Artist of Real and Fantastic in High Key Impressionist and Dutch Traditional in Faux Gold Frames

Look to these pages for the latest from the studio and the boat yard. This is a simple web site with no cookies or security hosted by Go Daddy. Trust they will let you have fun browsing.

Tom helped produce and later published the community newsletter for 7 years, a quarterly newsletter from Clifton Town Meeting, the community advisor to the City of Cinicinnati.

Tom's sailing page Stories of 4 Atlantic crossings, boat rebuild, sailing on the Ohio River and links to PDF and videos

My father Tom Senior started this line of leather goods and sold them in the Florida Keys until he died in 1999. Tom is in the process of resurecting his web site.

DeLohre Genuine Shark Skin Leather Goods are crafted by our artisans in Mexico who have been schooled in the renowned old Hispanic traditions of the finest leather tanners and leather workers in the world. Shark leather is one of the toughest leathers known to man. By various calculations it has been assessed at from 7 to 11 times stronger than cowhide. Every DeLohre shark leather product has a very unique and distinctive feature. When the product is finished by our craftsmen a real shark tooth is attached as a mark of excellence and authenticity. DeLohre Shark Leather Goods produces a full line of fine quality products made from this exceptional material including belts, wallets, key cases and accessories.

Look to these pages for the latest from the studio and the boat yard. This is a simple web hosted by Go Daddy site with security, except for Google Forms and YouTube links. Trust me and have fun.

Last Updated October 29, 2025. Included a chatbot of the site. November 2023 Finally figured out how to upload files from within Dreamweaver making it much easier to update the site. Look forward to lots of updates. It's been two years since I lost this capability because I left one server and moved everything over to GoDaddy. They have been very helpful.

Many videos from Clifton Market when it was going through changes. Very good interviews with artists at the community gallery: Off Ludlow Gallery.

Planning the next leg of the voyage back. This one from Lowestof UK to the Azores in May/June of 2026. It's a 1500 nm and if we are lucky can traverse the English Channel with favorable winds we'll get back out into the Atlantic for the 1000nm to Horta. . Studying the historic wind now. Hoping the jet stream stays away from opposing us.

US S/V Clio Bayfield sailing July 2025 Greifswald, Germany to Lowestoft, UK 500 nm.

Tom's sailing page Stories of 5 Atlantic crossings, boat rebuild, sailing on the Ohio River and links to PDFs and videos

Photoshop composite of the composition. In Tom's dream he meets the alien on top of a canal type boat with Our Lady of Guadalupe appearing on the shore with a nuclear power plant in the background.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the title given to the Virgin Mary after she appeared to a man named Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, and is now a major Catholic icon and a national symbol of Mexico. The image of her on Juan Diego's cloak has significant meaning for indigenous and Catholic people, as her image and story are believed to have led to millions of conversions in the years following the apparition.

Of course the aliens made Our Lady of Guadalupe appear on the shore. Both the alien painting and Saturn were started in 1981.

Oil on canvas, 4’ x 7’, Started in 1981, the background was roughed in as a holding place.

The Catchers Of Heaven : a trilogy By Michael Wolf is a rare book and by chance it was on the shelves at University of Colorado Boulder Norlin Library 303-492-7521
184 UCB, 1720 Pleasant Street, Boulder, CO, 80309-0184, United States

I took the opportunity to copy all 400 pages with my cell phone. Currently working on a painting to finish the large Saturn painting I started at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the Voyager II encounter with the planet in 1980. I started to put my daughter in a spacecraft but she said, “Why a spacecraft?” So the painting became an Alien Abduction.

That comment started a study of the aliens and it came to a conclusion with the discovery of “Catchers of Heaven.” The author, Michael Wolf, worked with everything Alien for the US government. His book is a definitive explanation about all things Alien. It’s an amazing book that reveals that he, Michael Wolf, was visited by Aliens as a child and was abducted. It was the beginning of a long friendship with the Alien, especially one named Kotha. A child prodigy, Michael’s laboratory was as sophisticated as any. He became a medical doctor and flew reconnaissance missions in Vietnam until the military discovered his one on one with Alien spacecrafts. You might even think that Micheal was an alien, for the Aliens have human looking beings on Earth. In the book Michael interacts with these Nordic beings with an honest love not homosextual. The love experienced is special and closely attached to the Aliens' love of this planet. The Aliens are fearful of what we are doing to this planet.

