I’m in Virginia this week for a little well-deserved rest and relaxation after our big move. Though I’m not officially “working” this week, I’d like to share with you some behind-the-scenes stories about one of my favorite Pittsburgh paintings.

Back in 1991, I spent a lot of time developing my painting “Sharing the Season at Market Square.” I remember going downtown on a cold, wintry Sunday morning to see freshly fallen snow in the square. My new painting was going to feature the Oyster House, Nicholas Tea and the 1902 building. When I arrived there it was totally devoid of activity except for a woman feeding the pigeons… not just a few birds, but what seemed like thousands of birds swirling all around her, competing for a taste of the delicious bread. I was so inspired by this scene that as soon as I returned home, I put Disney’s Mary Poppins into the VCR and sketched the Pigeon Lady from the song, “Feed the Birds.” One of our church friends posed for me as the Pigeon Lady, and beside her in the painting, my daughter Brittany appeared (first time ever in one of Mom’s paintings!) as a little girl helping her feed the birds.

If you look closely, you’ll also see my husband Tom conversing outside of the Oyster House with another gentleman – the husband of my Pigeon Lady model.

Another interesting fact about this painting is that I exercised creative license and actually removed an entire city block between Jenny Lee bakery and the 1902 Building so that the end of the square could be seen better. No one else has ever commented on the liberties I took with Market Square’s architecture except one man – the man who owned the building that I “edited out” of the painting! In fact, he told me with a smile, “I would have bought the print if my building was in it.”

Last month when I was exhibiting at the Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival, I heard another story about this painting that I’m excited to share with you. What surprised me about it is how my painting affected so many people and became a part of their story.

Many years ago, there was a group of gentlemen, very close friends, who were fraternity brothers at Tau Kappa Epsilon. One of the brothers was drafted, and when he returned home safely, they all went down to the Oyster House in Market Square to celebrate. Every St. Patrick’s Day since then, they have continued that tradition. When my painting was released, each of the brothers bought one, and they even named a person in the painting after each one of them in their group.

It was so much fun for me to hear that my painting took on such a special meaning for them. It brings me great joy to hear the stories that my paintings inspire… over the years, many people have told me that a person in my painting looks just like their Uncle Joe or Aunt Jean. But this is the first time I’ve heard of an entire story created around one of my paintings. (Thank you so much, Tom and Roberta, for sharing this with me!)

To make sure you always receive the latest information about my new paintings or about special offers, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

Since I last wrote to you, I’ve been having an extremely busy week. Orders for my latest Kennywood print, “Showtime By Kennywood’s Paratrooper,” have been coming in daily. In fact, I’m delighted to say that about half of my artist-enhanced giclees of this print have already been sold. There are only 25 in all, so if this is a piece you’d like to own, please don’t wait. The regular giclee edition of 125 prints is also selling well. Click Here to purchase your print today!

Now that our move is behind us, I’m spending a lot of time in my new studio. You can see in the photo above where the art actually happens in my new space. On the right, you can see the desk that was made for me by my father. It was supposed to be my “over 40” desk! When I was 16, he built me this desk with a cabinet underneath where I could store my materials. However, as I got older, I found that I didn’t need the storage space as much as I needed the bottom to be open so I could fit my legs under the desk and avoid a lot of back pain! I cherish this desk and have created many paintings on it over the years.

But the big news this week is that I have a new work in progress – a new Pittsburgh subject! And yes, you are the first to see it. I usually don’t make my art public at this stage, but my subscribers get special privileges! Here’s where I am so far:

When I was inspired many years ago to paint this part of Grant Street, I created “Holiday Season on Grant Street,” showcasing the beautiful new creche, a replica of the one at the Vatican. Because the County Courthouse is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, I thought it would be appropriate to paint this scene that’s been lurking in my memory for so long.

When I created this new painting, I tried to rekindle the Holiday Season of 1984 in my imagination, remembering walking the bustling downtown streets and admiring the beautiful decorations. In my mind, I’m on Grant Street, taking in the majestic tree and sparkling wreaths on the City County Building. Maybe I’ll even hop a streetcar and head up to the U.S. Steel building to see their huge spectacular tree created from as many as 100 individual trees… yet another of Pittsburgh’s wonderful holiday traditions.

I am actually behind schedule on painting this piece due to the move, so maybe I’ll bring it on vacation with me and finish it next week as Tom and I travel to Williamsburg, Virginia. I may have to set aside that novel I’m trying to finish!

