March Newsletter

Behind the easel with Taul Arts Studio

Issue 2 2026

New Mural!

I just completed my first trump l'oeil mural! This is french for "trick the eye" where something, typically architecture, is painted as if it were a fixture in the room. The illusion helps the viewer experience the image as if they are actually witnessing the scene in real life. This particular mural has us looking out over the Caribbean ocean. One can almost feel the warm breeze wafting in through the window.

Strada Easel Paint Challenge

Strada Easel recently hosted a month long painting challenge where participants were required to paint an hour a day from observation. This challenge was meant to be fun and help hone the skills of observational painting. I find challenges like this refreshing because it gives a reason to paint something everyday that isn't the big strenuous project that is hopefully going to get into the next gallery show. The pressure is off and it is a great way to warm up for the day and get those creative synapsus firing before touching the big all important canvases. Like many painters I find this first step to be the hardest so it helps to have a daily icebreaker before getting into the deep end.

For my daily subjects, I kept choosing items that I though held historical, political, or innate significance. Otherwise I chose obsects for their texture to help with representing differing surfaces.

Current Exhibition

I currently have a display of sixty small to medium sized en plein air works hanging in the Evendale Community Arts Center's gallery. These works were all created im the past three years during painting competitions around the tri-state area. Subjects vary from soothing ponds to majestic mountains, and even a few historic districts are thrown in the mix. It is so surreal to look back on all of this work to see how much I have actually accomplished in the last three years during my en plein air sessions. The show will be on view until the end of March. If you would like a private tour please send me a request on my contacts page and we can schedule a time.

Upcoming Exhibition

"Cincinnati" will be exhibited at the upcoming Evendale Fine Arts Exhibit. This thirty inch long ten inch high skyline is meticulously rendered in excruciating detail. Each window and floor on every building in view of the riverfront was accounted for. Many of the details seen were finished with a micro-brush. even the faint outline of uptown is visible on the horizon. This painting is a departure from the my usual work but the time it took me to paint this detailed city-scape was pretty close to the time I spend on my much larger floral work. Be sure to come check out this small yet momentous painting, the exhibition is May 1-4.

Inspiration

 One of my favorite contemporary painters is Cesar Santos. This Cuban born American immigrant paints surrealist subjects with classical and renaissance techniques and colors. His works have been displayed from Miami to LA and currently is working in Florence, studying the techniques of the old masters. His life journey is an inspiration to anyone, and his paintings are mesmerizing. Swirling forms of fabric and flesh collide, repel, and attract across the canvas creating an emotional convulsion of symphonic confrontation.