Isla del Ciervo Herido

 

Isla Golpeada
Hand-colored monoprint, c. 1980 by F. Lennox Campello
(Verse by Jose Marti)

A sailor and his date

A Sailor and his date
1986 vintage US Navy cartoon by F. Lennox Campello

 

You think that's hard?

 When I was in the Navy I did dozens of illustrations for newspapers (such as The Stars & Stripes), and sketches of his shipmates and other US Navy sailors in ports in the US and European ports.  Most of these drawings and paintings were given away to his shipmates, but I also kept many of them - this one has been in storage for over 40 years and was recently found!

Congrats to President-elect Biden

And so the Orange one appears to have lost... maybe another casualty of the Covidian monster!

I sincerely hope that President-elect Biden can handle the Presidency and this doesn't turn out to be a case of elder abuse, as sometimes Joe seems to be a bit out of it.  

I pray for him and wish him the best of luck - I didn't vote for you, but now that you're about to become President, I will support and respect you and hope that you're not being used as a stooge by the DNC to set up your VP.

I gotta bad feeling about this - keep your eyes peeled Dr. Biden! Protect your husband!

God Bless you Mr. Prez, and God Bless the USA!

Saint Ninian Preaching to the Picts

St. Ninian Preaching to the Picts
1995 Charcoal by F. Lennox Campello 

When Marines go wild

All I said... by F. Lennox Campello, circa 1983

The Sonoma Ballet Conservatory Drawings

These are some of the drawings that I did as a fundraiser for the Sonoma Ballet Conservatory in early 1993 - there were almost a couple of hundred of them! I exhibited about 30 of them at the Chevrier's Presidio Gallery in Sonoma, and they all sold out on opening night!

I used some of these in 1994 or 1995 to apply for a studio at the Torpedo Factory.

I was rejected, and one of the reasons given for the rejection was that the drawings were "clearly copies of Degas' works." 

I was furious that someone's lack of art history knowledge had disqualified my application, but later I realized that whoever that erroneous and anonymous juror had also taught me an unintended lesson: there are some subjects in art (in this case ballerinas) that are so imprinted into the collective mind as coming from a particular artist (in this case Degas), that the subject has been signed off into eternity as not to be re-done by anyone else!

That was a harsh lesson to learn, but a very valuable one! 

Portrait of John Lennon

This portrait of John Lennon is from an assignment at the UW School of Art - circa 1980. The assignment was to incorporate a complex pattern (his shirt) into an otherwise plain line drawing. It has been for years in the collection of my lawyer.

Portrait of John Lennon by F. Lennox Campello - circa 1980 

The Gunny

A 1975 sketch from observing a USMC Gunny conducting counseling on some drunk Navy sailors from USS Saratoga.

The Gunny conducting squid training outside the Texas bar in Naples
1975 sketch by F. Lennox Campello

My grandfather

My paternal grandfather - a Galician immigrant to Cuba. Together with his brother he started out as a ditch digger in Guantanamo at the beginning of the last century, sleeping in the woods and saving money to eventually buy a cow, and then they began to sell milk while they alternated working as ditch diggers in the growing city, which was one of the first in all the Americas with underground sewers. 

By 1959 he owned a large estate and provided milk for most of the region around Guantanamo. By 1961 the Socialists of the Castro Revolution had shown their true cards and declared themselves Communists and confiscated all of his assets. Within two years there were milk shortages all over the island and they remain to this day.

This is what we Americans of Cuban ancestry mean when we say that "we've seen that movie and know how it ends..."

Calls for Entry: HoCo Open

 All Howard County artists are invited to participate in HoCo Open 2021, HCAC’s annual, non-juried exhibit showcasing local artists. In lieu of a one-day drop-off, entries will be accepted online beginning November 5th on a first-come basis, one entry per artist, until 100 submissions have been received. The drop-off dates for the exhibit are December 17 & 18. Accepted artists will be provided with instructions for scheduling a specific time to drop off their artwork at the Center for the Arts.

HoCo Open will be on display from January 9 – February 20, 2021. For the full prospectus and to apply, visit their website.