To make sure you always receive the latest information about my new paintings, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

“Showtime By Kennywood’s Paratrooper” was unveiled to 200 attendees at the American Coaster Enthusiasts yearly KennyKon gathering at Kennywood Park on Sunday, July 27th.

Each and every one of my paintings has its own story – a unique history that usually is known only to my family. And today I’d like to share the story of my latest work with you!

Just like my other Kennywood paintings, “Showtime” was created by selecting elements that I like, choosing small features from what seemed like zillions of photographs. This allows me to compose the scene just as I imagined it, pulling in my favorite parts from photos taken at different times and from different viewpoints. It also gives me a lot of freedom in putting together design elements, getting just the right colors, lighting, and so on.

For example, if you look to the right of the Paratrooper, you’ll notice that the Kangaroo (one of my favorite rides!) appears in the background of the painting. However, in real life, from the point of view of this painting, it would be hidden behind huge trees. I didn’t care! I wanted to include The Kangaroo in this piece, so I took advantage of an opportunity to shoot some photos from the small grove of trees behind the Paratrooper. I then used that perspective to paint the Kangaroo where I needed it to be, slightly to the right of its actual location, nestled between some trees.

As I mentioned last week, Kennywood’s annual “Celebrate America” festival brings together talented entertainers from all over the country for this event. Because the area across from my booth is a crossroads in the park, I have the pleasure of enjoying having a front row seat for their shows. In a way, it often feels like they’re doing their show just for me! If you look to the right of the painting, you’ll see the amazing Howard Macone performing a magic act with crystal balls. It just so happened that on this day his two daughters were present, and I couldn’t resist using them as my models.

On the far left of the painting, you’ll see my daughter Alyssa with her husband and his nephew. This grouping was composed from two separate photos – one of Alyssa and Jon and a different photo of Jon and Julian – that were taken on different days (see below). For the second one, I asked Alyssa and Jon to pose as if he had his arm out and around his nephew. Then I simply painted Julian into the picture later!

We had a great time together at KennyKon (despite the stormy weather!), and many of the prints were sold. If you would like to get yours before they’re sold out, CLICK HERE to order one online today or call me at 1-888-PITT-ART or my local number, 412-283-4072. This is a small edition with only a total of 125 Giclee Prints and 25 Artist Enhanced Giclee Prints available… so don’t delay!

I hope you enjoyed this look into the creation of my newest painting!

To make sure you always receive the latest information about my new paintings, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

I am loving my new studio here in Bethel Park! Things are finally beginning to settle down, but I do have some big news this week! My newest Kennywood painting, “Show Time by Kennywood’s Paratrooper” will debut at Kennywood this weekend at the American Coaster Enthusiasts yearly KennyKon gathering on July 27th.

Because you’re one of my loyal friends/fans and a reader of my weekly blog, you will truly be among the first to see the finished painting. Here are some pictures that show how it took shape.

Beginning on Sunday, you will be able order one of the small edition of 125 signed and numbered giclee prints or one of 25 artist-enhanced giclee prints, also signed and numbered, on my website. The regular edition is 12″ x 18″ and sells for $125.00. The artist-enhanced print is 14″x 21″ and sells for $300.00. And in case you’re interested in acquiring a work of art that will last a lifetime and beyond, the original painting is available for an investment of $3800.

Every year for the last 18 years during the Grand Victorian Festival (and now Celebrate America), my art booth has been located across from the Paratrooper. It has been a great pleasure for me to have Kennywood’s talented entertainers, who come together from around the country during this celebration, put on a show for me right in front of the booth.

So with all that inspiration, this painting is a piece I’ve wanted to create for years. There’s no one I know who doesn’t love the feeling of riding the Paratrooper with the wind in your face, trying to reach the trees with your feet as you fly through the sky – that’s my favorite part! And in the background, you can see another one of my favorite rides peeking through the trees. The Kangaroo is a perfect family ride for all age… I love that feeling in your stomach as the car drops over the rise… and especially the fun of trying to squish the person who’s sitting on the end!

I hope you enjoy my new painting of “Show Time at Kennywood’s Paratrooper.” I hope it evokes as many happy memories for you as it does for me.

PS – Click here to order your print of “Show Time By Kennywood’s Paratrooper,” or simply email me at info@lindabarnicott.com or call my new business number, 412-283-4072, or my toll-free line at 888-748-8278 (888-PITT-ART).

