Ruby Tuesday Too - Watercolor Class

It has been awhile, but I am happy to be back at Ruby Tuesday Too again. This week we showcase the always lovely Patti at a watercolor class taught by our wonderful artist Friend, Rich DiCarlo of the Valley Arts Council based in nearby Derby (CT). At the Derby Public Library, DiCarlo, these art classes are offered them free to young adult patrons. Patti is learning and enjoying the finer points of watercolor artistry...

WW - Students and Teacher

Our artist friend Rich DiCarlo of Derby CT is also an art teacher, holding a watercolor class recently where the students are creating their artistry... see WW and WW

Whimsical Windows - Retro Gallery

For Toby's meme Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors I am traveling back a couple of days to a reception at a new gallery in a cool old factory in a nearby town.

Owner and artist (in so many disciplines :) opened Studio E.Y.E. (Express Yourself Endlessly).

This old facility has the requisite windows to let lots of natural light in to this stylish gallery, workshop and classroom to those in the pursuit and learning of making metallic art...not to mention paint parties. A very cool place!

Ruby Tuesday Too - Steel-y Smile

Ruby Tuesday Too encourages the use of red in any shade, a lot or a little. On Saturday, we attended the first Ecofest in neighboing Derby highlighted a green theme and included a 'Trashformation' contest where items were recycled/repurposed into new items, including a robot created by our artist friend Rich Dicarlo. I find this fellow to be rather disarming, not really tough but as winsome as a steel robot can look - a personality that is happy-go-lucky, with 'hands' made out of Romex electrical cable. Reuse, recycle, repurpose - a ruby robot...

Shadow Shot Sunday - Hallway artist at work

For Shadow Shot Sunday 2, we may look for shadows as art. However here, the shadows are peripheral to the art...Patti captured this while researching a newspaper story - an artist was commissioned to create a mural in a hallway at Ansonia Middle School. The shadows seem to be under the ladder and lockers down the hall. Art offers us a different perspective depending on the venue it seems - and this is artistic indeed!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Touched up

Concentric Sun and Shadow from 1936

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 returns us to this oft posted view from wheelchair height of classic almost art-deco 1936 Dodge. However, our artist friend in Derby, Rich DiCarlo, continuously requested to add some flair to this view in order to display it at our favorite Gallery@37 in Derby. So this pic was transported via flash drive to his care...and a cool rework of the original. Now minus the reflected photographer, the shadowy arcs highlight the crescent shaped light beam that travels around the whitewall tire. I like the changes he wrought...it remains unsold, yet the non-artist in me is happy that this wheelchair view may yet have commercial possibilities :)

Shadow Shot Sunday - Circles

Original wheel

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 arrives at today's 6:00 opening opening of a new exhibit at our local and favorite Gallery @ 37 in Derby, the Celebration of the Circle which showcases our favorite concentric shape...

I do not consider myself an artist, but the very circular 1936 Dodge tire and wheel assembly that I posted recently on SSS2 seemed the perfect subject for this show. Plenty of circles here: tire, whitewall, trim ring, rim and hubcap. So I looked at a few edits to consider my framed exhibit...

Posterized

B-W 

Inverted color

Gimp, a balky but free photo editor for Mac, was used. I finally settled on the retro look of sepia, and framed it...I call this Dependable Dodge as that is how Chrysler referred to this brand in the early-mid '60s (you are right, I am old enough enough to remember :)

Whimsical Windows - Houdini at the opera

The master illusionist looks on. Acrylic by Greg Karas

Toby's fun weekly meme, Whimsical Windows/Delirious Doors, is back. We look for portals of whimsy and/or otherwise in our travels...today, I return to the old Sterling Opera House in nearby Derby, where the sidewalk level windows are now full of portraits of artists who graced the stage from 1889-1945. This window has the image of the magician and stunt performer with the stage name Harry Houdini, the dapper artist wearing a pair of handcuffs. 

At sidewalk level, there is so much glare that it nearly obscures the performer (although in character he was an illusionist too :)

The artist is Greg Karas of Ansonia, and Patti wrote of this in her newspaper blog - the old and someday to be restored entertainment venue offers a cool exhibit to the lucky patrons who happen to be strolling by...

Ruby Tuesday - Art Gallery

Inside the Gallery@37...captured by Patti

Ruby Tuesday 2 is back with its simple proviso - red, a lot or a little. Plenty or minimal, ruby is all about us. Today it is a look at our favorite local arts venue, the eclectic Gallery@37 in Derby, with its current red walls, slightly washed by the flash. It is different from the normal eggshell or ecru hues on gallery walls. In that sense, the bold paint is a fine backdrop to the artists wares. I like this - a lightbulb may be a symbol of an idea, so this is great for RT2...see more artisic rubies at this fun meme!

Ruby Tuesday - Wheel

Ruby Tuesday 2  returns this week, and we become detectives as we look for red themed subjects - a lot or a little of this hue is all it takes. 

Last week's bicycle festival in Ansonia had more than just bike riders, there was art too. From the large mural to this painted wheel.

I believe it to be a wire spool that once held steel wire from a local wire mill. A unique work of art that adds and old industrial character in this industrial city. Some red here, the brick wall of City Hall with even more red...See rubies from all over at the fun RT2!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Bikes and more

Steve and Rich early on

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back - and we have been on the look for shadowy art, and most of the time we need not look to hard on our hunt.

The tools of the painters

Last Sunday Patti and I attended the Pierre Lallement Festival of Bikes in downtown Ansonia, in its second year.

Besides vendors along the Main Street, there were bicyclists riding up steep hills from New Haven who arrived with a police escort to the finish line - see Patti's blog post with video. A fun time for riders and spectator alike. 

Joel and Rich continue

Valley Arts Council members were painting a mural prior to the arrival of the bikes. In the second, colors were mediums were mixed in a variety of shades. I think outdoor wood stains were mixed with outdoor paint for durability.

Lallement was a Frenchman who lived in Ansonia for a time where he received a patent for the pedal bicycle in 1865. He did not get rich for his discovery, a fate that often befalls the inventor whose invention would be very common after their lifetimes.

Although there are no natural shadows in this view (but check the mural), the picture was taken 2 hours later as the artists continued. The weather was brilliant until the rain that appeared later in the afternoon and the mural taken down, with work to continue. A great day full of action, art and shadow!

Shadow Shot Sunday - Opening

Shadow Shot Sunday 2 is back, the theme is simply shadows and we happily comply! 

Last Saturday was an opening of Steampunk (Victorian era futuristic fantasy art) at our favorite venue, Gallery@37 in Derby. For a small gallery, it was packed with visitors - happily the unpretentious gallery was full. Patti even had two photo entries on the wall :)

The outdoor sign for the venue over the tent placed there for the overflow of patrons - nighttime shadows are cool as I don't always associate night and shadows. The view inside was taken during a lull, and shadows are inside too.

An unpretentious gallery, art for the masses...see shadowy art from all about at the fun shadowy SSS2! 

Ruby Tuesday 2 - Parking place

Ruby Tuesday (2) arrives, and this week I am ready with a vision in neon.

The place is the parking garage in the heart of Derby Connecticut. We were at an artists event at the Gallery@37 Elizabeth Street. At these food and wine events, a few sub-parties form around the venue, at this one we are on the street (on a warm-for-January evening). I saw this and thought RT, and asked Allegra to capture the sign with her new I-Phone. Which she did! Follow the ruby reds at this fun meme!