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

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2023 Sea Trial on Great Lakes
2023 May 15 to August 15: Lake Erie to Russia 4143nm
2024 July to August: Finland to Falmouth 1330nm
2025 June to July: Falmouth, Azores, Lake Erie via 3718nm

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In 2005 Tom started a series of ten 8” x 10”, oil on canvas paintings of woman prominently featured in a city scape. He would set up his easel in various parks and place in Cincinnati while working on the figure in the studio. They were: Ludlow Avenue Bulletin Board Pollsters, Ludlow Garage in Snow, Fountain Square with Woman, Katrina Relief Fund, Bengal, Hyde Park Fountain, Ludlow Avenue Bulletin Board, Covington Women, New York City Clean, Sitwell Woman I and Sitwell Woman II. He learned that series did not strike a nerve in the viewing public. Three of the paintings went for high market prices. Tom has used one of the image as his screen saver for ten years. Sitwell Woman, 2005, took advantage of the gaining popularity of texting while walking to show the woman texting and eating an ice cream cone. The catalyst for the work was his wife putting pressure on him to produce successful paintings that sold. Now as in the past Tom works a vein for a while until moving to another motif more interesting. These paintings were sometimes painted on the street. Working from life guides the color and form to be the best with the least. Sometimes it means sitting a few inches from speeding cars. The optimal setting for life work is where the artist can best focus on giving the art what it needs. Tom discovered that working from inside a quite shop looking out the window produced the best results. Eventually he saw the need to use every possible means to let the painting have as much chance as possible to be successful. Tom is melding his formidable portrait skills with his accomplished “en plein air” manner. For thirty years he has painted formal portraits that sometimes take upwards of a year to paint. The life size portraits are masterpieces of modern romanticism. The surface of the canvas is amazing to look at for Tom uses the white of the canvas and transparent tints to create lifelike form. Tom is obsessed with the surface of the painting. He emulates the great master figurative painter William Adolph Bouguereau. Tom started his “en plein air” work, artwork painted outdoors, after mastering his portrait manner. He honed his skills by painting outdoors every day. He would paint scenes devoid of people even though they would be in very popular locations. Later Tom incorporated well-wrought figures into his “en plein air” work. The figures and composition are worked up in the studio and painted on location. Nature is Tom’s inspiration. He will take numerous photographs of people milling about and uses these images as stepping off points for the figures he creates in his canvases. The sometimes eight inch high figures in the new work can be portraits. The small figure in the painting can look just like a person but the size prevents it from becoming to ponderous. These figures, used as the catalyst, the digital mannequin program, "Poser." Before discovering this program Tom spent the traditional manner of working up figurative works by working up a collage of various images combined with free hand drawing. Now, each portrait's subject is created as a digital mannequin and posed and lighted in the pose of the painting. The lighting is especially accurate. The unique thing about the images derived from the mannequin program is the simplicity of the rendering. It is as if the student of the sphere, square, cone was given another simple depiction of form to use.

“The Balcony” shows the second floor apartment above the shop “Spiral Light.” Tom was working on another painting when he notices this woman planting flowers. The ornate railing was always a favorite view and the greening of the balcony gives direction to the painting. This painting was done just inches from speeding cars. These paintings were painted on the street. Working from life guides the color and form to be the best with the least. Sometimes it means sitting a few inches from speeding cars. The optimal setting for life work is where the artist can best focus on giving the art what it needs. Working from inside a quite shop looking out the window produced the best results.

Ed Hicks, November 3, 1953 - December 24, 2021, Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 1998, 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."

Ed passed away December 24, 2021. He was a giant in the arts. See you on the other side. He is the William Faulkner, I knew.

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

AG Lafley, Chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble, Oil pastel melted on aluminum with a Lego painting machine, 16" x 20", April 7 2008, $125

42' Yacht Fiona Crossing Bay of Biscay, 16" x 12", Oil pastel on board, Saturday, November 28, 2015, $125

Egyptian Woman, Glow in the Dark Blob Portrait, 16" x 20", November 16, 2008, $125

Hyde Park Fountain, Cincinnati, Ohio, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, October 2005, $125, The girl in the painting was inspired by a shop clerk who walked the shop dog frequently during the time Tom was working on the small painting.

