Old Canoe is an award winning painting with 2 Ribbons!

Here I am with my painting 'Old Canoe' at the Regional Art show at the Rome Art and Community Center (Rome , NY that is :))  I was surprised to see that I won two awards since I did not get a call.  I was at the center and took a sneak peek at the show and was thrilled!  Of course, I went to the opening that night to get my certificates.  I'll get the ribbons at the end of the show!

I got a Place award and a special award from the Jervis Library.  These special awards are the best, because, to the person choosing them, this piece was the 'Best of Show'!  Thanks so much to the judges!

Old Fashioned Christmas - vintage decorations are the best!

Here is a little 5 x7 that I did in acrylic on Ampersand gessobord.  I love to decorate for Christmas and these are two pieces near and dear to my heart.  The Santa Post office is a bank that I had when I was a kid.  I recently found it in the attic at my Mom's house.  Now it is part of my way to big collection of decorations.  The tree was given to me and my husband by his Aunt Helen shortly after we were married.  She fired ceramics in her basement and loved making pieces for the family.  These lighted trees were popular in the 70's and I am lucky to have this one plus a white one with all blue lights that Helen also made for us.

I took this photo as I was taking down my decorations  last Christmas and wanted to paint it before I lost the image which happens too often, but that is another story.  I think this will be my Christmas card this year :)

This piece is available on Daily Paintworks:  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/lynne-reichhart/old-fashioned-christmas/238222

Do you have any favorite holiday decoratios??

Confessions of an old school Musicholic! Vinyl rules!

I know this is an primarily and art blog, but music is my 2nd love after art!  In my high school days I used to stay up until all hours listening to my favorite radio stations, often drawing and painting at the same time.  I had piles of cassette tapes from recording my fav songs and DJ's from the radio.

As you can see above, I still have all my vinyl albums that I collected growing up and beyond.  I used to go to Woolworths and get a record album for $3.99.   I can't bring myself to part with my collection and I still play them on occasion.  10 years ago or so I started to catalog all the records and what they are worth. Some are pretty rare, but they are all priceless to me!

I also have a nice collection of 45 rpm records.  When I was making the big bucks before I retired to pursue art  we got a jukebox so I could play my singles.  I love playing the old songs and singing along.  Songs like ' The Night Chicago Died' and 'Treat Her Like a Lady'.

Next week I'll be back to art because YAY- I just won a couple of awards for one of my paintings.

Anyone else out there still listen to their vinyl - I'd love to read your comments.

History of a Rock concert goer - prices sure have changed!

I have saved my concert tickets for as long as I can remember.  I put them in this 30 year old photo album that has ended up being a history of ticket prices as well as wonderful memories.  Check out Paul McCartney for only $34 in 1989.  This is a random page from the album.  I think the most interesting is The Rolling Stones in 1981 for only $15 (not shown).  That also included Journey and George Thorogood!

I remember my first concert was Orleans and Melissa Manchester at a local venue.  My Mom had to take me because I wasn't old enough to drive.  Poor Mom ended up taking me to many shows near and far.  I lived on the Canadian border so I heard and loved a lot of Canadian music.  She crossed the border to take me and a girlfriend to many a show not to mention the treks to Canadian record stores to purchase favs not available in the US.   Ottawa and Toronto get lots of big US names too!

I still love going to concerts.  The most recent was Justin Hayward from the Moody Blues just a couple weeks ago.  I must admit that I am seeing the acts that are no longer in the big arenas anymore, but they are still rockin' after all these years as am I :)

'Oktoberfest' painting finished! 'Hacker Pschorr' brewery.

After many hours, this painting is finally done!  I posted an 'in progress' photo 2 entries down in case you missed it.  Check it out!

Flora and more flora!  It was a challenge painting all the floral garland, but I like the cast shadows they create.  I was always looking forward to the next item to paint.  I love the blue on the wheels and that was one of the last thing I painted.  I did this one on smooth Ampersand gessobord and it proved to be difficult to blend even with my favorite blending too - my fingers!   I am really happy with how this came out though.

Please share it with your beer loving friends!    Hacker Pschorr  is a Munich brewery.  This is their float in an Oktoberfest parade.  My husband was lucky enough to be in Germany at the time.  I am kind of curious to try one of their brews now.  The first Hacker brewery is mentioned in 1417, located at the corner of Sendlinger and Hackstraße in Munich so they must be pretty good.

Featuring 'Montmartre circa 1977' Paris France painting

This is one of my favorite paintings!  I snapped this scene on a high school junior French club trip to Paris.  I was so in awe of all the wonderful artists painting and selling on Montmartre.  It was like painting little paintings within the larger piece.  They were such fun to do since they were looser than my style and I probably wouldn't paint a clown :)  I did this piece on Ampersand Gessobord which helped loosen me up a little because of the smooth surface.

This was a trip of a lifetime and one I will never forget.  There were 3 total from my school that went and they were both friends.  We slept 3 in a bed and faced the morning wake-up calls together!  The chaperons were quite lenient.  There was an older guy from our school going to the Sorbonne and we were supposed to meet up with him.  The three of us took off to tackle the Metro at night!  Such fun memories.

Thanks for reminiscing with me.

Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest painting Work in Progress - a sneak peek!

I found this great photo of a float during Oktoberfest in Munich a number of years ago.  My husband took the photo when he was on a business trip and I was psyched when I saw it.  He is not known for he photo prowess, but he got lots a great pics this trip. 

I have been slowly working on the wood areas and took a break to do the sign which was a challenge.  After taking a couple hours to do it, I had to look up what I was painting.  I found out that 'Hacker Pschorr' is a Munich brewery.  In the late 18th century, Joseph Pschorr bought the Hacker brewery from his father-in-law; he subsequently founded a separate brewery under his own name.  His two sons divided his estate by each taking control of one of the two separate breweries. In 1972, Hacker and Pschorr merged to form Hacker-Pschorr, but the beers were sold as separate brands well after 1975.  It is incredible that the original brewery was founded in 1417.  I guess the stuff must be pretty good!

I have made some more progress since taking this photo.  I have to get everything else done before working on the flowers since they are 'on top' of the barrels.  I hope I can do it justice!

Thanks for looking and feel free to leave me a comment to say Hi!