering the circumstances.
In a demo you have limited time, limited concentration and in this case an audience of limited attention span. So I stopped when I could tell I was losing their interest- about 35 minutes. Often I will just wipe a demo canvas down and paint something else but I like this one and I decided to set it up in the studio and spend some time finishing it.

Once I got it back in the studio, I tried to set it up similarly to what I had in Ripley. The lighting was very different but it was a better looking composition.

Here are a few shots of the painting in process- each panel representing roughly a day of work. The first panel shows me making sure the drawing and the layout worked. I was painting over the demo painting so I worked a bit more bold then I normally do. Day two I spent time pushing it back, losing edges and getting breadth of treatment.

With the painting complete it was time to consider the frame. I wanted something unique and different. I love playing around and experimenting with frames. Lately I have been trying to spend more time painting and less time framing. That's what frame shops are for.
I had a cheap gold frame that was the right size. I thought this time I would go really crazy and make the frame look like a space station.

First thing I wanted to do was replace the corner flourish with Storm Trooper heads. I mean, this decision was obvious, right?
I made press molds in non-hardening clay and then cast the head by mixing up some Durhams Rock Hard Putty. Its wonderful stuff. I highly recommend it for frame repair, home repair, or any Martha Stewart crafty ideas you may have. Once it hardened they were popped out of the mold and sanded. I had to cast quite a few to get 4 good casts.

I had recently found a part off an old Star Wars toy in the bottom of a junk drawer. Back in the day (mid to late 70's), Star Wars toys came with assembly instructions, a list of parts, and an order form. If something broke you could send the form with proof of purchase into Kenner  and they would mail you a replacement part. The door on my Millennium Falcon broke (probably during an intense battle) so I had ordered a new one. This old broken toy part was perfect for the corners of my frame. I cut it on the band saw to so it fit and laid in on a bed of clay in a Tupperware container so I could make a mold. The piece I cut off was used on another part of the frame.

The first mold was a disaster. I used water based alginate casting material and it did not go well. I was mushy and crumbling as I used it. I tried again with a recipe I found online, using a tube of 100% silicone caulk thinned with mineral spirits, corn starch, a few drops of glycerine and acrylic paint. The next mold, while a bit stinky, was smooth and durable. Again using Durhams, I was able to cast 4 detailed corner pieces. I still have the mold, so this part may appear on more frames in the future.

Next on the list was to make the flat areas look like panels on a space vehicle. I tend to save all the cardboard from the backs of drawing pads. I comes in very handy. I cut panels to fill the areas between the corners, sketched out the designs and then cut them all with bevels. in a random pattern.
They were all numbered, laid out so I didnt get lost and later glued into place.

I used some left over model car parts (I recently have been building a model car for another still life I'm working on), strips of balsa wood, metal thumb tacks, and a piece of a plastic zip tie to decorate the frame.
I spray on automotive primer to seal it. I filled and sanded as needed.

A few coats and it was starting to look unified and smooth. For the final coat I went with a automotive flat gray. Space ship paint from NASA was just too costly.
After I got a few coat, I used brown and blue acrylic washes to tone the frame. I dry brushed raised areas with a light grey to highlight the edges and give it some dimension. Before a final clear coat I dusted it with various powdered pigments to get some age on the frame.

A close-up shot after the weathering and toning.

The frame took at least as long as the painting, but it was worth the effort.

Fall Landscape Class- DO IT!!

Mt. Adams Summer Morning, oil on linen, 20" X 28", © copyright Richard Luschek 2016

See that painting above? I painted that all by myself. Do you like it?
Then you should take my  Fall Landscape class starting next weekend- Saturdays 10-1, Oct 8^th thru Nov 5. Fee $180.
We will spend the entire class in one location (Mt. Echo Park) allowing folks the time to work on a piece for multiple sessions.

Interested students are not required to draw a turtle in a hat to be accepted but feel free to draw one on your check.

Come enjoy the cooler weather and the fall colors.  With "Cincinnati's most charming painting teacher", we will meet at a scenic parks to learn to sketch and to paint with oils. Drawing on the ideas of impressionism, you will practice the techniques needed to complete painted sketches, including basic composition, value, pattern, color spotting, and covering the canvas. Then, building on those skills, you will complete a larger fully realized landscape painting that will capture the impression of light and color of the Cincinnati landscape. Details and directions to the various locations will be given in class. No experience necessary
One thing I will be stressing is that what we are doing is landscape painting- and not Plein Air. We are Americans! Students are not allowed to call it 'plein air' unless they are actually French.

