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

Check back to see links to the 14 blog chapter links from the trip that include the log, thoughts and how to descriptions.

2018 Crossing

The plane left the ground smoothly, without notice it was airborne as if it wanted to be high instead of sitting still on the freezing ground. Even the de-icing clunge as if wanting to hitch a ride to 37,000 feet. Though 50° below the two movements propelled the plane flawlessly as if it was its natural state.

The gnawing in my stomach continued and would continue till arriving on Fiona, my second lady, a 42’ Westsail sailboat, I was crewing 6,000 miles in a southern loop down the coast of Africa up the coast of North America, finishing in Long Island just miles from Newark Airport where I took off four months ago.

Sailing through paradise during the best time means the ship gently glides through the endless miles meeting up with one warm volcanic island after another till finally settling into a narrow shallow slip in Patchogue.

The calling sea for me is intrepid. Not exuberant but cautious as if thinking the ship through its paces. She responds well to attention, readily allowing you to spruce her up as you continually listen and feel her wearing.

Painting lace without trying to be tacky is tough. I think I have it but wish I could jump off and see the old masters at our local museums. Chances are I would find out they had just as much trouble. My mentor attacked the situation with heavy paint on a fan brush.
Painting lace above flesh for the last several days. It is the hardest part of a portrait. The next is the face. The face comes through by it's self. The lace has hidden the flesh under it. Without painting completely the transitions is not to paint. So then constant selected, loaded, and strokes of color achieves something. CM Posting

Days on end without picking up a brush. Many other distractions made it into a classic artist block. Now back carefully finishing edges and filling in the left hand of Solomon. Though the face, hair and see through lace is still to be done the painting is in its final troughs and will be done before you know it. Started in 1980 with one girlfriend and then another now with Tom's wife.

The fingers of Solomon next.
There is little difference between applying paint and leaving it there.

Working on the ear and redoing the Poser image (the digital manikin to see the shadows) slowly laying in the face, a little everyday and soon it is over. The ear has the personality. Irene's is straightforward (Up and down vertically, if it was slanted back it would show she thinks out of the box) large to hear everything said (small ears like Queen Elizabeth's means she acts alone) Helen's is small, Irene always asks if her hair is poking out. I say poking out is sexy remembering Princess Graces hair. The Renoir bathers hair is pulled up into a loose bun but here Irene's hair will be naturally her own.
Finishing the bust and arms
Filling in the face and cleaning up the edges.

Laying in transparent surface of canvas color and flesh color using the old combinations of Umber, Ochre, Red Cadium and Alizarin, never allowing the canvas not to be seen,
Started laying in flesh through camisole,
Laying in and repairing the form with castor paint is not like painting with regular oil paint, the painting application is different on almost every level, no fluidity, replaced with complete control working period of fifteen days and then after that can be removed easily, castor oil is alive and moves across the surface after it is applied. Painting the camisole is an exercise in painting silk or shiny linen, it is more fun to have the striking highlights using the accidental manner of applying paint and then making what you can of the strokes to keep the fabric alive, Shadows must be transparent thinly veiled transparent dark color with the color of the canvas in this case light tan, the old masters worked this point to a point
Projected Solomon's hand and confirmed Sharon's composition, her right arm obscures Solomon from seeing her. After researching reclining figures with their hands behind the head the subtle nature of expression will carry such a posture.
Laying in and repairing the form with castor paint is not like painting with regular oil paint, the color is different on almost every level, no fluiditly, repalced with complete control working period of fifteen days and then after that can be removed easily,

Painting the camisole is an excerize in painting silk or shinny linen, it is more fun to have the striking highlights using the accidental manner of applying paint and then making what you can of the strokes to keep the fabric alive, Shadows must be transparent tinely veiled transparent dark color with the color of the canvas in this case light tan, Gun Violence

Projected Solomon's hand and confirmed Sharon's composition, her right arm obscures Solomon from seeing her. After researching reclining figures with their hands behind the head the subtle nature of expression will carry such a posture.
Worked on finalizing Sharon
Projected the Poser and made adjustments in the drawing. WIll redraw the composition using Bridgman's Book. The angle of the breasts with the arms needs to be verfied.
Making a mountain out of a mole hill, suggesting form from accidents in the initial application, stopping when form reaches its maximum without a struggle, suggesting without telling, using the subtle nature of darkness when approaching light and light when approaching darkness in the edges. Once laying in then change what cannot be an leave what could be. applied for Golden Ticket, worked on advance Poser final composition for projection
Laying in linen,
Laying in the linen, using the complicated nature of castor oil and powdered pigment scrapping with a rubber spatula brush creating a veiled transparent colored film allowing the laying in to determine the shape instead of the image of the prop.