It was fun to think the aliens have a spiritual side but the more I delve into it the more I find they are as cutthroat as we are.

In the book Alec alludes to having an out of body experience as a child. Later while being with the aliens I thought I read a passage that may have connected out of body experiences to advanced alien ways of communicating and or travel. Also there seemed to be a chapter about how we can tap into this since out of body experiences can be manufactured easily. I’m still carefully going through this book to see where those passages are.

This made me think of a self generated out of body experience. While in college I stole “Getting There Without Drugs” from the library and while only reading the bold text, was able to do this in a few minutes. I have not regenerated this phenomenon but intend to. Low and behold I see you can also have this book read to you via the Internet Archive.

Getting there without drugs: techniques and theories for the expansion of consciousness.
by Buryl Payne

Introduction to an outer space reclining female. An old composition renewed into the modern age only for the reason I had an old painting of Saturn started in 1980 when I was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a member of the press with credentials from the Cincinnati Post. The 5� x 4� Saturn painting got half done, because it was too large and too complicated and then sat in storage till I started finishing old works because I did not want them to be left unfinished. After a good long thought about what to do with it I hit upon the idea of placing a woman astronaut in a spacecraft looking out the window at Saturn. Later my daughter, the model, suggested not to have the spacecraft so I made the painting an �Alien Abduction.� How else can you explain a woman floating in space? All in all this is an effort to move the ball down the road using what skills I have and the good sense to understand art history and where this fits in. In the end, my job is to produce a good oil painting in the manner of the ancients with a modern twist. You might wonder why the bulk of the canvas is white. I follow the method of Ruben and Bouguereau. Both painted directly on white canvas attempting to create the transparent colored surface in as little time as possible. Painting over an area was only done when the initial attempt did not reach acceptance. This goes against the suggestion that the masters painted in layers of washes. I reject that technique. I studied under the celebrity portrait painter Ralph Wolf Cowan and in his studio we got paintings out the door in as little time as possible recreating the �a la prima� technique of old. The sketch of Helen�s face will be removed with only a trace of outline so the drawing does not interfere with the fantastic transparent oil painting.

It took Tom forever to start painting. Tom had to go through extensive composition and drawings stages. This painting uses a standard medium.

After four days of painting the face in a portrait you end up doing less and less trying to decide what to do to finish it. Taking the time to assemble video of the process kills some of the time just wondering what to do. “The Director's Cut” removes a Mel Torme song!
Two hours explaining the technique with footage of the very start to finish of a face painted in oil in the old manner.

Mistress Of Destruction or Hiroshima Mon Amour

Framed original painting, canvas 39� x 49�, framed 45� x 55� framed

The oil painting shows a woman looking up at a floating earth. A snake encircles the earth and is about to strike. Below the earth is a tiger who is about to bite the snake. In the background is a nuclear explosion. Behind the woman is a tall ornate enclosed chair.

Painted for Birdie Bloch, a great patron of Tom's. He painted her portrait several times and in this painting she let Tom do what he wanted. He painted an allegory about the benefits and dangers of Nuclear energy. Tom spent a lot of time at the circus to study the tigers. The bench is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The blast in the background was from a famous nuclear cloud photo in the American desert..

The painting is an allegory of threat. Painted in 1980 at the end of the Cold War it was meant to show the nuclear threat of the Cold War. The woman represents humanity and the tiger in front of her represents the powers available to her. The chair behind her represents her authority. The Earth represents herself and the snake represents the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Today the treat is different but still there.

30 Days In The Hole by Steve Mariott and Humble Pie was the theme song for the trip.

Still trying to find the source of my palette. First I thought it was Daniel Greene. I learned it from Ralph Cowan. He learned it at the Art Students League in New York City

2 hour video explaning how to paint a face from start to finish. Starts off with a explanation of the pallett and brushes then goes to the first stroke to the last with extended explanation along the way.