I case you are wondering about my credentials read my bio, but I should also mention that I did watch Bob Ross a lot when I was a kid.

Email me if you have questions at richard_luschek@yahoo.com
Or call 513-479-3322

Ctrl Z, Ctrl Y

If you paint long enough, you are going to have stacks of paintings that are of no use to anyone. They need to be destroyed somehow. I suppose an option is to toss them in the garbage making sure no one gets their hands on them.
I decided I would do a total redo. Someone gave me a few old cans of oil priming white. Each can weighs a few pounds. It is dense stuff, and perfect for covering and making work go away.
So, what's under this painting?

Caffeine Bagged with Cream, 16X20, oil on textured canvas, © 2016 Richard J. Luschek II

The above painting is part of a series I started of coffee cups painted over old paintings with textured surfaces. I love what heavy texture does to the paint, forcing one to work almost like one would doing a pastel picture. It minimized details, which I like, as my tendency is to push paintings to a fine finish. I still do this, but the surface does force me to keep things broad and loose.
As the subject is of items destined for the trash, the surface seems to play into that mood for me by being rough and untidy. The goal for me is to always make a pleasing and beautiful arrangement of shapes and colors that uplift the 'common', causing us to stop and really look at a bag of stuff on the table in a way me may not do otherwise. I personally am more offended by a badly designed painting of a Ming Vase full of flowers than I am of a well design picture of garbage. I caught some flack on the social medias for belittling my heritage by painting trash. While I insist a painting be pleasing, the subject does not have to be. If that were true, war scenes, some historical events and many religious subjects would not be appropriate for representing.  I totally accept this picture is not for everyone, but I believe it is worth painting.

So, as I said before, what's under the cup painting?
A not so hot 2 hour figure painting I did in one session in my studio about 10 years ago. I did not want it, but the canvas was good.

Ctrl Z*- We will cover this up with oil priming white and fix everything.

Wow, much improved.
I palette knife it on and then brush it around till I like the texture I sometimes would push rags into the paint to get a texture and them smooth it out. 

A fresh white canvas. Doesn't this look inviting?
While the priming white is a fast drier, this stuff is on thick, so I let it set up for at least two weeks to dry before going on top with anything.

Ctrl Y- After two days I get it laid in.

So really, you are buying two paintings for one price. There is history to the canvas which was saved from the trash. The bag of cups has a history too- documenting my serious addiction to coffee.

You can see this painting and others from the series hanging at:
Rottinghaus Gallery.

1983 Madison Rd

Cincinnati, OH 45208

(513) 871-3662

*for those who may not get my hilarious, computer savvy joke, Ctrl Z, is the undo command on your computer. Ctrl Y is redo. If you don't already, start using them and improve your life.

Lord of the Manor

Dragon Attack, oil on linen, 24"X36", © 2016 Richard J. Luschek II

My newest painting in the series "Kids at Play" (that title needs work) is finished and hanging in the Cincinnati Art Galleries. I thought I would blog about the process of getting this image from idea to canvas.
Get ready for a sappy discussion about what these paintings mean to me and how they are developing into a series I think will keep me busy for a while.
I may even use the term 'cathartic' as some point, so grab your barf bag and get ready. Amongst the jibber jabber, I will be posting shots of the long process this still life went through on the way to being a final design ready to paint.
The basic idea was obviously a kid, me specifically, building a castle out of cardboard and the battle that would happen after it's construction. Plus I've been wanting to paint a picture with toilet paper tubes for some time.


I am lucky enough to be doing exactly what I want to do for a living. I get to draw, paint and create all day. Not unlike what I was doing in my childhood. Everyday I go to the studio and play. This fact has, I believe, severely slowed the aging process- at least mentally.
After studying painting, I was mostly worried about the visual. How do I make this blank canvas look like the objects in front of me in value, color and form. Now I'm using that information to tell stories.

Interestingly, the toy knights Ive had since I was 4. When I was in Jr High I painted them all with model paint so I could use them in Dungeons and Dragons games. I decided to spray paint them as they looked originally. They came in an amazing play-set with a big castle made in Germany.

And yes, I still have the castle in a box. Look for it to appear in a painting sometime in the future. This time around I wanted a childlike, homemade feel.