Now Open: Artist Applications for the 2021 Festival

Let's go back to normal in 2021! Apply for the annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival.

Now in its 30th year, the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival has a long-standing reputation for showcasing high quality, hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind artwork in a dynamic outdoor setting. The Festival provides an opportunity to engage directly with exceptional artists, as juried in by leading art practitioners and artists in the visual arts field, that meet a high level of artistic standards. This unique open-air event is presented in Reston Town Center and attracts affluent patrons and knowledgeable collectors from the Washington, DC metropolitan region and beyond. 

This year, the 2021 Festival will implement new health and safety adaptations for the care and consideration of all. 

Artist applications are accepted through ZAPPlication through December 27, 2020

2021 Susan Beech Mid-Career Grant

 Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is pleased to announce the 2021 Susan Beech Mid-Career Artist Grant opportunity for mid-career artists.  The purpose of this grant, established by San Francisco-based jewelry collector Susan Beech, is to recognize a mid-career artist who has made a substantial contribution to the field and to provide resources to develop and implement a significant jewelry-related project that the artist would not otherwise have the ability to undertake.

The 2021 Susan Beech Mid-Career Artist Grant is open to makers between the ages of 35 and 55 at the time of the proposal deadline, and must have an active and ongoing record of activity in the field. 

The proposed project should be about jewelry, loosely defined. There must be a specific outcome to the project, and it must be completed within a two-year time frame. Examples could include (but are not limited to) creation of a new body of work; a book, catalog, or other publication; research and development (including travel study); performance art involving jewelry; or an educational/social initiative involving jewelry. A proposed budget must be included as part of the proposal. 

A proposal that was previously submitted may be submitted again.

The grant recipient will receive a cash grant of $20,000, to be paid over the two years in which the project will be implemented.

Grant proposals must include:

• A biography of the artist 
• A project proposal outlining the project, including an explanation of how the grant will help support the artist’s work and career and enhance the field  
• A detailed budget 
• A project proposal portfolio of five - ten images that support/define/clarify the project proposal 

The jury of distinguished professionals for this grant cycle will be: grant founder and collector Susan Beech (United States); internationally recognized maker and educator, Daniel Kruger (Germany); and curator of jewelry at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Emily Stoehrer (United States). 

The deadline to apply is midnight, MST (Denver, CO, USA), on January 10, 2021. More information and complete guidelines can be found at www.artjewelryforum.org.

Colton’s Time Machine: Book 4

 Colton’s Time Machine - Book 4: Betsy Ross, Mount Rushmore, and the Statue of Liberty 

by Rebecca Massey

Time travel books have always been a favorite of mine, ever since I read Heinlein’s masterpiece “The Door Into Summer” when I was 8 or 9. As a result of that preference, I knew that I would enjoy reading Rebecca Massey’s series of children books in her series “Colton’s Time Machine” and I wasn’t disappointed when I started with book 4 in the series.

Colton is a young boy who has a bunch of dragons as friends – read Colton’s Pocket Dragon books for that series. In this time travel series, a spin-off the original series – he wants to expose the dragons to a little American history, so he builds a machine to time travel and off we go.

Concurrently with my reading the books, I also had my son Anderson – who was 10 at the time – read them and give me his impressions. He liked them, and because Anderson is already a history buff, he enjoyed learning the somewhat deep in the weeds facts that Massey likes to communicate in the stories.

Anderson and I agreed on that aspect – if one enters the make believe reality of the fact that these are aimed at children to start with, and if one sets aside the pedantic tendencies of the Virgo that I am (I was bothered by the facts that the historical people that Colton visits seem to immediately accept time travel and the existence of dragons with little resistance… but we overlooked that and did enjoy the learning parts cleverly woven into the narrative.

One thing that did bother us was the static quality of the illustrations. While no credit is given to the illustrator, it appears to me that they are computer generated illustrations, which while the serve the basic goal of an illustration – to “illustrate” a passage in the story – they felt and looked computer-generated and lacked the individuality of a human-made illustration. My apologies in advance if these were indeed hand-made by a human… I would check the DNA for Vulcan blood.