Prints will be sold on a first-come basis. It’s a very small edition, so don’t miss out!!

It’s been a tremendously busy couple of weeks, and I’m really enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet to sit down at my computer and write to you today. As we get settled into our new home and my new studio takes shape, I’m ready to get back to some serious painting!

A friend of mine came over yesterday, and starting at 9:30 this morning, we spent the entire day hanging ALL of my paintings. We made this house into a home (and an art gallery!) in one short day. I’ll spend a few more hours tweaking my studio set-up to get it just the way I like it, but my mission this weekend is going to be a big push to finish my new painting, “Showtime by Kennywood’s Paratrooper.” I’ll be ready to show you some photos next week.

In the meantime, I will be hard at work in the studio for the next three weeks or so, then I’m rewarding myself with a short vacation in the second week of August. If you need any art, or just want to stop by my new studio, just give me a call at 1-888-PITTART.

I’d like to say the big move is now behind us, but there’s still so much to do before we’re completely unpacked and settled in. Part of the process is figuring out how to transform this unfamiliar space that you have now occupied into something that is truly your own… arranging, storing, and displaying your “stuff” in a way that makes it your HOME.

Nevertheless, the artist’s busy lifestyle doesn’t allow for much down time (it’s not all painting beautiful cityscapes from Mount Washington!), and within 48 hours of the move, I was exhibiting at the wonderful Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival at Twin Lakes Park. It was a great experience to exhibit in this new venue and meet so many art lovers and friends, old and new.

And that’s not all… starting today, I’ll be at 2014 CTCC (Cranberry Township Community Chest) Community Days – Thursday from 4:00 to 10:00 PM, Friday from 4:00 PM to 1:00 AM, and Saturday from 1:00 to 10:00 PM. The event is in Cranberry Township Community Park, just off Route 19. In addition to Art in the Park, there will be concerts, a car cruise, carnival rides, an expanded kids’ area, and more. Sounds like a fantastic weekend outing for the family! For more information about this event and all of my upcoming appearances visit my website’s Calendar of Events at www.lindabarnicott.com/events

Stop by and see me at CTCC Community Days – I’ll be in Booth #B-16. Just mention this blog, and you’ll receive a FREE signed notecard!

My summers are always action-packed, but I think this year is a new record! Not just our move to a new home and new church, but also getting to know our new congregation, exhibiting at new venues, and setting up my entire studio in a new location! As they say, change is inevitable… and it certainly keeps me busy!

To make sure you always receive the latest information, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

Just a short note this week, as I’m not only exhibiting at a local show, but I’m still up to my neck in boxes from this week’s big move!

This weekend, I’m at the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival at Twin Lakes Park near Greensburg. There’s something for everyone here… with traditional and fine arts and crafts and live music and theater performances, as well as cultural heritage activities and delicious foods of all kinds. For more information about this event and all of my upcoming appearances visit my website’s Calendar of Events at www.lindabarnicott.com/events

This is my first show at this festival, and it’s definitely one of the prettiest venues ever! Check out this wonderful summer event and come see me at Booth #94! I’ll be here every day through Sunday from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Visit me at the Festival and mention this blog post, and you’ll receive a free signed art notecard!

As an added bonus, if you visit me at the Festival, I’ll show you how my new Kennywood painting is coming along!

To make sure you always receive the latest information about my ever-changing life, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

Tuesday is Moving Day, and would you believe I’m still packing boxes? I’ll probably be throwing things in boxes up until the trucks take it all away!

At least my studio is all packed up. Knowing that’s taken care of, I can focus on the good things that will be happening next week! Not only will Tom and I be moving to a new home, a new congregation, and a new adventure, but just two days after the big move, I will be exhibiting at the Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival. The Festival takes place at Twin Lakes Park in Greensburg from July 3rd through July 6th. Hours are from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM each day. I hope you’ll come see me at booth number 94! For more information about all of my upcoming appearances visit my website’s Calendar of Events at www.lindabarnicott.com/events

I’ve even purchased a brand-new, non-leaking booth to display my art as beautifully and safely as possible. If you come see me at the Festival, you’ll get the “Full Monty!” – all my available artwork will be displayed! So if you need a gift for a special occasion, or if you want to add to your collection, please come check out my first-ever appearance at this new show. In fact, I may need you to look in on me just to do a sanity check after Moving Week!

As an added bonus, if you visit me at the Festival, I’ll show you how my new Kennywood painting is coming along!