I generally have a terrible memory for past events. I tend to live in a small window of time. I have discussed in previous posts about the interesting things that happens to me when I work on these paintings. I get out my toys- that have been retrieved from my parents attic and basically play with them during the set up process- in a very intelligent and manly way.
Once they are set up I stare at them for hours while I paint. It is a bit of a window to the past. It's a look into the brain of 8 year old me. Its about building a story out of stuff. So, a lot of these paintings are about pretending, building, making and playing. During the process hidden memories pour out. Its like dumping an old box of photos into my brain. Yeah, catharsis! I'm also constantly getting new ideas for more pictures.

As you can see the set-up goes through a lot before I settle on a paintable subject. I want it to look carefree and random while being a powerful design. That takes days of play and experimentation.
I liked the idea of paneling, but I felt the cardboard castle- similar value and color-  got lost. 
I have to thank Carl Samson for the extremely appropriate Joan of Arc beans box he found in the attic of the Wessel House.
The label on the glue bottle was too modern so I had to print out an image I found online of one from the 70s.

I turned the background panels around and painted them blue which gave the appearance of a mysterious dark sky. A blue table would be too much, so I tried a table cloth, but it was too busy and the newspaper and white horses got lost.
The news paper was newish, but it had an old photo of Ronald and Nancy Regan on front so I figured that was good enough.
I spent a good three days adjusting and doing sketches to get from the above photo to this one.

This old red card table was perfect. It worked well with the rest of the colors and the black end caps and rivets had a shape and feel which went well with the castle. I had tried to have a chair in the front of another painting but could not get the design to work. We had some old chairs that I was able to take apart and put on stilts to get it to the right height. Using my adjustable still life table, I set up a bit lower than usual- essential from the viewpoint of an 8 year old. As a child I use a lot of toilet paper tubes and Irish Spring soap boxes to build things. The current Irish Spring packaging is very different. I found images of boxes online, built a flat box in photoshop and printed it on cardboard and folded up my own 1979 soap box. The purple dinosaur was the right size but the wrong color, so I painted it blue and added the complimentary orange wings.

Here is the painting and the final set up after two or thee days of painting.
I made some changes to the set up as the painting developed, adding the clock back in to the upper left and a red shield over the door to strengthen the center. I may do a second post about the painting process in my next post.

River of Blood- Sugary Blood!

Battle at the Red River, 16x20, oil on linen, © 2016 Richard J. Luschek II

The recent theme for my work is kids at play- and more specifically memories of my own childhood, so they are about a young Richard Luschek at play. The above painting is an attempt to move away from the emphasis on the word still in still-life and focus on adding more life. I decided I needed to step up the game in realism, not so much in execution and technique but thematically. My focus is still on design and the visual abstraction but the mood of the painting has to feel like a child at play.
I discussed the development of this idea in an earlier post based on the following set up. It felt stiff and not very real. It actually was separated into two different paintings.

This new direction resulted in my studio becoming a bit of a construction zone as I built some sets for my still life arrangements. I bought fake flooring and base molding, and made any props needed to give this a feel of being on the floor in the corner of the room.

After a week of arranging the stuff I felt the center of interest was weak. I needed a strong diagonal leading into the picture. The idea of using Red Pop just happened. I cut some red paper into a puddle shape to get a visual idea and it all started to fall into place.

This is a photo after my first day lay-in. I poured red pop on the table and painted it as quickly as I could as it would slowly run off the edge and out of the set up. I was spending too much time cleaning up red pop. I tried to level the floor but the pop would find a way to run away or just slowly evaporate.

I decided I needed a something that would give me the look of liquid but not move. I thought I could paint it on the floor, but color and transparency were an issue. I finally decided that I could use the recipe for fake blood: Corn syrup and food coloring. The recipe for red pop is not that different- it was just too wet. I mixed up my concoction and drizzled it in to place. I had to use a brush to mold and shape the puddle into shape. It eventually set up and I had my stationary puddle. The only issue was that it would get a skin on it over time and wrinkle. I would just brush water on it to flatten it out and reactivate the liquid appearance. 

I eventually had to scrape the corn syrup up and clean the area adding real red pop to the scene again to finish the painting. The spill was the most difficult area of the painting. I repainted it for a few days  till I was satisfied.

So this is the start of my new plan to blog more. If you follow this blog you know I have said that before, but this time I discovered there is this cool app on my phone that will remind me to post. Its called the calendar app, I highly recommend it.

Time To Put On A Show!

