Frog Paintings, Serious and Whimsical

There is no end of subjects for an artist to paint. Even limiting oneself to frogs, there are infinite possibilities.
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The painting above is the second version of a still life that was started in a class. Rochester Art Club show entry rules prohibit class paintings, so I did scene again with the sea and clouds as background.

A young man in Jamaica who calls regularly often tends to be sad and frustrated, because he is brilliant, has Asperger’s syndrome, and is very much underemployed.

I sent him the photo of the painting above and he wrote back “I see serenity, that painting inspires comfort.”

Of course, I was happy that it fulfilled its intention. Still, I wanted to finish the first version.

The background originally was 1) all black. First I changed this into a 2) stone wall with an arch, then turned that into a 3) venetian bridge with a canal and boats and the frogs in the dish floating downstream, then tried them 4) in a tornado, and finally, about 11 pm, I decided to 5) place the face of the painting on my wet palate. The result wasn’t too bad, so I turned it 180 degrees and did it again. With a few more blobs, by 11:30 pm I was done!

There is no end of subjects for an artist to paint. Even limiting oneself to frogs, there are infinite possibilities. Here are two angles of the same frog. How many paintings could be done from either the side or top angle?

My NIA dance teacher and friend Jane Pagano, took the photo on the left below, I decided to make one free association and one realistic painting from her image. Both are 6 x 6 inches.

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Somehow, I find it especially fun to paint from photos that friends have taken and given to me. A friend gave me a picture of a green pumpkin frog, and it seemed instructive to combine that image with our Pittsford canal side Frog House.

A Frog House is open every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm through December 23rd.

You can buy or donate YOUR favorite frog book, frog shot, frogabilia, or art work for me to sell to help me help the frogs,

And/or please help by donating through GoFundMe Froggy Family Fabulous Foundation.