How do you make a famous painting?
To make a famous painting, we follow a meticulous process that involves several steps:
Conceptualization: We start by deciding on the subject and gathering reference photos, especially if the subject is older. This helps in capturing the essence of the person.
Sketching: A sketch is made to fit the size of the canvas. For example, a 24” x 30” canvas requires careful planning to fit all elements.
Composition: We use tools like Poser, an electronic mannequin program, to compose the figures. This helps in arranging the light and ensuring the composition is balanced.
Color Sketches: Initial color sketches are made to plan the color scheme and ensure the painting will be lively and not repetitive.
Painting: We use a new medium of powdered pigment mixed with castor oil. The paint takes about a month to set up and dry. During this time, adjustments are made to the painting, such as adding darker and lighter lines to keep the variegation up.
Detailing: The focus is on getting to the core of the identity of the person. This involves laser focus and sometimes spending hours thinking about what the painting needs.
Patience and Time: Creating a masterpiece takes time. We believe in giving the work all the time it needs to achieve success, similar to how old masters worked. This process can take several months, but the result is a painting that matches the level of work seen in museums.
By following these steps, we ensure that each painting is a work of art that captures the essence of the subject and stands the test of time.

The joke is, Tom's girl friend, a rock star, and Tom asked Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson in a cab, how do you write a hit song. They replied, "Be yourself, if it takes off you'll be miserable if you produced a song for the market!"

Emily West Morgan, Yellow Rose of Texas, 10" x 8", May 2, 2013
Tom considers it one of his best.

Fall 2024 Clifton Market Window Box featuring Tom Lohre
319 Ludlow Ave, Cincinnati OH 45220
Some of this art will be auctioned on EBTH. Email from image in "contacts", to be put on the auction notice list. After not being sold for a number of years, Tom puts them up for auction at EBTH. Here is a link to past auctions. Bidding starts at a $1 and normally they go for about 1/5 their worth.

Stormy Sea with Ship
Melted oil pastel on metal, 8" x 10", $40
Applied rabbit skin glue gesso on flashing metal then used a heat gun to melt Crayola crayons. Wanted the traditional gesso to absorb the wax and even out the color but it did not happen. Will have to rethink and discover an absorbing canvas.

42' Westsail "Fiona" in heavy seas, oil on canvas, 12" x 16", February 2018
Oil on canvas, 12" x 16", $1,200
Painted during the fourth crossing of the Atlantic. Tom painted the ship he was on in the manner of Pinkham Ryder. He took his time and worked on the pencil on the canvas while underway and painted when they were in port.

Robert Johnson, unfinished
Oil on shinny white enamel on metal, 12" x 16", $1,200 finished with shark skin suit with juke joint in background

After finishing Billy Idol, a painting of Robert Johnson, legendary blues musician who died in 1938 at the age of 27, is on the easel.

Starting with one of two known photos, a third photo has surfaced, owned by his step sister who is 94.

After starting the drawing on the 12" x 16" piece of flashing metal sprayed white, it has been wiped clean for the new image. It was taken in the same photo booth as one of the other photos was taken.

To avoid the residual pencil drawing left after most of it is removed before painting, the new drawing will be painted with a small Sable brush with paint made from powdered pigment and castor oil. The paint remains wet for a month and will be absorbed into the final paint, a mixture of half powdered pigment and castor oil and half tube paint. The hope is the new method will supply a long working time since the manner is transparent, a la prima and allow sharper lines and transitions. Using just powdered pigment and castor oil the paint acts too fluid on the surface, dripping and coagulating in strange ways though it does take a month to dry. The surface is still fragile after years. Since oil paintings are never touched, this is not a bad thing. This is the first painting to use a half and half mixture of two types of oil paint. The goal is to have the longest drying time possible and still have the utmost control over the paint.

Tom's mentor, Ralph Wolf Cowan, painted black & white oil sketches on metal with baked on white enamel. He did this to offer patrons a less expensive portrait.

It's Tom's intention to create an accurate painted drawing, in Ralph's manner, that sets all the hard edges. By storing the painting and the palette in a freezer when not being worked on, the painting will remain wet till done which could be months. Thankfully both fit into 12" x 16" plastic boxes with tight seals.