After some reflection, some depression, some self flagellation and a round of the typical New Years promises, I have decided that I need to step up my game. While I feel like I am improving as a painter, the subjects and compositions have gotten stale and safe.
In December I started setting up a still life but it just was not making me tingle. I had a discussion with my friend Joe Slucher. While looking at one of my struggling still life set ups, he mentioned that it seemed forced, "Did your mother let you play with your toys at the table?"

The rough idea was there, but it was obviously not working. His comment was like an creative wedgie for my brain. It got me thinking about the realism of the subject. I am painting these scenes of kids playing- really memories from my childhood. These scenes of the 'kid version of me' need to be more truthful. How do kids play? More specifically, how did I play, and how can I create good design out of that?
Kids play on the floor. Kids are messy, nasty creatures. If you have boys you can't have nice things.
I am still pretty immature like most artists I know, but I forgot what its like to play. What did 8 year old Richard play like? Oh, I know what you're thinking- "He played beautifully and brilliantly!"

Starting from scratch, I split this still life into two set ups. In order to do this, one of the issue I had was that the backdrop is not big enough and I'd like to have the option to work in a corner, which allows for various planes of value. Also, I needed an area where I could set up on the floor if needed. I had a small sheet of plywood on the walls that I could paint for back drops but it was not good enough. I had to go bigger.

So I built some walls in that spot. I thought about using drywall, but figured plywood would be more sturdy and could be moved to the other side of the room if I wanted.

I glued and screwed these flats and used joint compound on the seam. The side wall is just screwed so I can move it if I want. I added some old picture rail I found to the top and curtain rods on hooks so I can add fabric to any scene. I wanted a wood floor and found that you could buy sample boards of Pergo (fake wood flooring) for $5 a board. I added the base molding and had a faux corner of the room set up on which to assemble my scenes. One added feature I never thought of was that the back of the side wall now gave me a place to store my stretcher bars in an upright and organized fashion.

To the right I have another set up on top of my file cabinet that needed some work too. I decided to make a mini corner of the room even though this is a higher straight on view.
I built the small corner for the top a while ago and just needed to add base molding and a floor- all of which is loose and can be removed. The nice think is that later on I can repaint the walls a new color, paint the molding, change out the floor or even add carpet. 

I then was thinking it would be nice to have an outlet or light switch to add for more options.
I drilled out the rivets on an outlet and switch, then sanded them down till they were flat. I added some tape on the back to clean it up and I have flat set decorations.

They could be added to any scene. Here I even plugged an old cord- after cutting off the tines a bit.

I used some wax to stick the light switch to the wall in my other set up.

I am pretty excited about these new 'stages'. I look forward to working on the paintings for the next few weeks.
More about these paintings coming soon.

Mother and Son

A few weeks ago a woman contacted me after taking a painting home from the gallery to try out in her home. The painting ended up being too big for the space so she returned it to the gallery and asked me to paint something smaller with the same Hadley cups featured. Her husband's mother had collected Hadley and they wanted something to remember her by. She asked that I just paint a cup or two to give as a Christmas present.
I thought it would be interesting to make a story out of it, to do a diptych of a mother and son having an afternoon drink. The mother having tea or coffee, the son having milk and playing with his truck.

Mother and Son, each panel 8"x6", oil on linen, © 2015 Richard Luschek

I decided to have the truck in both scenes and in different positions, as we all know if a boy has a truck he's gonna drive it through your space.

I thought I'd show a few stages of the lay-in process as I only had a few days to paint this to have it ready in time for Christmas.

Day 1

This was probably just done in a few hours to get the canvases covered. I wanted it to be dry the next day so I painted thinly and stored it near the furnace exhaust pipe in my studio to cook it dry.

Day 2

The week before Christmas was very cloudy and grim. So at times it was too dark to paint. I tried to just concentrate on drawing during those dark times. You can see things are starting to come into focus. For details I tend to continually paint them out and rework the area. Here you can see I got rid of the design on the right cup to work the form more.
I also added some milk to the boys cup.

Day 4

I tried to focus on the boys panel so I didn't have to keep moving the truck back and forth.

Day5

I flipped the panels on the easel so I could focus on the mother side of things. I added tea to the cup and changed the tea label from red to green. The label was actually green as it is Irish Breakfast blend, but I  initially thought it would look better red. I decided it was too much and changed it to green.
 

They were picked up a few days before Christmas. She seemed very happy with the paintings. They were still a bit wet as was still painting when she came to pick them up.
I had joked about drinking the milk when I was finished to celebrate, but did not look to appetizing after sitting in the studio for a few days- it was more cheese than milk at this point. Instead I went for a beer on the way home.