Oil Paintings

Starting tomorrow, Bendann Art Galleries hosts an exhibit of oil paintings by Adel Sansur titled Expressions and Impressions. Done on stretched canvas, the 25 paintings depict people in a variety of settings, from seascapes to landscapes and stages. The exhibit opens tomorrow and runs through Oct. 15. There is a reception from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. tomorrow. Bendann is at 834 Kenilworth Drive in Towson. 410-825-0585.

Winslow Homer was that peculiarly American, authentic type of genius -- self-taught, eccentric, reclusive, proudly nonconformist and fiercely independent. If he hadn't become the most important American painter of the 19th century, he might well have made his mark as an inventor or a best-selling novelist like Edison or Twain, whose expansive visions of the country matched his own. Along with Thomas Eakins, the other towering figure of 19th-century American art, Homer painted in a closely observed, realist style in service of uniquely American subjects; his homespun scenes of Civil War soldiers in camp, children at play, farmers and fishermen could never be mistaken for those of any European artist.

The still life On Sunday, a new show titled Classical Realist Still Life opens at the McBride Gallery in Annapolis. Oil paintings in the show were inspired by the Old Dutch Masters who worked in the 16th to 18th centuries. There will be an opening reception from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The show runs through May 8. The McBride Gallery is at 215 Main St. in Annapolis. Hours are 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; noon-5:30 p.m. Sundays; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays. Call 410-267-7077 or visit www.mcbridegalle ry.com.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Four angry generals, five miffed governors and a pair of missing oil paintings were not enough to prevent President Nestor Kirchner from commemorating the dead of Argentina's "dirty war" with two powerfully symbolic acts yesterday that hit hard at the legacy of the country's former military dictators. Kirchner dedicated the Museum of Memory at the Navy Mechanics School, former site of a clandestine concentration camp where thousands of prisoners were tortured and murdered between 1976 and 1983 under military rule.

NEW YORK - The artist known as Rowena admits her fantasy-art paintings - filled with snarling dragons, Fabio lookalikes and buxom damsels - can attract an offbeat clientele. But Saddam Hussein? The upstate New York painter was stunned to learn two of her campy, sexually charged artworks wound up at the tyrant's love shack in Baghdad. And now she wants her '80s-vintage paintings back - taloned serpents, bare-breasted babes and all. "I would give anything to get them back," said Rowena, whose last name is Morrill but prefers using only her first name.

At St. John's College, they know from Renaissance men. But even among the classically trained tutors of that venerable institution who spend their lives reading and teaching the likes of Machiavelli, Bocaccio and Shakespeare, Elliott Zuckerman is more of a "uomo universale"- a true "Renaissance man" - than most. Over the years, Annapolitans have come to know Zuckerman as the poet, scholar, musician, pianist and cultural sage whose poetry readings, preconcert talks and lecture-demonstrations on the piano music of Frederic Chopin have helped bring high culture alive for the general public.

Ellicott City painter Bill Sachs has transcended the tragedy of having his morale and some of his most precious works - oil paintings - destroyed by fire to become one of the area's most renowned artists. "He is an extremely talented, enlightening and accomplished artist," said Lee Wildemann, executive director of the Howard County Sesquicentennial Committee. A blaze in November incinerated more than 2,300 square feet of Sachs' store, four doors from Main Street Blues, where the fire started.

Todd Shaffer casts a critical eye whenever he sees Lucky the Leprechaun, the Trix Rabbit and Cap'n Crunch dance around the television screen praising their sugar-coated cereals.Instead of longing for marshmallow charms and "crunchberries," Shaffer, a Finksburg-based animator, looks for ways he could have made the characters different.Shaffer, 33, returned to Maryland two years ago after a decade as an animator in Los Angeles. He helped create more than 90 commercials, dozens of cartoons and Warner Bros.

Sci-fi paintings take first place; Art: Eric Williams, 28, of 0) Elkridge was the big winner in the L. Ron Hubbard contest last month.Spaceships, dragons and otherworldly phenomena appear ready to pounce on visitors to Eric Williams' Elkridge home and studio. But they are harmless -- simply vivid oil paintings that Williams created after being inspired by the lusty covers of fantastic novels in science-fiction bookstores.Last month, Williams' long hours spent at the canvas delving into the depths of his imagination paid off. Judges presented him with the grand prize in the illustrators' division of the L. Ron Hubbard science-fiction contest.

"Brush Work" at the ARTmatters gallery in Historic Savage Mill offers a look at oil paintings and drawings by Ann Aves Martin and Linda Leonard.Martin's studies have taken her from Illinois to Paris, and she has exhibited her oil paintings widely since the early '80s. Leonard's works combine torn paper with washes of synthetic polymer on canvas, and her colorful approach is reflected in her print designs for clients in film, sports and politics.The exhibit is showing through Aug. 11 at ARTmatters gallery in Historic Savage Mill, Carding Building, Suites 109-110, at 8600 Foundry St. in Savage.