All this is done to create a transparent painting using the white of the canvas, in this case white spray paint on flashing metal. The flashing metal surface is pickled preventing rust. The white of the canvas plays the role of white in the painting. The pigment thinned with medium until only a suggestion of color is noticed for the lightest color.

Tom started his fountain series using his en plein manner he created while painting a canvas a day outdoors for many years. Not only did he hone his skills he achieved an excellent impressionist manner peaking in 1987.
Tom painted Main Street in Nantucket over and over again, and wanted to find just such a scene for Cincinnati. “Fountain Square” filled his qualifications of a very popular & successful image to be painted. In fact, he recommends students paint the Fountain at the Fountain and sell the work there while working on improving their skills while on the job instead Tom took his own advice and painted the fountain over and over.
Now with over seventy paintings produced, the endearing appeal may be because the figure on top with arms outstretched water pouring out of the hands may tap into thoughts of Christ on the Cross.

Clio and the Whale I, 10" x 8", Crayons melted on paper glued to metal flashing, January 9, 2024, $150

The first painting done after the voyage illustrating when Tom went into the cockpit looking right and saw a whale's tail 12 feet out of the water going down. He thinks it was a sperm whale's tail. Painted in a new manner of melting crayons on a stiff surface using an aqumented hair dryer. He worked up a new set of crayons combining Cray-Pas oil pastels with Crayola crayons to achieve a transparent color. In the past he created a complete palette of Cray-Pas oil pastels by sucking the mixed color into brass tube and extruding them. creating a 1/8" stick of color. These new crayons are 3/8" square created by pouring the special color into a silicone mold created from a mini ice cupe tray by cutting the parations out allowing a 3/8" stick to be created.

Clio & The Whale II , 16" x 12", Crayons melted on paper glued to metal flashing, January 12, 2024, $350

One of the three watercolors of the paintings Tom would paint when in Rio. Tom never imagined he would get a commission off the Internet. Sure, he had a big site: 500 megs chock full of paintings and artwork. Usually Tom discarded the con-man e-mail — but this time it was different. Olympio insisted that Tom paint his daughters, and even sent the money up front. Quickly Tom booked a flight to Rio; it was January. He had an old friend there he could look up if things turned suspicious.

Ed Hicks as Van Gogh is a labor of love for both the artist and patron. Ed thought long and hard about the commission. Tom was excited to paint a Van Gogh of Van Gogh replacing him with Ed. Years earlier Tom made a splash replacing heads in paintings in the MET. Ed wrote, "Tom's work is as masterful as it is inspired. The oil portrait he painted for me many years ago embodies a depth rarely seen in such a work - and the eyes continue to watch me, looking through me, seeing across the ages."

John Edward Hicks, 68, of Latonia, KY passed away on Friday, December 24, 2021. He was an English Instructor with the University of Cincinnati and a member and music director at West Cincinnati Presbyterian Church. Ed was an accomplished pianist, an author and a human rights activist. He was preceded in death by his parents: Philip and Vera Hicks. Ed is survived by his partner of 25 years: Mitchell Scott; sister: Pamela (Albert) McQueen; niece: Kelsey McQueen and nephew: Scott McQueen. A celebration of Ed's life will be scheduled for a later date. Connley Brothers Funeral Home, 11 East Southern Avenue, Covington (Latonia), KY is serving the family. Memorials are suggested to the West Cincinnati Presbyterian Church, 1708 Baymiller Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45214. Online condolences may be expressed on Facebook or at www.connleybrothersfuneralhome.com

Proposal to have the Clifton Cow Jumping over the Moon in Mount Storm placed on a wall, billboard size on Ludlow Avenue

339 Ludlow Ave., Rosson Apartments, Ray Richie, Unique Campus Rentals, owner, office on McMillian near Starbucks

Looking to have this 8" x 10" oil on canvas of the Clifton Cow Jumping Over the Moon in Mount Storm Park outputted on vinyl and applied to one of two possible walls flanking the Plaza between Upside Cafe and Clifton Barbers on Ludlow Avenue.