Texas Longhorn, 16” x 12”, Oil pastel melted on metal, September 27, 2017
Images of Longhorns proliferate on the Internet, many in wild colors. Tom’s nine high keyed color palette is perfect for this rendition of the classic Longhorn Steer posing like he is on the cover of “Bull Buying Today.”

Tom started 360° works when he discovered the feature on his smart phone. The Mandela type image intrigued him and he realized he could paint such works by squeezing the image needed for the 360° into the size needed for the canvas. In this work the round image created by the 360°Fly video camera is distorted into a 20 x 24 image projected onto the drawing paper then refined. The first three works were impressionist landscapes so abstract you could barely discern the sky from the land. Tom realized detail had to be in the forefront if such works would be recognizable. The natural direction for the next work would be a figurative piece. By a stroke of good luck, Tom gathered together a group of girls, daughters of friends, at Clifton Meadows, the neighborhood private pool, to pose in a circle around the 360°Fly video camera. Extracting images from the video he composed the layout of the drawing. He removed the pool chairs and place the women on the grass in Devou Park telling the story while exploring the park for subject matter for the FreshArt he came across 11 women bathing in a little known pond in the park.

Bathers, 20" x 24", Pencil on paper, for Devou Park Berhinger Crawford Museum's 2017 FreshArt

Ludlow Clifton Crossroads, 16" x12", Oil pastel melted on metal, 360° painting to be shown at the Clifton Cultural Art Center's Community Art Show and entered in the CCAC Golden Ticket Art Show. Looking at the 2D image of the 360°, start on the left side, you see Jefferson Avenue looking east, then the fountain composed of a two small strokes in a field of dark purple, next the street signs on a pole, then you look up Clifton Avenue, then the firehouse and westward down Ludlow Avenue. Move right and you pass Clifton Avenue looking north then see the two tall four story buildings that are Skyline and J Gumbo’s. 360° images are formatted 2:1, width is twice the height. The image was squeezed for the 16” x 12” painting. The painting image was resized to 2:1 and uploaded into online viewers.

Looking at this painting using the 360° viewer link above, look up and move around until you see the road signs for orientation. Then look down a little to the right and you are looking westward down Ludlow Avenue. Move right and you pass Clifton Avenue looking north then see the two tall four story buildings that are Skyline and J Gumbo’s. Moving further right you look up Jefferson Avenue and then the fountain composed of a two small strokes in a field of dark purple.
Though this painting is small and the consequence is abstraction, a larger canvas would allow better immersion into the 360° effect.
This painting uses a special technique of melting nine special oil pastel colors. Each color plays a major roles in creating atmosphere and form. Though the surface looks like an impasto impressionistic oil painting melting the oil pastels makes the execution clean, simple and once cooled, dry to touch. Tom invented the technique for a Lego painting machine he made. The manner appealed so much to Tom because he could travel with it and create paintings that looked like oil but without the messiness and drying time. The painting machine could only handle eight colors. Tom experimented in many variations of eight colors and in time distilled all colors into these nine. The manner is uniquely Tom’s.
Though in its infancy, 360° images will take over. Like the old days where you had to set parameters to get the computer to work, displaying a 360° is a real challenge. In the future, everyone will wear virtual glasses, part of your phone.

With the introduction of 360° images Tom creates paintings to be viewed with 3D goggles and 360° viewers. First, he develop the composition by taking a 360° image; second, create a 2D image of the 360° re-proportioning it to the canvas size; third, paint the canvas; fourth, capture an image of the painting, re-proportioning it to the original 360° image, laying it on top of the original 360° image, flatting and saving.

To be auctioned at 360°: Where Art & Giving Unite United Way Art Auction & Reception Benefitting Childhood Poverty Friday, August 18, 2017 6 to 8 p.m. Union Hall 1311 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH 45202, Cincinnati OH

WHY UNITED WAY United Way fights for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in our community. Their work has improved the lives of over 360,000 people across ten counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Today, the biggest issue facing our region is childhood poverty and they are taking the lead to address it. To learn more about how you can join the fight, visit www.uwgc.org.

