Juried in at Zullo

Abstract Boston

9" by 12"

Oil with a palette knife
Now Available at 13 Forest Gallery

City Blocks

12" by 12"

Oil with a palette knife
SOLD

I am excited because it was announced that these two paintings were juried into the 17th Annual Exhibition at Zullo Gallery in Medfield. I showed some work in this show last year and I think it is such a great venue. I feel honored to be part of it again. I drop them off this weekend and then the opening reception is Saturday, September 24 from 7-9pm. Last year it was packed so I'm looking forward to it and hoping for good weather because they have great outside deck.

Portofino-take me away!

Buon Viaggio

9" x 12"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board
SOLD

A friend of mine, who retired a few years ago, made it her goal to "see the world" and she is darn near close to doing just that. Every year she books cruises to exotic place, takes wonderful photos of her travels, and then creates a book out of each journey once she arrives back home. She showed me this photo of Portofino, Italy and I asked her if I could paint it because I fell in love with the colors and textures of the buildings. I have yet to see Portofino in person, but hope to do so one day.

Buon pomeriggio.

Herding Cats

Or should I say hoarding?

Starting today, and all next month at Custom Art Framing & Gallery 9, I was invited to participate in a show called Six Pack. There are 6 artists, each showing 6 paintings that are all 6" by 6". Clever, right? I submitted this assortment of kitty cat faces, but wait, is that a dog in there? How did that happen? Well, I guess there has to be a dog in every bunch. "One of these things is not like the others..."

I am pricing these cuties at $100 each. If you can't make it to the show in person, but are interested in purchasing one, you can contact Julie at Gallery 9 in Norwood by clicking here.

And these are all 100% allergy free.

New Yorkie

New Yorkie

6" by 6"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

I saw this photo and thought that the fur and the colors would be great fun to paint with a palette knife. And it was. Curious onlookers asked if this was my dog. It's not but he is now a new member of my animal family of paintings. Would you like to adopt him?

UPDATE I found out that this little guy's name is Steven Tyler. What a hoot. Click here to see the owner's blog and scroll down to Sept 3 to see my painting. What a cutie he is and so famous. I think he might need some feather extension in his fur.

A return to Nantucket (in my mind)

Joan's view

4" x 8"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas
$50 unframed

Several weeks ago, I wrote about a painting getaway we took to Nantucket. I had to leave my paintings behind because they needed to dry, but I just received them back again. Thank you Haydi for their safe return!

I forgot to take a photo of this little scene I painted before I left, so now that it's back I was able to photograph it and post it here today.

It brings back such wonderful memories of a wonderful trip.

Are black cats bad luck?

The Witch's Familiar

6" by 6"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

I thought it would be a challenge to paint an all black cat and boy, it was. The subtle variations in his fur made it so tricky-is it more blue black? or green black? or what? How do I define the shadows and still give his fur dimension and his face some shape? And black cats have black noses too-did you know that?

I don't believe black cats are bad luck. Sure hope you don't either!

Feed the kitty

Curious

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
$100 unframed

I do so love orange and white cats. Probably because I had one for 17 years, Skippy. Or should I say he owned me? Once, my neighbor's son said to his mother when he saw me "Is that who Skippy owns?" I just loved that.

My reference for this painting wasn't actually an orange and white cat, but I chose to make him so. Artistic license at work. I am a card carrying member!

Boston Building Blocks

City Blocks

12" by 12" by 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

Another Boston city scene, very familiar to me. I love the buildings, all so different, yet all interacting with one another. Fun fun, fun with windows galore.

An Updated Look

I just had some new business cards made and thought I would update my blog banner to coordinate the look. I've been using the same banner since I started blogging in 2009 so I thought it might be time for a refresh. I really like this macro zoom photo of one of my flower paintings. I think it represents the thick texture and bright colors of my paintings. It is also the profile picture on my Facebook page.

And speaking of macro zoom photos. Last weekend at the The Art Studio and Gallery @Patriot Place, one of our featured artists, Rebecca Skinner took some amazing close-up photos of our painting palettes. I asked her if I could share them here on my blog, so here they are. These first 3 are all from my palette.

These last 2 are from Polo's palette.

Pretty cool, huh? Check out Rebecca Skinner's beautiful photography on her website and her Facebook page.

Releasing your inner lion

Inner Lion

6" by 6"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board

Another new kitty face to add my collection. This cat looks so regal and lionlike to me. And like he wants to be fed some meat!

As I was painting, I stopped to take this photo of the painting partially completed. I thought it had a striking look about it.

Meow.
Or should I say ROAR?!

Busy Back Bay

View from 500 Boylston

12" x 12" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
Available

We used to be able to see this view from the 5th floor of our office building. But now a new company moved in and took over this space. So I'm glad I captured this view with my camera before that happened. This is Boylston Street looking back towards Copley Square. I just can't seem to get away from painting windows. In fact, I seem to seek them out. Yikes.