Above are images of what it should look like, click on them while on the web site to see a larger image. The sign will be about 20’ x 25’, a field measurement will be needed. The cost will include putting up and taking down in a year or when it breaks. The way of fastening should be grommets placed into a reinforced seam. If the grommets meets a mortar joint a screw will be used to attach the sign to the brick wall. The sign price should be the lowest without laminating or varnishing.

Clifton Cow Bath Towel, $32.50, 32” x 64”
Dry yourself off with a luxuriously soft bath towel from brushed micro fiber with a 100% cotton back for extra absorption. The front of the towel has the image printed on it and the back is white cotton. Machine wash and tumble dry with low heat.

Clifton Cow Tote Bag, $39.50, 24” x 16”, white, crafted with a soft, spun ploy poplin fabric and features double-stiched seams, 1” thick cotton handles for over the shoulder carrying.

You can also have it printed on canvas, throw pillow, duvet cover, shower curtain, tapestry, fleece blanket, coffee mug, yoga mat, puzzle and many other surfaces.

Fountain Square LXXII #72, Oil pastel on metal, 8" x 10", Monday, February 1, 2021, Commission

Three views of Fountain Square LXX, Glow, Oil pastel, 12" x 16", Wednesday, January 14, 2015, these three images are the same painting

Nelson Sullivan was one of the original vloggers. In the 80s' he would drag around various gigantic video cameras shooting whatever he came into contact with. Slowly the equipment got smaller and smaller. Here he is in his mode, shooting walks about the city. The theme was to go on a gallery walk prepared by Tom Lohre, friend and also Nelson's portraitist. The 5 Ninth Avenue Project was started by his dear friends Robert Coddington and David Goldman after Nelson's sudden demise. It was a labor of love and we owe the world to them for allowing Nelson to live on in perpetuity.

The real story of the gallery walk is to go around the city seeing all the Kevin Larmee Murals, ending up at the gallery featuring his work.

People
Ronda Granger, RuPaul, Flloyd, Tom Lohre,
Clive, Dr. Tiga, Albert Crudo, David Darumple
Places
5 Ninth, Greenwich Village, Jane West Hotel, Outside J West,
Tom Lohre's apartment, Lucia Gallery, Clare's studio, Circle Gallery, Mary Boone Gallery

00:01:46 - 00:10:55 Ronda walking to Floyd’s apartment 505 Jane Hotel to get Ru and Floyd. Visit the tower room & rooftop.

00:10:55 - 00:21:00 Ronda and Nelson explore outside on the street while Ru & Felicia put on makeup. Ru & Felicia come down in full drag. Walk with Ronda and Nelson walk to Tom’s apartment, walk by bridal shop, street scenes. Inside Tom’s apartment are many of his heroic full size portraits.

00:21:00 - 00:29:02 Walk to Clive’s. Nelson makes a pay phone call. Visit Clive’s apartment.& art.

00:29:02 - 00:38:59 Back on the street to West Broadway, Go to Luica Gallery, a collection of remade masterpieces with modern objects. Ru & Flloyd smoking. Dr. Tim’s artwork. Group on street. Circle Gallery with Tesla-esque globes of static electricity filaments, cool/shots, see art by Piet Bekaert, Capotondi & Korbanka, Ru walks by Asian tourists, more walking - street scenes

00:38:59 00:48:00 Visit Art Gallery Building: Eric Fischl at Mary Boone Gallery, Piet Mondrian - The Wall Works, 1943-44’, Carpenter / Hochman Gallery, Walk on street, Rhonda leaves, Meet Sharon Woolums, First Broadway Floor Gallery, in elevator, Katrina Mann, photographer, go to 1st floor gallery - cannot tape, on street, metal artworks on street by auto shop, Flloyd investigates, fun walk around shot of Ru, Flloyd & Tom

00:48:00 - 00:54:39 Larmee poster about his show at Avenue B Gallery, Schellmont & Kloser Gallery, go upstairs to gallery to see a lot of Warhol prints, walk to new gallery w/ metal art object art, Felicia eats a banana, out on street, wall posters on street, Heller Gallery off Mercer, pretty glass sculptures

