Masquerade Show and Pastel Demo

After John Singer Sargent, Daughters of Edward Boit

by Frank X. Quinn

Last Wednesday was the reception and awards presentation for the Foxboro Art Association's show called Masquerade. The painting shown above was done by my friend and fellow painter, Frank Quinn. An ambitious undertaking and didn't it come out great? If you look very closely in the bottom left corner, you will see an electical outlet (so clever, Frank!) .

Everyone did an amazing job painting their own version of a famous painting or in the style of a famous painter. I wanted to show you some of the entries, but the room was very crowded so my photos aren't the best. They will give you a sense of the some of the entries anyway.

Below is the first place prize winner, painted by Diane Scotti (after Sargent). Really beautifully done.

Here is a link  that shows my entry, inspired by Mary Cassatt's painting Mother and Child. Everyone enjoyed the show so much, they are talking about making it an an annual event. 

The second part of the meeting was a pastel demonstration by portrait artist, Alain Picard. It was an inspiring presentation and very entertaining as well. How many of us could paint under pressure like that if front of a large group of art critics? His work is simply stunning. Here is a great shot, taken by Frank, that shows the model and the artist with his painting in progress.

I also took this shot of his pastels because he said he got these trays at IKEA for $6 each and he can stack several of them without crushing the pastels. Pretty cool, huh? 

Do you have art supplies or materials that you use that were actually meant to be used for something else? I think that might make an interesting future post–how artists get creative with art supplies and tools. Even better, send me photos and I will post those too.