Hibiscus Gift Box

Many years ago I bought a watch and it came in a beautiful, colorful box. I have kept the box all these years thinking that some day I would repurpose it. This past weekend, I got inspired and painted a hibiscus flower on the top of it to go with the pattern that appears on the side.

Hibiscus Gift Box

4" by 4"

Oil with a palette knife on wood
$60

Here you can see what the side of the box looks like. It also came with white ribbons that you can tie it up with. Quite an elaborate box, for such a simple watch.

In the image below you can see what the inside looks like. It even has a cute little purple pillow to put your treasure on. I painted the top and bottom of the box with acrylic to match this inside color.

And of course I had to include a chunky delicious close up.

The Art Gallery at Patriot Place in the news

The Art Gallery at Patriot Place was in the news this week. Evie Malm wrote a wonderful article about the gallery for the Foxboro Reporter which was then picked up by the Attleboro Sun Chronicle. She also took some accompanying photos, one of which I'm reposting on my blog here because it shows this cute family in front of my art holding one of my cat paintings. I love it.

Click here to read the Foxboro Reporter article and here to see the Sun Chronicle's version.

Summer House

Summer House
8" by 8'
Oil with a palette knife on cradled panel
SOLD

It's not our summer home, but some lucky people are enjoying this house in Wellfleet on Cape Cod right now. I took some liberties here, exaggerating the angles and wanting to keep the style loose to give some personality to this cute little yellow house. Yeah summer!

Nantucket Painting Getaway

Monomoy Harbor
8" by 8"
Oil with a palette knife on cradled panel
SOLD

Our painting group, The Neponset Valley Artists, went on a 3 day excursion to Nantucket this past weekend. As part of our new membership to The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, we each received a round trip ticket on Cape Air so of course we had to take advantage of that wonderful opportunity. It turned out that we picked the perfect 3 days to be away from the crazy hot heat wave going on back home~"off island" as the natives say on Nantucket.

The painting above was done at a friend of a friend's place that had incredible views of Monomoy Harbor. Our generous hosts allowed us to invade their property and paint whatever and wherever we wanted. What a treat. And everyone painted something a little bit different. Here are the fruits of our labor on painting day 1:

We then took a ride out to Sconset. While we didn't do any plein air painting there, every where we turned there was inspiration and our cameras were busy capturing as much as possible.

Our next painting location was the front porch of this incredible family home on the channel. There was so much to watch, observe, and paint.
I forgot to take a photo of my painting before I left ( I had to leave it behind to dry for awhile), but this was my view. The frames of the porch helped me with my composition.

Haydi and Nancy in action.

Kim hard at work on some more lovely pastels.

Some were just content to observe through the binoculars.

Isn't this a wonderful spot? And a fun trivia fact: This house was Helen Chapel's home on the TV show Wings.

Below is the group photo and some departing shots. On the way home, we filled up the whole plane. It was like we chartered the flight!

Thanks Arts Foundation of Cape Cod and our hostess for the weekend, Haydi for such a wonderful three days. It could not have been any better.

Blue Hydrangea Heaven

Blue Hydrangea Heaven
8" by 8"
Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

We were staying at a great house on Cape Cod last week that had the most beautiful hydrangea garden in the front yard. All the shades of blues and purples were just calling to be captured with my palette knife.
There was a very daring chipmunk that kept checking us out. I think he was living somewhere in the hydrangea bush. He wouldn't sit still for me, but I decided to add him into the bottom right of the painting anyway.

Here are a few more chunky delicious close ups.

After I completed the painting above, I did these three quick little paintings that I figure I can turn into greeting cards once they dry. These are each about 3" square more or less.

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

Tumbles

Tumbles

6" by 6"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

Cindy asked me to paint this kitty portrait in memory of her family's dearly departed friend, Tumbles. He was a member of their family for many years and had a long and happy life. This was really fun to paint and Cindy said that I captured his personality. That is the greatest compliment of all-Tumbles approval!

Beacon Hill

60 Beacon Hill
Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
36" by 12"
SOLD

I painted this large painting while working at The Art Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place this past weekend. It was nice to have the space and the time to do a large piece. The canvas was so big it wouldn't fit on my plein air easel so I had to create a makeshift easel using a chair for stability.

Below are a few photos of the painting in progress.

I sketched the composition in pencil first, which is unusual for me but I wanted to make sure to get the whole brownstone in the paintings.
I planned out the red brick area first, then I pretty much just worked from top to bottom, adding layers of colors and window detailing.
My vision for this series is to paint several of these brownstones, so typical of Beacon Hill, and line them all up next to one another, like the view you see looking at The Hill from Boston Common.

We are heading into Boston today to see the Red Sox play and enjoy the excitement of downtown. