Sam Tennant

Seneca Falls

 My father enjoys oil painting as a hobby. He is 83 years old. For more years than I’ve been alive, he’s been entertaining himself with his art. One of my memories as a very young boy is of my father painting a scene of an old red barn. He wasn’t in his studio painting from a picture of a barn, but rather, he was painting in the presence of the barn itself. I remember running through the tall grass chasing butterflies. After a time, the police came around and told him to leave. I have painted the Seneca Falls Knitting Mill from a picture. On many occasions, I visited the Mill to photograph it. I walked around its property. I examined the structure from many angles and explored its shape in various moods of lighting. During this process, I was becoming concerned that the police would be wondering what I was up to. With that concern in mind, I chose a composition and I began to paint.

As a firefighter, I painted as a hobby. After retiring, I began painting signs, landscape pictures and did picture framing to supplement my income.

Jay now sells his paintings internationally.

JoAnn Willis

I’m a 27 year old single mother of my one son Harley. Over the past few years my life holds different meaning. Now that I’m still a somewhat new mom, I feel like simple is sometimes better.

When I first started out to create an entry for the contest, I painted a very cartoonish looking version of the mill and my main critic (mentor) said to me. “It’s gonna be good when it’s done” funny enough it was done. Done to my liking and my eye.

Then I decided to give it one last go and painted the entire canvas black. Now what I saw was white. I saw a surface that I was very familiar with from my school days. I saw a black board and I was going to make my drawing very simple as if drawn during study hall or between classes-

Judge me not on what I have done, but what I have led you to believe.

John Whiting

 I am an artist from Odessa and I create my oil paintings of the Finger Lakes region entirely on site. They appear free and spontaneous, and allow the viewer to have a sense of being there. I combine a receptive mode of painting with an active one. While portraying the light and motion of the scene in an impressionistic way, I also express directly the emotion I am absorbing from the landscape, through my animated brushstrokes and bold interpretation. My paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums in the area, and I have received grants and commissions from The ARTS of the Southern Finger Lakes.

You can see more landscapes, as well as Whiting’s unique maze designs at his web site, www.knottedlines.com. John Whiting’s solo show , The Many Moods of the Finger Lakes Landscape is currently on exhibit in the gallery at Red Newt Cellars Winery and Bistro in Hector, NY. Visit www.rednewt.com or call 607 546-4100 for hours and directions.

Karen Haas

 I live in Interlaken, at the southern tip of Seneca County, and I am currently enrolled in Finger Lakes Community College as a Fine Arts Major. I’m also a volunteer firefighter, and soon to be EMT, and a member of the Interlaken Community Action Group. I have a Black Lab-Border Collie mix named Charley. I have been drawing since I was four years old. My favorite mediums are pencils and pastels, and my favorite subject is animals. I am also an avid photographer. I hope to be able to make a living through my work. I am pleased to be a part of this contest and I hope you enjoy my artwork.

Linda Solan

 I moved to Seneca Falls 5 years ago as the ‘mail order’ bride of Michael Solan. I have 35 years of B&W photographic experiences in portraits and nudes. My husband knew how much my art, photography, meant to me and insisted that I try to concentrate on a career. I instantly fell in love with the area and began a body of work that I call ‘local historical Seneca Falls’.

About a year ago, visiting with my daughter in Florida, I had the urge to paint again. I bought the watercolors, but never opened them. I haven’t painted ‘since James Taylor had hair’.... back in my college days. So when the Mill Contest came about I decided it was time to give it a try.

Lately, I have also dabbled in mixed media with old cigar boxes, journals, jewelry, tag-art and altered books. So I have hid my lack of painting skills with my love of altered-art mixed-media and Voila’….

 I was born in Des Moines, Iowa. I moved to this area when I was 5 and have been a resident of Seneca Falls for the past 26 years. I received my Bachelor’s in Art Education at SUNY Buffalo and my Master’s of Art Education at Nazareth College. I teach K-5 Art in Seneca Falls and enjoy doing art work and home improvement projects in my free time. I was inspired to participate in this show because the Seneca Knitting Mill is a great old building and on of the last existing symbols of an industrial age in Seneca Falls. My husband was also employed at the Seneca Knitting Mill in the few years prior to its closing. In studying the mill, I wanted to choose a relatively unusual angle and felt an ink drawing would capture the basic essence of the building and its surroundings.

Maggie Spiegel

I saw the contest in a local paper. I thought what a wonderful idea. I have never entered a contest before, and do not usually paint buildings… but I love a challenge. So, I entered. It took a lot of time and patience and it slowly came together. I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed painting it. Every painting that I do, I learn something and this painting taught me a lot. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it.

Sandra Hamilton

I’ve enjoyed painting from and early age - taking art lessons in our small town in South Carolina - my favorite gift being a new box of Crayolas or watercolors. I majored in art at our state college – Winthrop – and taught elementary school art classes for three years in Winston-Salem, NC. Then other matters took over my life – marriage, three children, and another life long love – horses. Now our children are grown and horses are no longer an option, it was back to my long unused talent a few years ago. I find painting and exploring new media even more enjoyable than in my youth and consider it a great blessing to have art as a part of my life.

Abby Gazley

Rod Reynolds

Natural and man made beauty is all around... it depends on how we look at what we see!

“Capturing what gives an image its own personality is what I enjoy most”

Buildings as well as living things have their own personality.