Lady of Cincinnati's Fountain Square, Oil pastel melted on aluminum with a Lego painting machine, 16" x 20", January 15, 2008, $125
Painted with concern over the transition of light to dark colors. The purple or second darkest color should be lighter. Next painting will be with real life colors. The Art Machine used to make these paintings is shown. The eight colors on the wheel are rotated to the right color and then applied 5000 times.

Oil painting of a Right Whale with lobster buoy by Tom Lohre.

Right Whale #1303 / Buoy 6727; 7” x 4” oil on board, $75
Inspired after a month sailing the coast of Maine to paint the blight of the Right Whale.
The traditional series in the Dutch manner depicts a known whale and lobster buoy.

Mother Daughter VIII, Almost final state, 24" x 30", Tuesday, March 23, 2021, Portraits, Figure, Traditional

Work stopped in 2014 after a few months because portrait painting is the Mount Everest of painting and if you do not get compensated it may take years to muster the motivation. Like the plumber who always has leaky pipes at home. Compensation, even a small one, drives the incentive to finish. Painted using the traditional academic method mastered by William Adolphe Bouguereau, French, 1825-1905 before impressionism took hold. A meticulous procedure to create paintings with sketches, models, in person sittings, careful canvas preparation. Using paintings of his master, Bouguereau, to guide his brush and develop form. The painting is an idealized composition that fits the subject matter to the canvas. Painting the original inspirational image would have been just as good but not better.

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

"Heave Away My Johnnies" Sung with a few lyric changes to go with Captain Eric Forsyth's book about 50 years of cruising on Fiona, a 42' Westsail. Of which Tom Lohre was on board 215 of them. https://yachtfiona.com/ Oh, as I walked down the Landing Stage All on a summer's morn, Heave away, my Johnnies, heave away! It's there I spied an buxom girl A-looking all forlorn, And away, my Johnnie boys, We're all bound to go! "Oh, good morning, Capt. Eric," "Good morning, my girl," said he. Heave away, my Johnnies, heave away! "Have you got a solid ship to carry me across the sea?" And away, my Johnnie boys, We're all bound to go! "Oh, yes I have a Westsail, She's called the Ms. Fiona"; Heave away, my Johnnies, heave away! "She sails away at break of day, She sails to-day for Rodney Bay." And away, my Johnnie boys, We're all bound to go! "Oh, will you take me to Rodney Bay When she sails away at break of day?" Heave away, my Johnnies, heave away! "I want to marry a Yankee boy, And I'll cross the sea no more." And away, my Johnnie boys, We're all bound to go!

Nelson Sullivan's gallery walk with Ronda Granger, Ru Paul, Felicia and Tom Lohre. Shot in the 80's, Nelson made it a habit of shooting theme videos. Tom worked out a line up of galleries and off they went. There is no audio at the end of the video. We were in a gallery showing Kevin Larmee's work. At the time he had huge works on buildings all over Soho. He is still painting in Chicago. You can check out his work on Facebook and larmee.org. Thank you to everyone who made this happen. Dick Richards and David Goldman started posting Nelson's videos on YouTube after he died. When Tom was visiting them, they made a copy of the gallery walk video. Stupid Tom, they left him alone in the studio while they went to do an errand and he turned off the machine after an hour into it. He missed getting the footage of a little known show of Warhol among other gems of the day.

2:21 p.m. April 23, 2020 Jordan Ware was found dead from a gunshot wound at Irving and Forest near the playground between Vine and the Zoo. A print of this portrait will be placed at the site. Tom has many Sidewalk Shrine Portraits all over Cincinnati. A gesture that means a lot to the family and brings hope to a tragedy. The family receives the original art.

Tom is honored to be included in this show with his portrait of Jordan Ware. A victim of gun violence, a 24" x 24" portrait will be placed at Irving and Forest in Avondale.
April 22, 2020 A shooting occurred in Avondale Wednesday afternoon in the 3500 block of Irving Avenue, where they found a man dead at the scene, identified as Jordan Ware, 25.

SOS ART RETROSPECTIVE 2016 - 2020
January 9 - February 27, 2021
Opening Day: Saturday, January 9, 11am - 8pm
Gallery Hours: Kennedy Heights Arts Center
Wednesdays - Fridays 10am - 5pm,
6546 Montgomery Road
Saturdays 11am - 4pm Cincinnati, OH 45213
513-631-4278 www.kennedyarts.org
This Retrospective exhibit consists of a selection of artworks on the themes of peace and justice by 90 Greater Cincinnati artists who had participated in previous annual SOS ART shows between 2016 and 2020.
Co-Curators Vaishnavi Ramanathan and Saad Ghosn selected the works based on their merit of quality and messages for a better world.
The show incudes works shown indoors and works enlarged and printed on large panels displayed outdoors; also a video of the artworks and mini interviews with the participating artists.
A color book documenting the show and including a section for children's related art activities is available free to visitors. Children's activities are also being planned during the duration of the show.

FREE Timed Entry Tickets are available at www.kennedyarts.org or by calling 531-631-4278.

Masks are required.

Please practice social distancing.

Kennedy Heights Arts Center
6546 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45213

Invitation
https://sosartcincinnati.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/final-sos-art-retrospective-2016-2020-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2CyM3ShHkRz2ZcMtW6L--P0maXKEKWri40Ob8fyuq2LnuozvRXt0iU_98

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

Inspired after a month sailing the coast of Maine to paint the blight of the Right Whale.
The traditional series in the Dutch manner depicts a known whale and lobster buoy.
Offered at the Off Ludlow Gallery Christmas Show.

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.

Ms. LeBarón, 20" x 24", Oil pastel melted on gessoed board, December 2019, $250
Painted from an image in the New York Times showing the grieving members of the ambush of a caravan of Mormons that took place in Mexico.

Cincinnati's Esquire Theater VII, 12" x 16", November 14, 2019, Oil pastel melted on metal.
The Esquire series represents the eternal nature of small-town America. The scene could be any town with an old theater. This one was saved by the citizens and is now thriving. Tom painted the work from across the street in the dining area of the new Clifton Market. Like the Esquire Theater the store was going to be demolished but the citizens banded together, bought the building and returned a grocery store to the community.
Esquire VII was started in the Clifton Market dining area. Working on a sketch of the composition. A year and a half went by before finishing in 2019. The series moves on with the works now being from Clifton Market Café. The distance to the Esquire increased brings out the theater. The fake gaslight may not be in this position. The power lines are missing. You can’t read the movies on the marquee. They were: The Last Dalai Lama, Little Hours and Crown Heights.
Clifton, a white donut hole neighborhood in Cincinnati where the population is 50% black. Surrounded by poor black neighborhoods, Clifton retained its whiteness because of its proximity to the University of Cincinnati and downtown holding on to the legacy of seven wealthy merchant estates establish in the farmland three miles from Cincinnati, bordering the canal on two sides.
The old gaslights proliferate the streets and Tom took advantage of the quaint nature to execute old time impressionist’s views with wet streets or snow covered roads in the manner of the French masters Antoine Blanchard, Edouard Cortes and Luigi Loir. Though this same manner can be had for a song from the import painters in a handsome frame, Tom wanted to capture his own neighborhood.

Shown at Off Ludlow Gallery, 3408 Ormond St, Cincinnati 45220, Hours: Fri & Sat 4-8, 513-201-7153

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

2018 Crossing

All paintings except "Fiona & The Whale" on display in the Clifton Market Window Box, 319 Ludlow Ave; Cincinnati OH 45220

The 387 page journal starts off with a Image / Caption chapter of the complete voyage followed by lengthy day by day notes, images and thoughts. The kind of sailing book he likes to read.

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.

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.

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

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

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