00:54:39 - 00:59:00 Nelson to Ru, “Let’s go to the East Village.” 1st in a series of Kevin Larmee’s wall posters. We will go to all the locations listed in the gallery guide. Good shot of Larmee flyer on the telephone pole. Pan of Rupaul, great shot of Ru w/ $200 imposed on him, Ron Rezek Gallery, Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, street shots of group
00:59:00 - 01:06:48 Flloyd poses w/ guy Larmee mural under flyers, rips posters off wall
revealing the rest of the Larmee poster, fortune teller mannequin, pinking shears on building ad, colorful old juke box, stone windows, street shots, cars on street, another Larmee mural poster with one, more street shots, green metal angles poking out of building wall, Felicia meets a friend, fun spinning w/ Nelson camera on street grates, Adam Purple footsteps on sidewalk,
Walk bu Tower Records, sidewalk vendors

01:06:48 - 01:13:49 Another Larmee mural, street vendors/shots, great 4 minute walk showing city life, Felicia points out where her boyfriend works, meet friend, Nelson buys sodas for all, Nelson makes phone call

01:13:49 - 01:33:00 Meet Albert Crudo in car with David Darumple driving, group gets in convertible, Felicia hams for camera, another Larmee mural, walk by Klaus Nomi’s apartment, Meet Allison, director, at Gallery B showing Larmee’s artwork, Latino’s berate Ru, back in the car, pass the Limelight, driving around the city at night, talking in the car, Albert had dinner with Lou Reed last night, collect money for gas at Gaseteria, admire Atlanta Peachtree Festival poster

01:33:00 - 01:39 Too noisy at 42nd island to hear sound sculpture, listening to Iggy Pop, dishing on what famous person you had dinner with, Felicia talks about applying makeup, Thanks to York for driving

Keith Richards: “There’s something about being restricted that opens up the possibilities. With a synthesizer, you can do anything you like. I don’t want to do anything I like! I wanna do something that ties me down, where I can manoeuvre. So I started playing in G without the slide, and started to find other chords and realise this was a really good vehicle for me. Especially ’cause Brian had just… croaked, it was a period where there was no other guitar player and I was trying to figure out what the hell to do next. Then I started to work with Mick Taylor and we really hit our stride, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, then we had to move out; Exile On Main St. we worked together all in one joint.”
“Especially making Exile…, I found this the guitar can do loads of things. It was there I really started appreciating the guitar. I thought: it’s got so many possibilities, and I’m just tinkering with it. And I still am. But it was there that I realised that this wasn’t a tool that I could master, it was something that I could spend my whole life doing.”
Keith Richards onstage during a sound check, Denmark, 1970.Credit...Jan Persson

December 1, 2020 Started series of famous people. Discovered that the 4" x 7" size is too small, better to paint full size on a 12" x 16".

December 13, 2020
Put the 4" x 7" painting of Keith in the freezer with the paints. Seems like the surface is starting to stiffen. Continuing to adjust the face. Adding darker and lighter lines. Keeping the variegation up, meaning to keep it lively and not repetitive.

Past the first pass stage now it’s on to thinking about what the painting needs. Recently in the past spending the hour and a half laying awake at night thinking about how to engineer a doghouse for a boat. The time seemed to be made for such thinking. It is just as good thinking about what the painting needs. Laser focus on getting to the core of the identity of the person, in this case Keith Richards.

December 16, 2020
Continuing to move areas to make the painting look more like Keith. Slowly going through all the facial features to pinpoint his character. A tedious process but the castor medium is still fluid. Stopped putting the painting in the freezer to establish the drying time. When working on paintings that cannot be put in a freezer the time will be needed to know.

Adapt the portrait to emulate the image, the brooding eyes & pale complexion. Going through all the images is overwhelming as is going through the facial features. The fluid nature of the medium allows complete transformation of the a la prima technique. Instead of waiting for the paint to dry you add additional complementary paint to change the color or just scrap it off and start over. It’s a very easy and difficult thing to do and best done while a little tipsy. Making big strokes and finishing them in the morning after a sleep off.

December 29, 2020
Been looking at Keith on the easel for two weeks and now the paint has solidified. Just a start. Keith will be depicted in his full regalia, on stage with guitar painted full size on a 30" x 40" canvas.

Books on Face Reading
Amazing Face Reading, Mac Fuller, J.D.
Face Reading, Chi An Kuei
The Face Reader, Patrician McCarthy

Been looking at Keith on the easel for two weeks and now the paint has solidified. Will go on to frame.

Sharon and Hillary in front of the Clfton Market Window Box Gallery featuring Shrine Portraits.

Victims Killed by Stray Bullets
Locations of gun violence especially those killed by stray bullets.

Work continues on updating the portraits placed at the shrines of the fallen around Cincinnati.
Adding at least one every year to coincide with Saad Goshen's SOS Show of Social Peace and Justice.
The first one was placed in 2012 where Angela Grayson was killed by a stray bullet at Forest and Burnet.
Down the road is Buchie Wood's shrine portrait out front of the Cold n Quick at Vine and Forest.
He was cut down with a stray bullet.
Tom is always looking for more 24" wide realtor yard signs to hold the vinyl sticker of the art. Click To Contact if you have an realtor yard sign to donate.
The original framed 8" x 10" art, given to the family.
All portraits are painted in a special technique of melting nine oil pastel colors with a heat gun.
Tom invented the technique for a Lego painting machine.

State of the painting on April 7, 2020. Taking forever to finish. Now it's on to Irene's makeup and to apply the lace.

Being a Meat Market Pioneer - Fixing the Plumbing at 5 Ninth Avenue in 1988, video by Nelson Sullivan

Cartoons

New cartoons from college days. NKU spring 1971 cartoons for the "Northerner." Tom was managing editor and cartoonist for three years.

Dressed for Carnival

Watercolor on paper, 5" x 7", Completed August 11th,1998

14 Alzheimer's Patient Cartoons

She suffered from Alzheimer's for nineteen years.

These cartoons are an effort to look on the bright side of a difficult situation remembering strange behaviors taken aside may be humorous.

In 1980 while painting one impressionist work after another day after day in the open air, Tom thought he could make a machine that painted. In 2003 Tom created that machine out of the Lego Mindstorm Invention System. Much like a x,y printer with eight colors. Tom settled on melting oil pastels on a hot surface creating a beautiful stroke. A 16” x 20” painting had 4163 dots of color and took 18 hours to create. The robot created ten portraits that did not sell. He eventually sold one and the person did not recognize it was a portrait but bought it for the colors. The Lego machine forced Tom to simplify his color pallet. After numerous combinations, Tom started to hone in on a set of nine colors, each color doing double duty as a color and a value going from light to dark.
Tom slowly started using the technique for himself starting with a series of derived oil paintings from his earlier fountain paintings. Using a limited number of colors just like the Lego machine, Tom started to hone the colors into a set group. The initial paintings used strong basic colors like red, yellow, white, light violet, dark violet, light blue and dark blue. He continued to use his current manner of transparent color on a scrapped gessoed surface. Letting the tinted varnish have its full effect on the very smooth surface. His medium was 1/2 stand oil, 1/2 Damar varnish with .5% oil of cloves to retard drying.

170314 Having to trouble shoot a Dell Inspiron 1100 not booting up cleanly. An alarm goes off and it goes to safe boot mode. I am running the original Home version of XP without updates and RoboLab 2.94. Keeping the 2007 working original program until new application arm is working. Side arm needs to come in and heat up surface where oil pastel dot is applied and move aside for the application wheel to rotate to the color and move down to apply the dot. Thinking it will be a side arm where the heating box flips down, moves into dot area for allotted time then out.

Working on a complicated four month long painting makes for mixing things up a bit. Herman Melville and William Adolphe Bouguereau would be in their studios all day and others did not really know what they did in there, Tom's wife thinks the same thing. It is fun to think they were working all the time on the work but they were not unlike Tom, answering letters, cleaning, working on peripheral things; spending a lot of time working on refining the craft, researching, making new devices and procedures that make the work fun and easier. After years of wanting to make videos of painting it was not until now Tom set up a technique to do just that. It came together when he found a contraption to hold documents while typing, similiar to a desk top lamp that clamps on the table and allows you to move it all around. It makes it possible to sneak into the painting space with a USB cable video camera.

In painting a complicated work the question comes up, “Is it worth it?”
Working to duplicate the old masters, taking time to study and produce, is the resource which is bottomless. Money may be in short supply but there is always plenty of time. Giving the work all the time it needs to achieve success is the least the artist can do. Material goods may be in short supply but never to the level of preventing work. No one askes how long did it take? They think the artist took as long as he wanted.
If an artist is attempting to emulate an old master work wouldn’t that mean he would spend as long as he needed? The artist is not setting the standard, the standard is already set.
Though it takes six months to paint such a work and the payment is a fraction of the time spent, is this a good use of the artist’s time? He enjoys matching the level of work and spending hours in front of a charming painting, albeit to him; not unlike sitting in a museum.
Tom learned that the painter he is emulating, Jan van der Heyden, created paintings for the market. He was an engineer and inventor of gas street lighting and firefighting equipment. Tom was disillusioned at the painters work, creating paintings that seemed fads in Dutch society. It may have well been a fad at the time and he was encouraged and rewarded to produce as many as he could. The resulting paintings do not have a heart and soul in it as Tom understands. Tom searched for personal commissions Heyden produced that had intimacy but found none. Though known to paint every brick and leaf, resorting to making a stamp you could apply to the wet paint to set up the painting of leaves and bricks, Heyden’s work has failed to inspire Tom though he has been a vehement follower for twenty years.
In the end, painting “Evanswood Home”, Tom feels the only take away is to continue to paint in transparent medium since it gives the painting an extra oeuvre. In the future Tom seeks to use transparent mediums with phosphorescent paint.

Christmas 2008 Helen XIV, ink on paper board, 8" x 10", December 25, 2009, Portraits, Drawings

Richard T Farmer, Oil on board, Portraits, 12" x 16", April 18th, 2008, Richard Farmer, Founder & Chairman of the Board of Cintas Corporation spoke at Xavier University on April 18th, 2008 as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series, "10 Important Experiences Over 50 Years in Business."

Rhett Fire & Mel Odem, 5' x 4', oil on canvas, July 1st, 1983, Portraits, Commission

Helen, 36" x 40", oil on canvas, painted for the 2006 Tall Stacks Celebration in Cincinnati

Sydney wears a tutu from the Cincinnati Ballet. She is painted as an Ice Fairy in "The Nutcracker." Commission

Your face in a masterpiece Pick any painting in the Cincinnati Art Museum and Tom will paint your face in it. Photo: United Press International 1979.Portraits

Home Portraits

Bahamian Home, 20" x 16", Watercolor, 1995

THE GREAT TOMASO

The bicycle has it’s own colorful propeller and balloons attached to a bar that encircles the driver and passenger. As they ride, many times they leave the ground.The pushcart is the circus floor for the small Art Machines

Chad Johnson, 16" x 20", September 2007, Wax on aluminum sheet
This is the second painting done with the Lego robot assistant, "Artisto." The face is a Bengal receiver. The face is set in the mask of a tiger. Tom used strong colors to accent the eight colors available in the robot assisted process.Irene, Oil pastel on foil, 16" x 20", August 2007

The first painting done by "Artisto" using glow in the dark colors makes use of a strong combination of colors for a powerful graphic effect. The sky comes to life in the dark. Two different glow in the dark colors, blue and orange, where used for the background.

Shown at
January 2008 at Sitwell's Coffee House, 324 Ludlow Ave., Cincinnati OH 45220, 2008 Show Brochure

April 18 to May 18, 2008 at Visual History Gallery, Mike Wilger, owner, 1989 Madison Road Cincinnati, OH 45202, mwilger@fuse.net, 513-871-6065, Visual History Gallery

Click to begin enjoying your home even more during cold dry days with an indoor waterfall.

Your Children Can Decorate Your Home

Learn how Tom supplies materials and guidance for you or your children to paint.