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Abstract Landscape V, 16" x 12", oil on board, December 2008

Grant Park, Chicago; 4' x 3', latex on canvas, November 4, 2008

All signs below 28" x 22", waterproof, gloss latex on poster board, painted on one side, sandwiched with a same size backing board and place over a wire frame suitable for placing in your yard.

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The Bubba Vote refers to the voter that just cannot vote for a black man.

Barack Rocks

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"I'm Mad As Hell And I Want More" refers to the 1976 made for TV movie "Network." "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" was said by actor Howard Beale. Beale is given a two-week notice, and instead of going out with his quitely he takes over the station.

Hillary Rocks

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May Day, May Day, I'm going down refers to when John McCain was shot down over Hanoi after a bombing mission in a A4 jet.

"Barrack Obama is a Muslin" is a gaff on the spelling of the words Barack and Muslin. Muslin is a cloth. It turns out that most people just assume Muslin is spelled correctly. The correct word is Muslim.

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"Miss Vice President" refers to Sara Palin's participation in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant.

"Out of the Haus" refers to Steve Chabot's run against Steve Driehaus.

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"In the Haus" refers to Steve Chabot's run against Steve Driehaus for the US House of Representatives.

"I love BO" refers to the popular "I love New York" slogan.

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Painted for the summer of 2008. Tom has always wanted to paint a work for each summer. Finally he has pulled it off. The 3' x 4' work is effortlessly done using gloss acrylic paint on sign painters canvas. The two divers are the best of the season. 4' x 5', latex on canvas, 2008

Speculative portraits for sale

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Richard T Farmer, Oil on board, 12" x 16", April 18th, 2008, with Farmer Signature on front of painting

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AG Lafley, Chairman and CEO of Proctor & Gamble, oil on board, 12" x 16", April 7 2008, with Lafley Signature on front of painting

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Rob Portman, Oil on board, 12" x 16", April 24, 2008, , with Portman Signature on front of painting

The art below was made with a new process using Lego's MindStorm Invention System.

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AG Lafley, Chairman and CEO of Proctor & Gamble, oil pastel on aluminum, 16" x 20", April 7 2008

Tom with the 2007 Robot, Lafley portrait with mechanical parts and board

Tom & Irene Kissing
Oil pastel on aluminum, 16" x 20", January 18, 2008
The colors were selected for full color effect. The artist worked alongside the robot while it places the initial color. Then Tom goes over the work carefully adjusting the dots. The painting takes place in a novel way, the painting lays flat and Tom steps back about five feet comparing the work with his reference.

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Lady of Cincinnati's Fountain Square
Oil pastel on aluminum, 16" x 20", January 15, 2008
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.

Baby Bear, Wax on aluminum sheet, 16" x 20", January 2, 2008
This work continues to improve the resolution and color of the Lego robot, Artisto assisted work. Tom kept the color lighter than black making the black a strong form color. He needs to continue to refine the gray scale steps for the other colors to make the eight colors work as best as they can.

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The Artist as Santa, 16" x 20", December 19, 2007, Wax aluminum sheet

This Lego robot assisted painting has several new inventions. Tom started painting while the robot laid down the color. He made an outline on the metal of the final painting and used it to guide his stroke. Tom reduced the size of the wax stick to 1/4" and kept the number of stroke to 4163. The Santa is the artist. Tom always wanted to paint a Santa in the manner of the Coke Santa, Haddon H. Sundblom.

Helen XV, 16" x 20", October 2007, Wax aluminum sheet

Tom was still working on the right combination of eight colors for this face of his daughter. The wax did not have much difference in the dark shades. He still was working with basic colors, black, dark brown, dark green, dark red, medium brown, blue, light brown and white. He still would not alter the application of the color spots, letting the robot make homogeneous patterns of its own.

Helen XIV, 16" x 20", October 2007

The light violet takes the place of yellow in the face palette. If you close your eyes the violet becomes yellow. The face looks fascinating because of this juxtaposition.

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Helen XIII, 16" x 20", October 2007

Facial coloring combination from light to dark: black, dark red brown, dark blue, green, red, light pink, light violet and white with the violet substituting for light yellow for excitement.

Peter Rabbit, 16" x 20", September 2007

The second painting where Tom used a 8 color four color process, black, blue, violet, red, orange, green, yellow, white in that order of gray scale.

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.

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Helen XI, 16" x 20", September 2007, Wax on textured aluminum extra heavy foil
One of the earliest works where after the robot had laid down the color Tom reheated the surface and painted strokes into the hot wax. The ears at the bottom left are rabbit ears.

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Nuclear War, 20" x 16", oil on canvas, 2006

Waverly Restaurant, 12" x 16", October 27, 2006

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Stoney Brook, Long Island, New York, 16" x 12", oil on board, September 3, 2007

Painted from life in 2007, Tom Lohre hung out for about five hours, watching people come and go. He typically paints on location while traveling. Turns out that the scene only has meaning to a few people, he wants to start painting more iconic and generic works where the image on the canvas captures a vision many have.

Three Mile Harbor, 16" x 12", oil on board, September 4, 2007

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Devou Park Clubhouse, 16" x 12", oil on board, September 21, 2008

Devou Park Clubhouse, 16" x 12", oil on board, September 19, 2007

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Devou Park Clubhouse, 16" x 12", oil on board, September 9th, 2006

All painted during Behringer-Crawford's FreshArt Event, held every year at this time. Tom participated for the first seven years and then laid off for seven until now. He just had to come back because it is so much fun. He knows over half of the artists and the quests at the auction in the evening. He grew up on the edge of Devou Park at Breckinridge and Montague Rd. He used to hang out at the museum when he was ten spending everyday up there with Mr. Crawford.

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Entrance to 3-Mile Harbor, 16" x 12, Oil on board, August 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=varywJRZ6W0

The latest in a long line of paintings done while traveling. Tom's paint box has space for four wet 16" x 12" gessoed boards. Some are panted in one day others with figures take a week with Tom working on the figure during the evening and going on location to paint the landscape.

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The Balcony, Ludlow Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio, 8" x 10", Oil on board, April 2006

“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.

Ludlow Avenue Bulletin Board, 12" x 16", oil on board, April, 2006

Tom considers this a pivotal painting in his “Urban Landscape Series.” By chance he saw the two women just as they are clothed and depicted. The scene is simplified of additional objects like bikes, more planters, signs, etc. but the color and overall effect gave Tom a euphoric feeling he had never experienced. It was as if the feeling a great painting give the viewer was continually experienced by Tom as he worked on the painting. He worked on this painting from Bender Optical. The quite warm office was an excellent place to work.

Ludlow Garage in Snow, 12" x 16", oil on board, March, 2006

Tom worked from inside the barber shop to paint this work. The woman was seen walking by. You can imagine the spring snow being here on day and gone the next. You can still see the empty parking spaces from the morning rush hour.

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Telford Avenue with Snow, 16" x 12", oil on board, March, 2006

Sitwell's Coffee House Interior, 20" x 16", oil on board, March, 2006

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Rural Connection, Perry Street, NYC, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, October 1st, 2005

Katrina Relief Fund, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, October 2005

This work painted in Hyde Park, one of Cincinnati’s Villages. The idea for the girl came from a street fund raising effort on Ludlow Avenue. Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music organized a New Orleans Style Band to set up on the street while other students solicited money from the passing cars.

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Paul Brown Stadium, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, November 2005

This work painted outside of Paul Brown Stadium during the week before the game. During the game Tom discovered that the whole area if crowded with smokers.

Hyde Park Fountain, Cincinnati, Ohio, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, October 2005

A detail of the Kilgore Fountain is shown. 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.

A New York City Clean, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, October 2005

“New York City Clean” was also painted from life on the streets of New York City. The painting has quite a lot of street dirt on it from Tom’s sitting so close to Sixth Avenue. The funniest thing that happened to Tom was a man across the street dressed up in his Sunday’s finest light gray suit, pastel blue shirt and light gray shoes. He stood in front a bus across the square and yelled at it for a good half hour. He was berating the bus for being parked there. Did not the bus know that the square was called Father Demos Square because a church burned down on this spot and the city would not allow the church to be rebuilt so the spot was made into a square for the sole purpose of remembering the denial of the city? He constantly said that the square was only to be used for sitting and no bus parking was allowed. After the man got tired of talking to the bus he came over to where Tom was working and laid into him. There was to be no tripods set up. Tom was flabbergasted by the affront. Never had he experienced such a tongue lashing. Since Tom had his guitar on his lap he was also told to take that guitar over to Washington Square, there was to be no guitar playing on Father Demos Square. Tom finally had to tell the man that he was sorry but the man would have to get the police to have him removed. After a good long time the man finally walked off. Later while Tom was talking to a local bench sitter he learned that the man had been diligently performing his job for several years. He never returned.  Father Demos’s church was rebuilt across the corner into the magnificent “Our Lady of Pompeii.”

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Old Ludlow Avenue Bulletin Board, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, September 21, 2005

Helen II, 12" x 16", oil on masonite, August 20th, 2005

Helen, 8" x 10", oil on canvas, September 1, 2005

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Rising Sun, 16" 12", oil on board, August 2005

List Farm, Flemingsburg Kentucky, 6" 12", oil on board, July 4th, 2005

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Emerald Isle, North Carolina, 16" 12", oil on board, June 2005

Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, 16" 12", oil on board, August 2005

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Surfers, 16" x 12", oil on board, June 2005

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Helen Feeding the Ducks by the Mike Fink Resturant, oil on canvas, 3' x 4', October 2004

Irene & Helen, 60" x 40", oil on canvas, April 2004

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Helen, 8” x 10”, Oil on canvas, May 24th, 2003

Helen the Peasant Girl, 8” x 10”, Oil on canvas, May 26th, 2003

Landscape, 10" x 8", January 25, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", January 29, 2004

Landscape, 10" x 8", February 5, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", February 10, 2004

Landscape, 10" x 8", February 12, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", February 16, 2004

Landscape, 10" x 8", February 17, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", February 18, 2004

Landscape, 10" x 8", February 19, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", February 20, 2004

Landscape, 10" x 8", February 22, 2004

Helen going to School, 16” x 20”, Oil on canvas, February 22, 2004

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Landscape, 10" x 8", February 23, 2004

Hatfield Coal, 20" x 16", oil on canvas, 2004

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Helen, 30" x 24", pastel on 90lb paper, April 10th, 2003

Tom, 36" x 26", pastel on 90lb paper, April 15th, 2003

Helen, 16" x 20", pastel on 90lb paper,  May 18th, 2003

Helen, 16" x 20", Pigmented wax  on 90lb paper,  May 18th, 2003

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Evanswood Place, 24" x 30", oil on canvas

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Esquire Theatre, Ludlow Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 20" x 16", oil on board, fall 2003, $800

This work was painted from life on a warm fall day, the last warm day of the year. Tom used a pallet knife to apply the oil paint on a 1/2" piece of plywood. Tom was studying compositions with large color areas of similar color.

Evanswood Place, 24" x 30", oil on canvas

Old Bulletin Board, 5” x 7”, Watercolor on paper 

This is the first watercolor in this series to be completed. Tom decided to use the annual Clifton Senior Center Fundraising Progressive Dinner as a motivational force to complete the illustrations of Ludlow Avenue for these pages. A progressive dinner is where you all meet at a cocktail home and then branch out to other homes to have dinner and then meet back again at the church for the auction of art, antiques, gift certificates from the shops of the neighborhood and other special packages for the fund-raiser.  

Tom started the drawing from life on the street during the winter and then completed it in the studio using a four color wash with pens and brushes. Tom spent about four years perfecting this manner of watercolor working mostly from Thomas Rowlandson work. Rowlandson, a Englishman, painted during the time of Charles Dickens in London. Rowlandson would add various color washes of cobalt blue and alizarin crimson as accent. The technique revolves around using three different tints for wash and then three different weights for line. the lines are made from thin brushes to quills.  

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Humidifier Painting 

5' 6" x 4', Waterproof paint on "Wonder Board", copper tubing, K gutter, water pump, January 15th, 2002 

Painted as a response to loud humidifiers and the lack of colorful paintings in the bedroom.  Concrete "Wonder Board" made for tiling was the perfect surface to use. The 3' x 5' surface is coated with water on both sides.

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The Great Tomaso Show

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The Great Tomas Pushcart

Sculptura

Flying Bicycle

Sculptura, 5" x 7", watercolor on paper, 2000

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Paintings done in England

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English Village, 10" x 8",  oil on canvas, 2001

Painted from life in a small village right up on the cliffs above Portsmouth, England. Toms host and he had a Shepard pie dinner that night down the street. Across the street is the local store. Around the corner is a phone booth Tom made a few calls back home. He spent the better part of the day painting on location. The two girls by the faucet as representative of two painters getting knowledge.

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Portsmouth Harbor, 16" x 12", oil on canvas, 2001

Painted from life on the second floor of a large riverfront mall complex. It was windy that day and Tom had to hold onto his canvas as he worked. He tucked his easel into a nook to keep the rain off.

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HSM Victory, 16" x 12", oil on canvas, 2001

Painted from life at the maritime museum. Tom put the ship at sea using the coastline he could see from his vantage. This was Nelson's flagship. He was working for a traditional ship at sea painting. The actual ship was on blocks in a drained pit part of the massive shipyard. The area is still a active Navy base. Tom purchased a brochure about the museum from the shop right behind him and used the waves from some of the images to put the ship at sea.

 

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Helen, oil on brass cartouche, 1.5" x 1.5"

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Mount Adams, Cincinnati, Ohio, 18" 36", oil on Canvas, winter 2000

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Birdseye View of Clifton, Cincinnati, Ohio, litho on paper, 16” x 12”

The above drawing is done with a litho crayon and is a finished work. This is a Birdseye view, just to the left is the Firehouse, on the right is Famous Skyline Chili. Across the intersection is Adrian Durban’s Clifton Florist. Just down the hill is their main greenhouse.  The view is of Ludlow Avenue looking West from the intersection of Clifton Avenue.

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Paintings done with robots

Circles, May 13 1999, Watercolor on paper 20" x 24"
Tom’s second robot had to be bigger. It needed larger pieces and the little windup artist could only paint for a few inches until it needed to be wound up again. That is when I adapted a remote controlled car into another type of windup painter. The new motorized version was quite a bit heavier and used a automatic loading brush. The process yielded a good operating machine along the lines of the previous windup artist.
Flying Pigs
February 3 1999, Watercolor on paper 23" x 16"
My first robot that actually painted did not come until 1999 when I adapted a windup motor I got in a mechanical junk store in China Town NYC about 7 years earlier. I always wanted to do just this with the motor but it was not until I applied for a grant that I needed a real piece of art. The little machine dragged a brush across a piece of paper slowly and with visual pain. Occasionally it would pick the brush up and it made the most amazing abstract works.  The whole aspect of these machines is to give them the power to think for themselves and do what they feel is best.
Read the whole story and see the video at:

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Helen XI, 16" x 20", oil on canvas, 2001

 

Ryle High School
April 24 1999, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
This painting was done from life from the Ameristop across the street. Tom had brought his sister there to participate in the Special Olympics. He painted a carload of boys taunting a short fat kid with a gun because of the recent shootings in Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado where two boys shot 13 people.
Slater Road, Morrisville NC
February 9 1999, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
From the story of the painting:
Jesse Marsh grew up here. He is up in ages now and still has a very handsome distinguished look about him, blond hair what is left not turn gray with blue eyes. One of his eyes has a drip in it like an infection. His size was huge bulk with soft large hands that turn in many directions. I met him while I was painting a smoke house that was the only thing left from a farmhouse that set near the road. "There's a well right there also where the satellite dish is now,” he said. The road used to turn off and snake over to where the Sheraton is now. You can clearly see where the road turned off. Right there was a number of barns and out buildings. "All this land is good farm land.” Jesse said.

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Henry Williams, August 19 1998, Watercolor on paper, 5" x 7"

A sketch that started the oil portrait of Henry Williams that hangs in the Over-the-Rhine senior center. In 1998 he proposed to the City of Cincinnati a portrait of Henry Williams to hang in the Over-the- Rhine Senior Center and the City gave him moneys to pay for materials. Tom gave several informal talks to the patrons of the Over-the-Rhine senior center as he completed the portrait. At each talk Tom brought the unfinished painting and painting materials. He would go from table to table engaging patrons waiting for lunch and speak of the portraits process.

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Alzheimer Series

I believe that people are made up of simple ideas and systems. When a break down happens the results just tilt things a little but the life continues in a somewhat normal appearing way. 

Painted over the year of 1998, these watercolors are a bold attempt to change my art into something more substantial. I thought long and hard and finally Alzheimer’s inspired me. It was my goal to use Alzheimer's, as a base threshold to build great works of art upon.

Done in conjunction with two grant proposals, Summerfair and the Ohio State Fellowships. It was my intention to do some honest study of what art was and how the principals of science could apply. I chose a older woman so as to eliminate the subject matter from overtaking the primus of the series. 

Illustrations:

Sitting, Watercolor on paper, 5" x 7", Completed March 3rd, 1998

In the end, sitting is the only thing I could do. I like my bunny.

Hanging Laundry, Watercolor, 5” x 7”, Completed August 16^th, 1998

Outside, hanging the clothes, such a simple idea.

Refrigerator, Watercolor, 5” x 7””, Completed August 15th, 1998

I am putting it away.

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

Those plants always need attending. I will just get out there and get to something.

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

I am having a gay old time with my pots and pans.

With the TV Cat, Watercolor, 5" x 7", Completed August 18th, 1998

Talking with the TV and cat are fine when no one else is around. I believe that people are made up of simple ideas and systems. When a break down happens the results just tilt things a little but the life continues in a somewhat normal appearing way.

Telephone for Kitty, Watercolor, 5" x 7", Completed August 17th, 1998

As Alzheimer's slowly progresses the victim will be found doing strange and different things. Like driving around looking for their bedroom. Or look always for the key to a lock. Here kitty has a phone call, and the Mrs._____ never liked cats! 

Me and My Cats, Watercolor on paper, 5" x 7", Completed August 10th, 1998

In painting this series of experiments I was looking for a venue to attack the science of art. I was trying to make the manner of the paint application make the subject matter more than it was or even all that it was. As with any research I may be doing something that had been done before. 

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

Something is not the same. I am in clothes I do not recognize.  

Bundled Up, Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, Completed August 12th, 1998

One of the 15 small watercolors was done in conjunction with two grant proposals, Summerfair and the Ohio State Fellowships. It was my intention to do some honest study of what art was and how the principals of science could apply. I chose a older woman so as to eliminate the subject matter from overtaking the primus of the series.

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

There is this long stretch of land along the pond. I need to keep it clean of leaves and what not.

Shopping, Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7””, Completed August 14th, 1998

I should pick up a box of this. I do not know if I have enough at home.

Mirror Looking, Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, Completed August 13th, 1998

Who is that person in the mirror?

Hiding Tissues, Watercolor on paper, 5" x 7", Completed August 18th, 1998

I do not want to be without a tissue, I think I will save it here under my pillow.

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Gentry Tobacco Warehouse, Lexington, Kentucky
July 5 1998, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
Painted over four years. Tom's wife spends a day every summer in Lexington, Kentucky at a professional meeting and during that time, Tom spent his time researching the tobacco auction business for a possible painting. His patron had had in their family a large tobacco warehouse, which they had sold. He wanted to at least have a painting of it.

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Drum Point Light, Chesapeake Bay
June 24 1997, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
The painting had a lot of sky and water with just a little more detail than the previous painting. The lighthouse named Drum Pt. was one of 49 in the Bay by 1900. Of the two thousand or so manned lighthouses in the US at the turn of the century. Drum point was rated 248th because of its elaborate Fresnel lens. Viewers of the painting called it the Thomas Pt. lighthouse because that lighthouse is still out in the Bay.

Tangier Island, Chesapeake Bay
June 23 1997, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
Back on Tangier, I finished painting by 1 PM and we enjoyed a crab lunch in the cooler part of one of the many restaurants that vie for your attention lining the waterfront. Crab is served in three basic ways. As a round 3 inch by 1 inch fried cake, a soft-shelled crab fried and boiled hard shell. The fried soft shell has the appearance of eating a large bug whole. Fully satiated we set off for Solomons and Drum Pt Light Way Point #67.
  
 
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Evanswood Place
July 1 1998, Oil on canvas, 30" x 24"
On a blazing hot day in July, Tom painted the paw paw patch that shares the land with a bird sanctuary, the lone expanse of land on the street Tom lives on. Every year one of the neighbors, hosts a Fourth of July picnic and a flyer is sent out. This year Tom offered to make the poster and painted the part of the street he loved the most. The sloping hill hosts several hundred-paw paw trees. Tom has harvested them for several years offering them to the neighbors who hereto for did not think they were eatable. This last year no paw paw tree bore fruit because of the drought.

Public Market Center, Seattle, 16” x 20”, Oil on canvas, May 24, 1998
Tom met up with an artist relative who had the next several days off. He took Tom all over Seattle looking for a place to paint. He settled on a spot four blocks from his hotel. The market is a mix of the wealthy, tourist & transients. Over 200 fish, fruit, curiosity & touristy shops are the attraction. Taking place on a hillside to the sea, the corridors create a labyrinth of walkways and alleys. The performance is the throwing of the fish to the packer after a purchase has been made.

Painted as a typical tourist painting. When I travel I like to paint a scene much like a person would photograph scenes. The first day in Seattle I traveled all over the area looking for a scene and finally settled on a view that was only a few blocks from my hotel. This area of Seattle is quite a tourist attraction. There are about 200 little shops in the public market selling everything from fish to shrunken heads. It occupies the whole face of a steep cliff winding its way down to the seaport docks. A trolley carries people along the waterfront, which is quite developed with tourist attractions. 

The market was originally created to supply the workers in the city, food for their dinner. They would shop and then go home. Today, it is much the same and at 6 O’clock the whole place closes down and is locked up tight. Only the cities poor and homeless occupy the streets till morning. During my several days painting on the street I met a Navaho and a Tlingit Indian. The former was a CAD/CAM computer artist and the latter was the head of a tribe of Indians that performed native dances. 

The painting has a great light flux. The clouds, like they are most times are heavy with a little patch of blue, are painted with little pure white. The foreground is dark and thinly painted. The scene looks like it is about 5:30PM just after the shops close and before the rush hour starts.

The large sign “Public Market” is really a funny type of sign that gets caught up in being a important part of the local heritage. If you look very closely to the left of the “Farmers Market” sign, that area is where the fish throwing starts.

Piedmont Park Gazebo II, Atlanta, Georgia
May 9 1997, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
Tom spend a lot of time in Atlanta and got to know the city quite well. He has painted all over the region and of all the places; he likes this gazebo in Piedmont Park. In the past, he did a impressionistic canvas of it and always wanted to return. He did started two paintings each on different days. The traffic through that area of the park is quite thick and he was never without human subjects. Most Atlantians have fond memories of the gazebo.

 

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Paintings done during Asian Tour

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China Man, 10" x 8", oil on canvas, 1996

Colors: bright green, bright blue, bright violet, blood red accent

This is the fourth version. The original was painted from life in the Quanzhou Zoo. Tom and his wife frantically searched for a scene to paint on their only day in old Canton. The streets around the hotel were all too crowded but nothing attracted Tom. They decided to go to the local zoo but even there nothing caught Tom's eye. Finally he was running out of time and started work looking at a field of red callas being tilled by a caretaker. The area around the callas contained the bird cages of the zoo. Tom had learned that many of the early settlers of the area lived in caves and some of these aviaries looked like caves. While he worked at a fever pitch Tom would hear all sorts of strange animal sounds along with Chinese Opera piped over the loud speakers. Tom and his wife stayed too long and were locked into the bird sanctuary. They had to climb over the fence and rush to the gates to avoid being locked inside the closing zoo. Link to the complete Asian Story by going to: http://tomlohre.com/asia.htm. Prints are also available.

China Man, 10" x 8", ink jet print on paper

Governor's Home, Hong Kong, 12" x 16", oil on canvas, Fall 1996

Our three week Asian trip started with Hong Kong and then Japan. In Hong Kong the mountains are steep and there is not much flat land before the water. The Hong Kongese live in the mountains on winding roads with steep cliffs. In China red soil abounds with farming taking up every inch. China is moved by people and Hong Kong by machines. The ability of the Hong Kong to finance improvements is basic to the difference. China does not finance and wants Hong Kong returned with no debt!

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Hong Kong Harbor, 10" x 8", oil on canvas, Fall 1996

Painted from life during a trip to the Orient After taking a slow boat to china and the bullet train back. Tom's wife assisted him in setting up his easel outside the art museum and painting this view of Hong Kong proper. Normally all the boats in the painting can be seen traveling to and fro accept the junk. Mostly seen are the ferryboats and floating cranes that unload all the cargo in the harbor. Above is a building in the form of a Shinto Shrine at Victoria Peak.

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Ancient Japanese Ship, Tokyo Canal
Fall 1996, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
Painted from life and a postcard of an ancient ship. Tom spent several days in the home of his friend Yuso Hase. Tom had painted his portrait in NYC ten years prior. Now he was painting the canal outside his hosts’ bedroom window. All day long while he painted the weather, seem to want to do everything in one day. Sun, rain, wind, warmth & cold all followed each other as the day and the painting progressed.

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Paintings done on location in New York City.

Irving Berlin’s Home  

Oil on canvas, 10” x 8”, October 1996  

Painted from life in the upper east side of New York City. Now the home of the Ducy of Luxembourg. Tom was staying in a hotel nearby while his wife attended a professional meeting and made use of the splendid opportunity to work in the fancy Sutton Place neighborhood. The home was previously owned by Irving Berlin for many years. Tom knows John Wallowitch, a composer like Berlin, who lives just down the street. Every Christmas Eve John and his friends would sing Christmas carols outside his home. Sometimes Irving would come to the window. While working on the painting for several days Tom felt quite safe in the ritzy, glitzy neighborhood. A proverbially who’s who of American and European wealthy would walk by and it was one of the few places where Tom felt he could leave his paint stand for a few minutes to go down the street to get a sandwich.  

Several people expressed a lot of interest in the painting while he worked on it as the leaves fell from the Ginkgo trees that grow plentiful in the city. It is said that the Ginkgo tree is a prehistoric tree that was capable of surviving volcanic eruptions and the massive pollutants that come with such eruptions so is perfectly suited for growing in the polluted city. Tom had painted many such paintings on the street but worked especially hard on this one because he was slowly moving out of the apartment he lived at for twenty years in Greenwich Village and was moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his wife worked and his hometown.  

The composition of the painting is a variation of Tom’s tunnel view down city streets. In this view the street ends as the cliff begins dropping down a hundred or so feet to the East River. The color is indicative of Tom’s strong light and dark manner where the two light fluxes are juxtaposed against each other. The dark shadow areas are full of variation as well as the light areas but when a photo is taken of the painting the two areas cannot be reproduced correctly. Either the light or the dark area has to be focused on for the light flux difference is so great, very much like human vision.  

Tom used his yellow light and blue shadow manner. Changing the color of the light and dark areas to lean towards a stronger color gives piazza to the paintings. 

Village Delight, Greenwich Village, New York City, Oil on canvas, October 1997

This work was painted from life, one of the last paintings done before giving up his NYC apartment of twenty years. It was the time where showing in coffee shops was popular and this place as a shoe in for Tom. He distributed coupons during the opening for $2 off whatever his guests wanted. For the rest of the week he painted this view. The players are all characters and much in the way of a local neighborhood, happenings occurred.  

 

Piedmont Park, Atlanta, 10" x 8", Oil on canvas, September 1995

Li Lac Chocolate, Christopher Street, New York City, 12" x 16", Oil on canvas, October 1994

This work painted on the street with the wind and all. The weather was cold those Fall days Tom sat in the gutter painting what has become a beloved chocolate shop. The owner liked the painting so much she purchased a duplicate of it. In the painting delivered to her there was a police officer walking down the street and two girls admiring the fine chocolates along with their dog.Tom lived in the West Village for Twenty years. Besides painting many street scenes he was  a social portrait painter traveling the circuit from Nantucket, New York and Palm Beach. This painting is his best. The view is looking East on Christopher Street towards where his apartment was. A few blocks behind is the Hudson River. The time was Fall. The wind was not too bad as he sat in the gutter for many days painting. The chocolate shop is still open.  

 

Christopher St. looking West, New York City  

Oil on canvas, 16" x 12", Fall 1995  

        You can see a tug boat going up river if you look way own the street. It is only a few blocks to the Hudson River and a easy walk to the cool breeze. During this painting session the wind was blowing terribly hard. Tom had to paint while he was holding onto the easel with his other hand. He later found out that if you ust go around the corner there will be no wind at all.  

 

 Click image to see larger image.

Christopher St. Looking East, New York City , Oil on canvas, 16" x 12", Fall 1995  

This view shows Tom's old apartment building, the one he lived in for twenty years from 1978 to 1998. Only the delivery trucks and buses occupy the street. The local citizens have their automatic wheel chairs along with the blind girl & seeing eye dog.  

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Bahamian Home, 20" x 16", watercolor on paper, 1995

The best example of Tom's large scale watercolor. He painted it for his wife's birthday. They had just been there on vacation and this was the view out their front porch. The town is Hopetown. They were staying next to Toad Hall. All the homes have names. You can see Irene and Tom on the front pouch. The manner was led by WInslow Homer. There is a watercolor by him that is quite similar but more stormy.

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Painting done in North Carolina
 

Carolina Piedmont, 16" x 20", oil on canvas, Spring 1995
Tom in the past had painted many landscape with a power tower in the middle of the composition. Here, on a trip to the Carolina Piedmont sat in his hotel room working on yet another painting of the power tower that stood outside his window. Recently married, his wife asked him not to paint the tower and this is the result, a clear view of the Carolina Piedmont with its sandy soil, eroding rolling hills and pine and oak scrub.

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Painting done in New England

Surf Fishing in Nantucket, 20" x 16", oil on canvas, 1995

Painted on location at the schallop shack in Nantucket Harbor. Tom used the men that gathered during the day to pose. The boat came from a yard nearby. The idea came from an image Tom found showing the old tradional fishing method of launching a surfboat from the beach then paying out net in front of a school of Sea Bass. Next the boat was rowed ashore and the net gathered and hauled up on the beach. The shack was a regular meeting ground for the local men. This painting was done in the fall but in the winter is when it gets hairy. The warden watches the bay and monitors the men out on the cold frozen water. If there is any trouble, he can get help out there quickly.

Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard
July 10 1994, Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"
Painted on location during a sailing vacation. Oak Bluffs is one of the few places where you can see both black & white people vacationing together. Tom set up his easel in view of the congregation tent. In the old days, people would come to worship. Today, people still come for the religious services. The homes surrounding the main commons are a combination of tent and home. In the painting, Tom painted Whoppie Goldberg and Melanie Griffith out of a picture in a magazine.

Zero Main Street, Nantucket
July 2 1994, Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"
One of two paintings Tom did while on vacation in Nantucket. In the past he had painted this same scene over and over again but he had sold all of them. This one he did for himself. It is one of the four different views he painted of the famous fountain. The view is of a large building that used to be a counting house for the ships that came into port but today houses shops below and offices above. During the summer, they hang a large model of a whaling ship above the door.

Pacific Club, Nantucket
July 1 1994, Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"
Painted during a vacation trip to Nantucket. In previous years, Tom would paint on the street everyday. Now, while on a sailing trip he has to return to his learning roots. He would paint five different scenes of the famous fountain. This view was one of them. The other five were Zero Main Street, Pacific National Bank & The Looms. Today there are no large trees for they got too old and died.

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Painting done in Alaska

Tom and Irene were married on May 26th, 1994. They went to Alaska on their honeymoon. Tom thought that since it was Alaska he would paint large paintings, so he finagled a way to transport canvas and stretchers unassembled to Seattle, their starting point. Once there he assembled 5 30" x 40" canvases and screwed them together with plates so that their surfaces did not touch. He could then carry 5 wet paintings in relative protection. That with his 90lb pack made for easy transport to and from ferries, in and out of hotels. At the end of their trip the paintings had sufficiently dried to be able to disassemble them, roll them up and fly back to Cincinnati. This series of works illustrates the chiaroscuros approach Tom was using then. His method was to paint a scene with strong lights and darks using the contrast as a abstract form in the paintings. In "Ketchikan, Alaska" you can clearly see the strong light cut through the paining.

Click image to see larger image.

Mount Denali, Alaska
June 20 1994, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Painted in Denali State Park after climbing up a 2000 foot mountain. You can see the only road that goes into the park below. Tom hiked up from the parking lot where private cars had to stop and after stopping every now and then looking for a good view stopped at the level you can see across the valley. In 45 mile, an hour winds where the bugs slapped his face and took refuge on the lee side of his face and as he continually slapped his face with a cloth hat and while continually holding onto his easel he painted this canvas. His lunch laying around and the ground squirrels running about discussing his work it was only after Tom was safe back at the hotel that he realized that a bear could have followed his scent and showed up to have a bite and a look see. His wife took the school bus into the park seeing moose, bear and rams. The bus drivers had signals so they could lewt the incoming drivers know what they saw. A claw hand for a bear, a fist for a ram, a spladed hand for a moose.

Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska
June 18 1994, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Outside of Ketchikan is the edge of the Saint Alegis Ice Flow. The size of Rhode Island the glacier leads to the vast ice field in the middle of the mountain range. A tranquil shelter belonging to the National Park Service offers this view of the glacier. Tom took the bus from town and hiked a mile up the road to spend the day painting. Helicopters and tourist passed by taking in the scene on one of the four rainless days in Juno.

Click image to see larger image.

Ketchikan, Alaska
June 16 1994, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Painted from life while on his honeymoon. Tom brought five large canvases with him making his total pack 90 pounds. Everyday there was a window to paint Tom would set out to spend the day painting. This view was the finest in Alaska. The day was also special for it was one of the rare clear rainless days in a town where it rained 360 days a year. In this painting, Tom was experimenting with a novel compositional method of having a sunlight streak run diagonally through the canvas.

Inside Passage II
June 14 1994, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Painted off the fantail of the ferry. Tom was using a novel approach to composition. The painting was done as an experiment in placing various local items on top of a landscape.  Looking closely you can see a sea plane in the water to the right, fins of the Orcas in the water on the left, salmon jumping on the hill sides on the right, a mountain man in the clouds on the right and a breaching hump back whale in the clouds on the left.

Click image to see larger image.

Inside Passage I
June 13 1994, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"

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After a initial study of the travel pamphlets on the first ferry out of Bellingham, Tom decided he would paint the ultimate memory of an Alaskan trip: The breaching of a Humpback Whale as you kayaked.

Saint Xavier

Three color charcoal on paper, 8" x 10", 1993

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Painting done in the Bahamas

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Boat People IX, 14" x 11", pencil on paper, 1992

This is the pencil on the final paper before watercoloring. Most of the pencil is removed with a kneable eraser after the first inking of the major outlines with a middle tone. 4 hours were needed to work up the drawing. Everything is done in your head as you try to make the figures come alive without stretching what is possible.

Boat People VII, 14" x 11", watercolor on paper, 1992

This is a finished watercolor. Tom uses three lines weights of line and three shades of each color to create form. It is a manner he derived from his study of Thomas Rowlandson, an English watercolorist from the 1800's.

Click image to see larger image.

Homer Revisited, 14" x 11", watercolor on paper, 1992

Here Tom replaced the other black man in Winslow Homer's work with a woman. He was working in Hopetown, Bahamas at the time.

Boat People VIII, 14" x 11", watercolor on paper, 1992

This is a finished watercolor from his "Boat People" series. Tom considers this work his best in the series. His wife hangs over the side sick. Tom discovered later that the boat would normally be packed to the gills with people.

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Painted Bottles & Cans
 

Black TV star on a wine bottle with the top cut off

Lorena Bobbit on one side and John on the other on a wine bottle with the top cut off

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Watercolors created for

Greenwich Village A Primo Guide To Shopping Eating and Making Merry In True Bohemia
$14, Released May 5 1995, by Saint Martins Press, 27 paintings by the artist adorn the pages. Tom's good friends and neighbors wrote the book.

 

 

Alan Ginsberg  

Watercolor on paper, 8” x 10”, June 1^st, 1993  

Black Marsha  

Watercolor on paper, 8” x 10”, June 1^st, 1993  

The Stonewall Inn, located at 51 Christopher Street, first opened its door in the Depression year of 1930, having been converted from two hundred-year-old stables. Utilized for several decades as a hall for private parties, business banquets, and weddings celebrations, in the decade of the sixties it became a tawdry gay bar frequented by preppie types and drag queens like. A callboy service sometimes operated on the second floor. On the evening of June 28^th, 1969, it became the improbable site of the Battle of Stonewall during a police raid of the place. Robert Bryan, a men’s fashion magazine editor, was there that night and remembers policemen being driven back by angry drag queens tired of being intimidated and oppressed by John Law. A prominent “solider” in the melee was Black Marsha (a.k.a.) Marsha P. Johnson or Malcolm Michaels), a black drag queen and panhandling Christopher Street personality for over twenty years. Read the full story in Greenwich Village, a  primo guide by John Gilman and Bob Heide from St. Martins  press. Tom Lohre did the 27 paintings for the guide. Tom lived on Christopher Street for twenty years.  

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Bob Dylan  

Watercolor on painted Wild Turkey Whiskey bottle with the  top cut off, 3” x 3” x 6”, June 1^st, 1993  

Young Edward Albee  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 24^th, 1992  

Tiny Tim  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 23^rd, 1992  

Walt Whitman  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 23^rd, 1992   

 

Sylvia Miles  

Watercolor on paper, 8” x 10”, June 22^nd, 1992  

Thomas Paine

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 22^nd, 1992  

Sylvia Miles  

Watercolor on paper, 8” x 10”, June 21^st, 1992  

 

Steve McQueen  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 20^th, 1992  

Sam Shepard  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 18^th, 1992  

Maxwell Bodenheim  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 17^th, 1992  

Mattheu Bodine  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 16^th, 1992  

John Wallowitch  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 15^th, 1992  

Jessica Lange  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 14^th, 1992  

Click image to see larger image.

Jimmy Hendrix  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 14^th, 1992  

James Dean  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off,  3” x 3” x 6”, June 13^th, 1992  

Henry James  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 12^th, 1992  

Eleanor Roosevelt  

Watercolor on painted 40oz beer label with the top cut off, 3” x 3” x 6”, June 6^th, 1992  

Edward Albee III  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 4^th, 1992  

Edward Albee II  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 3^rd, 1992  

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Edward Albee I  

Watercolor on paper, 5” x 7”, June 2^nd, 1992  

Edna St.Vincent Millay  

Watercolor on paper, 8” x 10”, June 1^st, 1992  

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Fountain Square III, Cincinnati
May 4 1994, Oil on canvas, 20" x 24"
Painted from life during the Art on the Square Festival in downtown Cincinnati. Tom imagined this view from the place he was set up along the skywalk. He was using the patterns in the square and the glass of the buildings to create a flower arrangement out of the cityscape.
Fountain Square I
May 2 1994, Oil on canvas, 24" x 20"
The first of three paintings done during the Art Festival on the Square, a multi leveled event that took place all over downtown Cincinnati. Tom was painting on the Thursday before the event from a vantage point where he really could not see the fountain but having had painted it many times used the opportunity to make a painting like a bouquet of flowers.

Click image to see larger image.

Geek Statue in Drag, 16" x 20", oil on canvas

Seaport Study I, 6" x 4-1/4", watercolor on paper, 1994

Seaport Study II, 5-1/2" x 4", ink on velum, 1994

Seaport Study III, 5-1/2" x 4", watercolor on paper, 1994

Bob Weir, 24" x 30", watercolor & lytho crayon on paper

John Lennon, 24" x 30", watercolor & lytho crayon on paper

ATT Atrium, New York City, Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", 1993

Zero Main St. Nantucket, 20" x 16", Oil on canvas, August 1993

Pacific Club. Nantucket, 20" x 16", Oil on canvas, August 1993

Click image to see larger image.

Seaport Impression, New York City
October 14 1993, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
Painted as a study for a same size finely detailed work. Done with a palette knife the paint was removed remixed, reapplied until the color was correct. Some say that this work is even better than the final version.

Click image to see larger image.

Impression of the Delta Queen, October 10 1993, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"

Colors: light orange yellow, violet blue, warm gray, blood red accent. Painted as a study for a same size oil painting, the final work was extremely detailed and took a year to complete. This impressionist study was done with a pallet knife. The color was removed and remixed until the over-all color was correct. Link to the final painting by going to: http://tomlohre.com/river&.htm.
The painting shows the steamboat Delta Queen just finished docking at Cincinnati Landing. To the left of the Queen is the permanently moored showboat Majestic. In the distance, you can see the traditional riverfront of Covington, Kentucky with its famous suspension bridge built by John Robeling and finished in 1860. Just behind the bridge is the modern office tower and contemporary Covington Landing.

Delta Queen Landing at Cincinnati, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30", June 11th, 1997

Available in framed photo prints  

        This painting is the companion of Tom's earlier, same size work of South Street Seaport. His sister and her husband commissioned the two of them six years ago. Tom delivered the first painting in the Spring of 1992 and now is glad to deliver the second. It took so long because of the massive detail in the work and the resolve not to deliver a inferior work. It was Tom's intention to rival all other work in these two paintings. The first work was of the restored seaport in New York City near Wall Street. It had about thirty people on board the schooner "Pioneer" and about the same number on the wharf. In this "Delta Queen" painting there were substantially more people.  

        The paintings shows the steamboat Delta Queen just finished docking at Cincinnati Landing. To the left of the Queen is the permanently moored showboat Majestic. In the distance you can see the traditional river front of Covington, Kentucky with its famous suspension bridge built by John Robeling and finished in 1860. Just behind the bridge is the modern office tower and contemporary Covington Landing.  

 

Click image to see larger image.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 24” x 20”, Oil on canvas, September 1992

Harrisburg II, 6" x 4-1/2", watercolor on paper, 1992

Winslow Homer Copied, 1992, watercolor on paper, art size 20” x 14”, paper size 24”x 20”,
One of Tom's friends was telling him about a neat print he had of Winslow Homers. Tom said that it would be much better to have a real painted copy. Tom painted two of them and the experience started him on the road to watercolor. After several years, he started to have a reasonable idea of the necessary talents needed to be an excellent watercolorist.

Dick Foster

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 1991

The painting shows Dick in his office. Tom changes the regular pink folders for money green. The law books are South Carolina's. Tom made Dick more athletic than than Dick was at the time. He used to play tennis every night and golf frequently. While Tom was living on his estate for a year he painted many works for Dick. Dick taught Tom how to play golf. Dick had no family when he died so the painting came back to Tom.

Child in Boat, pencil on paper, 4-1/2" x 5-3/4", 1990

Indian Legend II, 6" x 4-1/2", watercolor on paper, 1990

Indian Legend I, 6" x 4-1/2", watercolor on paper, 1990

Click image to see larger image.

Reedy Bridge I, Greenville South Carolina
November 26 1991, Oil on canvas 10" x 8"
This is what he considers the most beautiful scene in Greenville. A small but eloquent stream winds its way through town and ends up falling over a sizable drop.

Reedy Bridge II, Greenville South Carolina
November 1 1990, Oil on canvas 10" x 8"

These works painted while Tom was living on an estate in Greenville painting portraits. He often found himself down by the falls sketching and taking in the sounds. Tom also spent a lot of time at the library and especially at the Bob Jones Art collection, a top museum collection of religious art. His other past time was playing golf at the old course near what was once the military airport. His patron taught him golf. They would go putt and chip every evening at Chanticleer.

 

 

Washington Square Arch  

Oil on canvas, 10” x 8”, April 23^rd, 1989  

Inspired by a ash can school artist, Everett Shinn. His painting was done in charcoal and had several drunken friends strolling down the center of the street towards you. Tom painted it from the sidewalk in the Spring.  

His outdoor style of painting evolved in Nantucket. Heretofore he was painting studio portraits. In 1985 he started taking old master paintings of landscapes, seascapes and figures in landscapes, mostly of Winslow Homer, and finding the same type scene in Nantucket and painting that in a smooth surface traditional manner. That went on for two Summers. He tried all sorts of scenes, men in boats, harbors scenes and finally settled on five different views of Main Street. In 1986 he started painting five different views of Main Street over and over again trying to perfect his landscape painting manner. He used only fours oil colors to focus on color theory. By the end on 1986 he was close to perfecting a impressionist manner. Impressionist meaning painted with a large brush and more paint than needed to cover the canvas so some of the paint raises up on the canvas. In 1987 he produced his greatest work in this manner.  

His 1987 manner followed him wherever he went and he painted most excellent works in Key West, Palm Beach, New York City, Cincinnati and Atlanta.  

In 1999 the Arch was covered while it is being repaired. Originally erected to celebrate the Revolutionary War with statues of Washington on the right and Hamilton on the left. The park was a potter’s field and the last person hung there was a black woman accused of setting a fire. Inside of the arch is one large room which could be made into a fantastic coffee shop. There are two small windows that look out. A very small spiral staircase goes up to the roof where some avant gart artists celebrated the New Year by breaking into the arch and spending the night drinking on the roof declaring the whole Village a bohemian enclave.

Bennington College, Vermont
summer 1989, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
Painted from life while visiting friends in the area. This is the college where the black clothes got their start. The mostly women college would celebrate English by writing poems and even today it is a hot bed of poetry. This view shows the wide and large common ground in front of the main hall sitting on top of the hill. On the left and right are the dorms. 

Triton
January 1989, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
This was Tom's last space painting done at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He had been a member of the press at several of Voyager II's encounter with the outer planets and Neptune was its last planet.
 
Neptune
January 1989, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8"
Neptune and its only moon Triton were painted from photographs sent back from Voyager II. Tom has painted many space scenes

Union Street Nantucket
June 1 1988, Oil on canvas, 10" x 8", Painted from life on a V-neck T-shirt when Miami Vice was popular. Once the gallery owner saw Tom wearing it, it did not matter if it was gold plated it was not the thing to wear at a Nantucket art opening.

Mt. Adams, Cincinnati
January 1 1988, Silk-screen on paper, 36" x 24"
Created using several rubber stamps of different screen stamped on acetate plates. Regular offset colors were printed, yellow, magenta and blue. A line drawing was included with each plate printing black. The overall effect was like the view Tom had come to know and love. A cold hillside in the dead of winter offered the best painting conditions for the best view in Cincinnati, Mt. Adams.

Southern Most House, Key West
December 20 1988, Silk-screen on paper, 36" 24"
Printed using the colors in a big paint shed at a screen printing plant that gave Tom carte blanch. The southern most house is a guesthouse in Key West. It's style and color is unique to the area. Tom grew with black litho crayons directly onto light sensitized screens to produce the five colors for the print.

 

Click image to see larger image.

Chemical Bank, Greenwich Village
May 1 1987, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
One of the finest examples of Tom's impressionistic work. The scene is a normal dirty dusty view from mid Manhattan but the use of color makes it become more than it is. Tom lived on the street where the painting was done. He set up his easel in front of the famous Village Cigars and worked there for several days. As you might imagine, there were hordes of people moving around him and some felt that they were put out.  

Sloppy Joe's, Key West winter 1988, Silk-screen, 36" x 24"
Tom's first silkscreen print after not having used the technique for twenty years. Tom did many silkscreen posters for high school and college events. With three, fill colors and a strong black line drawing. His father thought it was the first work he had seen of his son's that indicated that he had talent.

Mead Paper Plant, Atlanta
January 1 1987, Oil on canvas 16" x 12"
Painted from the view outside Tom's friend and fellow painter Rick Houdesheldt. Tom would stop in Atlanta on his way down to Palm Beach and always painted something. This time it was a view of a workman getting off work with his son greeting him. You can see the young boy holding up his dad's lunch box as they walk to the car where his wife is waiting. This painting ever had much appeal to people. Tom did it during his great impressionist period where everything seemed to come up roses.

7th Ave South, New York City, Oil on canvas, 20" x 16", September 6, 1987

Painted during the height of Tom’s impressionist manner, he had been learning how to paint landscapes for four years. At first he copied famous landscape paintings replacing the original elements with elements he could see in the field. Next he started painting with more paint and bolder strokes. For two years, he slowly improved until 1987 when a significant change took place. The colors were harmonious and the thickness of the paint worked with the composition. Tom had matured to painting in the field every day. This large work was the culmination of taking the surroundings and remaking it in a painting, having the painting take center stage and the scene backstage. Tom lived down the street from this view for twenty years.

Licking River, 16" x 12", oil on canvas, 1987

Colors: Light violet blue, light yellow green, deep olive green, purple accent

Painted from life, this painting represents the best of Tom's impressionist manner which reached a peak in 1987. In a predictable way Tom’s feverish attack on learning landscape painting by producing a canvas everyday, working outdoors on location for two years paid off with 1987 being the peak of his impressionist manner. Why it peaked and why he could not get back to this manner has puzzled Tom ever since. His colors were driven by each other more than attention paid to what the actual color was. It’s Tom’s belief that nature is a good point to take off from but common sense is more important in creating meaningful and exciting work. Painted from life about twenty miles up the Licking River from the Ohio River. After taking a swim and having some lunch, Tom set up his easel and went to work on what he considers his finest example of his impressionist manner.

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F Main Street, Nantucket I , 20” x 16”, Oil on canvas, August 1987

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Nantucket, Main Street II, 24" x 20”, Oil on canvas, August 1987

This larger version of the one above is the crowning achievement in Tom's Nantucket paintings. He liked the 20" x 16" enough to make a larger version of it.

Tom painted on the Island of Nantucket from 1985 to 1989. In the first two years he worked for James Hunt Barker. In the later years he could be seen painted five different scenes on Main Street all summer long. He was painting a canvas a day trying to learn his craft. He has painted more than 800 Nantucket paintings. Heretofore he was classically trained in portraiture from Ralph Wolfe Cowan, the world's greatest portrait painter who has painted more royalty than any other living artist.  

It took two seasons for Tom to master a en plein air manner. The greatest canvases were done in the

Tom married Irene Moore in 1994 and only returned for several years sailing in from East Hampton. When his daughter was born the sails stopped. He hopes to return.  

Tailgate Party, Wellington
Winter 1988, Silk-screen, 36" x 24"
Produced by drawing with an opaque grease pencil on sensitized silk-screen. He used the quick silkscreen manner in a painting like way. Image taken from a oil painting that Tom did on location during the polo races at Wellington, West Palm Beach. After serving the luncheon to the quests of the James Hunt Barker Gallery, Tom painted the view.

Yvonne Sherwell

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 1985

Painted from life in New York City. Yvonne is the consummate performer, entertaining with a consistent stream of cabaret performances accompanied by John Wallowitch. Yvonne is a long time friend of Tom's having met at an art opening of her son's work, Rick Prol.

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Nantucket Cliff Girl
July 1 1986 Oil on canvas 20" x 16"
Painted in the studio during Tom's second season on the island. Tom would search through art books looking for a scene that he could replace the elements with Nantucket scenes. Then after assembling the drawing in the studio, he would go into the field. This view is high upon the Northern cliffs of the island. You look down upon the beach club where you can rent wind surfers and sunfish. The Jetties extend northward to make a break for the channel to the main harbor.

Greek Statue Dressed In Drag
May 1 1985, Oil on canvas 16" x 20"
Painted in the studio in New York City. Tom had for the last couple of years, been painting famous statues into strange and different scenes. His mission was to discover the exchanged form to see if it held up in a very different surrounding. The dress he chooses for the statue was not unlike what you might see if you walk out of his apartment. Living on Christopher Street availed many such signs because it was the gay street in the City.

George Chandis

5' x 5', oil on canvas, April 2nd, 1981

Panted from life in Atlanta. Tom lived with George for several months while he completed the work. The rugs and painting were dear objects of George. The painting is a Maurice Clifford's. Out the window you can see the view from Moore's Mill road looking towards Atlanta. Tom was introduced while George was visiting New York City and he commissioned his portrait. Just before arriving Tom had spend several weeks in Titusville, Florida painting the first space shuttle launch. George died suddenly of a heart attach at the age of 45. The portrait went to his father who dearly loved the portrait. The portrait being life size made it seem as though his son had not left him. After many years his father was checked into a nursing home and Tom worked with his close friend to have the painting shipped back to him. George was a art dealer in Atlanta and Tom had a one man show there in his gallery Nassau Visions in June of 1982.

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Space Shuttle Discovery, 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 1980

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Rhett Fire & Todd

4' x 5', oil on canvas, November 1st, 1983

Painted from life in New York City. Rhett commissioned two such paintings one for each of his boyfriends. The style of the painting closely emulates Tom's master, Ralph Wolfe Cowan. Tom had been living and working with him in Palm Beach for a year. The composition is arranged around the sun signs of Rhett and Todd. Tom spent a good amount of time studying bulls at the Bronx Zoo but Rhett preferred a horse. The horse is painted in the manner of the Arabian stallions Ralph had been painting for the Sheiks of Saudi Arabia.

  

Space Alien (unfinished), Oil on canvas. 10" x 8", Started in 1981

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Mt Saint Helens, Eruption I, From Tum Tum Mountain, Washington
May 18 1980, Noon, Watercolor on paper, 12" x 9",
On Sunday after a night of partying because Sunday was a free day Tom slowly woke up around eight in the morning. Looking outside the sky was cloudy. It was not suppose to be cloudy and after a little thinking, everybody realized that the mountain had exploded. Everybody piled into the car and made out for Tum Tum Mountain about 27 miles to the South of the exploding Mount Saint Helens. From that point Tom worked the rest of the day painting four watercolors as fast as he could.

Hiroshima mon Amore

Oil on canvas, 1979

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.

The painting is an allegory of threat. Painted in 1980 at the end of the Cold War it was meant to show the nuclear treat 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 treat of a nuclear holocaust.  Today the treat is different but still there.

Flowers a la Tour, 20" x 16", oil on canvas, 1979

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Parrot, 18.5" x 40", oil on board, 1979

Colors: Emerald blue, gray blue, red earth, olive greenThis very early work was painted from life in a pet shop on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. Tom work for several days in the pet shop in very tight quarters. The painting is done on an old door made out of 1/4" plywood harkening back to the days when Tom could not afford canvas and stretchers.

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Mike Fink's Restaurant; Covington, Kentucky  

Oil on canvas, May 15th, 1978, 28" x 18"  

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Clare E. Beatty,

Oil on canvas, May 1st, 1976, 36" x 24"

This painting started Tom’s career as a commissioned artist. His father purchased it. The scene is of the towboat that Tom worked on while in high school. His first job was working on floating restaurants on the Ohio River. The owner of the restaurant also had a river salvage business and this was the towboat. Tom had met his mentor, Ralph Wolf Cowan, and his manner is evident with the smooth surface and dramatic clouds.

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Dad on his Morgan 36'

5-3/4" x 4", watercolor on paper, 1973

Painted from life in Sandusky, Ohio while Tom was in college.

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