So not only will I be exhibiting in a new venue, but I’m also excited to tell you about more big changes that are coming to my business. I did mention to you last week that I will begin accepting private students this summer in my new expanded studio. But that’s not all… Once I get set up in my new Bethel Park studio, I will also begin taking commission work once again. Due to my busy schedule painting city scenes, Kennywood, landscapes, etc., not to mention raising two amazing daughters, I didn’t accept commission work for many years. However, now I’m a liberated empty nester, and it’s full speed ahead! Bigger and better things are coming, and I hope to soon show you some unique work from new directions.

So while you’re out and about on these beautiful summer days, and you’re visiting your “special” place, I hope you’ll consider having it immortalized in a painting made in pastels. Think of how cool it would be to own a permanent keepsake of your most precious place on earth… a treasure that will last a lifetime.

As always, the very best to you… And please say a special prayer for me on Moving Day!

P.S. – My office phone (1-888-PITT-ART) will be down for one full day, from midday on July 1st to around midday on the 2nd. My new address as of that day will be 326 Turngate Drive, Bethel Park, PA 15102. I’m looking forward to fulfilling your art needs from my new studio!

To make sure you always receive the latest information about my ever-changing life, please take the time to sign up for my weekly newsletters. CLICK HERE to become a subscriber. When you sign up you will also receive a FREE slideshow showing the step-by-step development of my painting, “Celebrating Time and Tradition at Macy’s”.

People ask me a lot of different questions about my art, but the one I get the most is “Which one of your paintings is your favorite?”

In fact, I do have a favorite… one very special painting in my own private collection that will never be for sale! It’s called “Coasting Through Kennywood.” Why is it the one piece that means the most to me? Because there are three personal stories related to that painting that make it the one that is closest to my heart.

• Back in 1997, I’d been painting Kennywood for three years. After two years at the Grand Victorian Festival, admiring the view from my tent on the corner by the bridge, I decided my next Kennywood subject would be painting the Jack Rabbit and the Racer coasters from a viewpoint across the lake.

  I loved that view because once upon a time, Tom and I stood there on that bridge in the summer of 1977 on our first real Pittsburgh date. As we looked into each others’ eyes, I told him I’d had dreams about us getting engaged and married. In one dream, the engagement ring was a gaudy plastic ring from a bubblegum machine! In the other dream, we tried to get married at a Justice of the Peace, but a couple coming out suggested we go to a church because they felt that being married by a judge was so impersonal.

  Tom just gave me an odd look, and without saying a word, walked away. I was crushed! Obviously my hints didn’t work… did I blow it? Later he told me that he was actually trying to get up the guts to ask me to marry him, and I just surprised him a bit! (Of course, there was a happy ending! He was able to get the courage to ask me later – about five minutes before my flight back to Philadelphia the next day!

• Another fun story about this painting is that when I sketched it out, I drew the old-style aluminum boats, as those were the ones used back when we were dating. The number 22 on the front-and-center rowboat is also very significant to us. At that time, ours was a long-distance romance, and Tom was visiting me in New Hope, PA, where I was working on an art project. One day we visited a little ice-cream shop we found in the woods, and when Tom received his change, we were shocked to see the number “22” written on the dollar bill.

  Why was that so surprising? At age 20, Tom sold shoes back home at South Hills Village, and his sales number was 22. He had a habit of writing “22” on the bills he earned from sales on any given night. Somehow this bill had miraculously found its way back into his hands all the way on the other side of the state at a little ice cream shop in the woods on our very first date! So that’s why I immortalized #22 on one of the boats in my painting.

• The third story is about the people in the painting. As I often do, I put some of my favorite people in this painting. The folks in boat #22 are best friends and actually modeled for me on a picnic bench in their backyard with an old broom and a broken hoe for oars. Also, Tom and the girls are front right – it may not be easy to recognize them, but I did the best I could, considering the small size!

We’re down to the wire as I close down my studio next week to pack. But did I mention that I’m still painting? I may even have something new to show you next week!

P.S. – For the first time in 19 years, I will NOT be at Kennywood’s Celebrate America next month. Unfortunately, the first day of the show, July 1st, is our Moving Day.

I will, however, be appearing at the Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival (aka Twin Lakes) on July 3rd through 6th from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Stop by and see me at Booth #94! I promise I’ll have lots of new stuff to show you!

For more information about all of my upcoming appearances visit my website’s Calendar of Events at www.lindabarnicott.com/events