Vince Ornato

09/24/2024

Preparing my supplies to continue on my new oil painting commission....

03/15/2024

Would you like an interesting Saturday night ahead? Check out the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators exhibition at the North Hills Art Center from 6pm-9pm...Art based on reacting to Artificial Intelligence in the creative field. Remember, the drum machine has no soul...! Exhibition from March 16 thru April 5 with light refreshments served. ...please Share...ty

06/28/2019

When I was starting my painting career, I was hungry for information and practice. I attended countless figure sessions where models come in and artists chip in that night so that we can work. I did hundreds of such studies in charcoal, graphite, pastel, watercolor and oil. When I'm set up painting on location now, or doing caricatures for a party, people will sometimes ask, 'How did you learn how to do this?' I answered, 'By doing what I'm doing right now.' Once a student gets past certain fundamentals about color, drawing and THINKING like an artist, much of rest can not be taught but can be learned. The way to do this is to do it.

Talking about it and discussing the subtleties can stimulate one intellectually, and even excited, but not one stroke was put down on paper or canvas.Practice never makes perfect! Practice makes progress. Improving is the goal. This watercolor is one of the many studies I did of models at these sessions.

Figure modeling, n**e art and nudity in general are at times subject to social disapproval, at least by some elements in society. More than simply being the subject of art, models are often thought of as muses, a source of inspiration without whom the art would not exist.

Have you ever painted in a figure study?

Watercolor On Paper From Vince Ornato's Private Collection Figure modeling, n**e art and nudity in general are at times subject to social disapproval, at least by some elements in society. More than simply being the subject of art, models are often thought of as muses, a source of inspiration withou...

06/25/2019

I was visiting an artist friend who lived on Saint Thomas and we went out to paint on location. As we set up near a small wet marsh off the ocean, the rock formations grabbed me. They somewhat reminded me of various locations along the banks of my hometown of Pittsburgh's three rivers. Saint Thomas is one of the most famous Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.

The terrific thing about painting in a different town than you are from is that your visual and inner experience is different but you are still bringing your own artistic sensibilities to the subject. I was so inspired to paint the colors of the ocean, the sky, and the island

The color palette, when traveling, will also be different than one is used to seeing where they live. All of these visual experiences broadens the vocabulary of the artist from which they can draw on later.

Every new experience is the next painting on my blank white canvas. My little piece of home that connected Pittsburgh’s river banks with the beautiful Saint Thomas Isle.

Feel The Water?

Oil On Canvas From Vince Ornato's Private Collection Every new experience is the next painting on my blank white canvas. My little piece of home that connected Pittsburgh’s river banks with the beautiful Saint Thomas Isle. Feel The Water?

06/21/2019

This oil painting was not intended to be site-specific, but meant to give the viewer the feel and intensity of the bright colors and heat, against the dark interior, that one experiences when liquid
steel is poured.

As a former ironworker, who did repair work and more than several mills, this is the type of thing I would see while working or taking a coffee break. I recall talking to coworkers, on a break, while looking over their shoulder and see some abstract form with intense brightness popping from the dark muddy backgrounds

I got into painting years later, but this visual reservoir was still in the back of my brain. These dormant images started coming alive and moved to the forefront of my consciousness as I did more and more industrial paintings. I want to celebrate with paint the images of The Industrial Age of Pittsburgh.

Can you feel the liquid heat?

Oil on Canvas From Vince Ornato's Private Collection This oil painting was not intended to be site-specific, but meant to give the viewer the feel and intensity of the bright colors and heat, against the dark interior, that one experiences when liquid steel is poured.

06/18/2019

A Premiere Private Club that’s located right on Sixth Avenue Downtown Pittsburgh is The Duquesne Club. It was founded in 1873 and opened in 1890, additionally later on achieved landmark status from the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation in 1976, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The club has ranked the #1 City Club in America in 1997, and repeated in 2001, 2003 and 2006, and ranked second in 2009. Guests have included many presidents from Ulysses S. Grant thru Bill Clinton, and included the Charles, Prince of Wales and many others.

The art collection in the Duquesne Club is as strong as many small museums. It was an honor to be asked to do this oil painting for their Christmas card many years ago, to have my artwork a part of this clubs deep history.

Carriage rides in Pittsburgh had just made their comeback and I chose to include it in the piece.

A magical winter wonderland in downtown Pittsburgh, straight out of a christmas carol.

Oil On Canvas From Vince Ornato's Private Collection The art collection in the Duquesne Club is as strong as many small museums. It was an honor to be asked to do this oil painting for their Christmas card many years ago, to have my artwork a part of this clubs deep history. Carriage rides in Pittsb...