We learned a lot and that’s all that counts… really. We learned what the 12 folds in the proper way to fold an American flag mean – something that after serving almost 23 years in the US Navy I actually never knew; we learned the history of the Pledge of Allegiance, and we learned that Betsy Ross eventually made six more flags after the first one.

We also learned the spectacularly cool name of the Mount Rushmore sculptor, and the “secret room” that he started to carve into the mount. Colton’s liking of sculptors then leads the reader to Bertholdi’s Lady Liberty (we did know his name) and the story behind what is perhaps the most famous statue in the modern world.

In summary, this book is both immensely readable and superbly informational to get your little tyke ahead of his peers when it comes to cool aspects of American history and how easy it is to believe in dragons.

Hotel California painting at auction!

 This may be of interest (or not!) to some collectors who like unusual art - a very early 1976 (pre-art school) and very weird painting of mine based on the Hotel California song! - super low starting bid!

The link for the work may be found:

https://www.weschlers.com/auction-lot/f-lennox-campello-cuban-american-b-1956-hotel-cal_F18442BBEC

If anyone is interested in bidding, they will need to register in advance.

It's at:

Weschler's Auctioneers and Appraisers
T (202) 628-1281
F (202) 628-2366
www.weschlers.com

The great Frank Frazetta

 

UNDER $500 Call for Entry

CALL FOR ENTRY!

UNDER $500

Deadline: November 13, 2020

Full Prospectus and Application HERE

Have your work noticed and purchased by local buyers & collectors, just in time for the holidays! Maryland Art Place (MAP) is seeking artists for “UNDER $500”, our upcoming winter benefit exhibition. Artworks will be exhibited at MAP Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, 2020, for a first-come-first-serve, ticketed, a two-day event that will promote the sale of artwork by artists in the Maryland region. Artwork will then be featured ONLINE – for a virtual sale running Tuesday, December 15 – Saturday, December 19. Event Details to follow.

The exhibition will include approximately 1-3 works by each artist (scale dependent – in the case of smaller works more than 3 pieces may be accepted). Each individual piece will retail for $500 or less. Participating artists will receive one free ticket to the event. Artists who plan to attend must RSVP, please email Caitlin@mdartplace.org to reserve your spot!  Selected artists will be issued an UNDER $500 profile form to fill out inquiring anecdotal information to help better engage patrons with the artists and their work. UNDER $500 is MAP’s winter benefit. Proceeds from the sale of artwork will be split 50/50 between Maryland Art Place and the artist.

Ending 2020

 

Gallery B Presents

Ending 2020

By Judy Gilbert Levey and Sara Leibman

Gallery B (if master Marc Elrich pleases) will host an exhibit by Bethesda-based artists Judy Gilbert Levey and Sara Leibman that will be on display throughout November and December 2020. “Ending 2020” will feature paintings by Judy and Sara, who are both Studio B artists, from November 6 – December 19, 2020.

Judy Gilbert Levey is a local, plein air oil and studio painter. Judy began focusing on art full-time after working in an office and craving a career change. She became a member of the Foundry Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1998. Judy's paintings capture local scenes, her personal travels and outdoor beauty. Sara Leibman is an artist and a lyricist from Chevy Chase, MD. Primarily painting with oil and cold wax, she also incorporates different media, including collage and yupo paper into her work.

Gallery B is located in downtown Bethesda at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

The Bethesda Metro is two blocks south of the gallery, and public parking garages are located on Wisconsin Avenue and Old Georgetown Road.

Gallery Hours:

Nov. 6 - Dec. 19

Friday - Saturday, 12 - 4pm

*Social distancing will be enforced and face masks must be worn by all visitors.

New York Mets artwork

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, my dad and I used to be great New York Mets fans, and we'd go to Shea Stadium several times a year to watch the amazing Mets!

I also saw several of the 1969 playoff games and 3 World Series games that year!

While I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art, I often used the Mets' superstars of my youth as inspiration for class assignments... here's a couple below...

Nolan Ryan
Pen and ink on paper, circa 1979 by F. Lennox Campello

Tom Seaver
Limited Edition etching circa 1980 by F. Lennox Campello

A Sailor and his date

 

A Sailor and his date
1986 US Navy cartoon by F. Lennox Campello