Cartoons

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

Esquire VIII, 12" x 16", Oil pastel melted on spray painted white flashing metal, a work in progress at Clifton Market

In this Painting of the Esquire Theater the main subject is the group of people walking across the street. They need to be created in Poser, a digital mannequin program. The figures with their dogs are pivotal to the painting’s success. The figure composition starts in the mind then to pencil and refined in the computer program. The 12” x 16” street scene of three buildings in a neighborhood of Cincinnati not unlike anywhere in the world with its movie theater the Esquire, four story prewar building with small servant rooms on the top floor. The façade anointed with three circular motifs on top of two half circles of brick highlighted white housing Sitwell’s Coffee House and Pangaea Clothiers on the first floor. Across the small street serving as an impromptu plaza with seating, bulletin board and flags with lights is a nondescript post war apartment building housing a favorite ice cream parlor Graeter’s. The scene is twilight, still able to discern everything, vibrant animated clouds of green and blue moving into the dark building tops then lightening as the gas and shop lights brighten the wet streets. The composition primary squeezing all the elements in the vertical rectangle not diverting too much from reality, just enough to make it noticeable and setting up the believability of the friends crossing the street. They are the story.

Esquire Theater VII, 8" x 10", Oil pastel melted on spray painted white metal, March 28, 2017

Esquire Theater VI, 10" x 8", Oil pastel melted on spray painted white metal, March 20, 2017

Sara & Walt Composition II, 24" x 24", Oil pastel on canvas, Blob manner, Commission

Melting nine oil pastel colors on heated canvas creates a beautiful colorful bouquet rendition of the subject.

The horses and carriage with the Esquire Theater. The work started from life, finished in the studio. This work is oil pastels melted on scrapped smooth gessoed board. The heat gun came in handy to warm yourself. Tom had to extrapolate the snow. The next version will be a nine color blob painting. This version used the full complement of 133-1/8" custom oil pastel colors.

Tom Lohre's show of art in the Clifton Market Window Box Gallery has closed but you can still see the work on the web site with prices.
Tom's newest paintings will be in the window box in the vestibule of Semesters, 313 Ludlow Avenue, a frat and sorority merchandise shop. They lost the key and since it was right next door to the Clifton Market Window Box, Tom asked if he could show his work in their window box once the Clifton Market show closed, if he got it working, and they said yes.

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.

Tom's friend Saad Goshen publishes a book of poems matched to illustrations. This work is one of those illustrations. Tom lost interest in the work after completing the drawing and palette. Three weeks later he relearned everything he forgot creating figures with watercolor. Some of the staff of Hillary Clinton's Clifton, Cincinnati office played the roles: Caroline Lembright, Umeirra Umy Savani, Elena Saltzman, Radheya Kulkarni, Elena Saltzman, Jordan Thornlow, Jalakoi Solomon and Sean Young . Tom volunteered with them. Picking images of them off their Facebook pages. This incentive made it possible to plow through the work time from January 1 to February 23.

Christmas Present Booklet of the SPRING 2016 Crossing on Fiona with Captain Eric complete with sea & surface state fax and pencil drawing for each day.

Started in 1980 with a then girlfriend, then another and finally being completed with his wife.
The name "rose of Sharon" first appears in English in 1611 in the King James Version of the Bible. In the song of Solomon ch2 v1 the speaker (the beloved) says "I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley". I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Behringer Crawford Museum's FreshArt 2016 submission, Devou Park 360°, 16" x 12" oil on board, September 17, 2016

This painting idea started with the development of 360° images. The painting is 16” x 12” stretched to 36” x 18” the size of the 360°.

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.

Twilight Tree Line, 24" x 18", Glow, Oil pastel, April 10. 2016, dark view, Blob manner

Best to view with a clicker. Hang the work in low light plugging in the light with the clicker module. View by clicking to turn off light.

These images do not show the real view of the painting. Cameras receive and process light differently than eyes. The twilight view is the best approximation of what it is like to view the painting in its optimal.

Tom started working with glow in the dark colors while developing his Lego painting machine in 2003. In 2015 he produced two paintings with the sky and water being glow and the rest normal colors. All the paintings are oil pastels melted on hot metal, a technique he started with his painting machine. One of the paintings, a view of Fountain Square, hangs in the Cincinnati City Hall, part of an art for sale/display program curated by Jan Brown Cheeco.

This painting moves the process a step further using only glow in the dark colors in ernst as a standalone medium. The work is developed on three levels: daylight, dark and half-light or twilight version (the way the work is supposed to be viewed.) Not being able to work with the color in the manner it is to be viewed is the stumbling block. It is like working in an alternate universe. The glow colors have a comforting manner about them for when you close your eyes the colors you see are glow in the dark. The preliminary workup is done in the computer with two layers, the layer as the painting looks in daylight and the way the painting looks in the dark. Half of the colors are a milky yellow white and cannot be distinguished one from another. The other half are tinted in an approximation of the glow color.

The next glowing painting will be a sea scape with Moby Dick, whaleship and whaleboat. Tom hopes to advance his study focusing on the twilight version of the work carefully taking advantage of the brightest glowing colors making them the bright reflection on forms and the lesser glowing colors the shadow colors. Tom will rough out the scene in 3D using Poser, then moving it to paint after the composition, reflection and colors are set.

Tom made a painting machine out of Lego's Mindstorm Invention System in 2003. To make a machine that paints you must simplify the application process. The stroke the machine used is the same as this work, melting wax on a hot surface. These same simplifications also stimulate the viewer as a new aggressive impressionism. His first study technique was painting copies in museums, learning principals of art that could not be taught. His second study technique was creating machines that copied the process of painting. He discovered more principals of art that otherwise could not have learned.

His purpose in these paintings is to reveal his spirit while illustrating life. He seeks a visual vibration that inspires and stimulates the viewer to see beauty, truth and order, using unconventional methods. He seeks to discover underlining principals not revealed in normal study. This work differs from others because it goes a step further, applying traditional study techniques using new methods.

Judy as woman in Bouguereau, 16" x 20", Traditional academic manner, Portraits, Traditional

Sidewalk Shrines and Noted Icons
Clifton Cultural Art Center
3711 Clifton Ave
Cincinnati, OH, 45220
Friday, March 6, 2015
to Friday, April 3, 2015

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

Mother Daughter VIII, Second state, 20" x 24", Tuesday, November 25, 2014, Portraits, Figure, Traditional

SOS ART 2014A community art show and event of creative expressions for Peace and Justice
Late May into June @The Art Academy of Cincinnati, 1212 Jackson St, downtown Cincinnati

At 11 p.m. Monday, June 18, 2012 fifteen-year-old Africa Hope was killed by a stray bullet at 1700 Vine Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. This portrait placed at the site after being in the SOS show.Winning second place in the juried Golden Ticket Art Show at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center in Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio verified what Tom is experiencing. Realtor yard signs repainted with a portrait of a gun violence victim placed where they died, provide a positive colorful happy catalyst to solve gun violence. Help a "at Risk" person. Be part of the solution. Apathy is the problem. The signs—revered by community— are everlasting remembrances. With each sign Tom experiences something like a block buster movie with characters larger than life. He learns about the victim and meets the family. They live larger lives, the highest highs and lowest lows. The portraits are larger than art. Tom becomes a pawn in a complex battle to live in a safe productive world. Creating a painting against gun violence does not solve the problem. It is the grunt on the ground that solves gun violence. Social networks solve gun violence. Slogans, art, songs and preaching help solve gun violence but it is the grunt on the ground makes the change. Tom plans on painting at these spots looking for the beautiful. He will befriend the residences and make a change. With everyone stepping up and taking back their streets we can solve this problem. Many people are working on this problem. Many events draw attention to gun violence. He adds this ongoing project to the battle.

Tom Lohre wins Second Place at the Golden Ticket September 7, 2012 for Earnest Crear, Latex on board, 50” x 19” x 1”, May 15, 2012, 18” x 12” board from a realtor sign painted on both sides an impressionistic portrait of Earnest Crear and placed in metal realtor frame. To be placed at Rockdale Avenue and Knotts Street where Earnest Crear was fatally shot, August 18, 2007. Full story at SOS.htm

Tom Lohre as Parsee

16” X 20”, Oil on canvas, work in progress, Portraits, Traditional

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

Drawing from 24 February, Mostly Cloudy, Wind NE 10-15 kts, Waves NW 5’, Fetch 750’, 5" x 7", Pencil, 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.

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.

Complete Works, Portraits, Landscapes, Still Lifes, Sculpture, Lego Robot Artist...

Traditional and Impressionist Paintings in Gold Frames

2018 Crossing

Cartoons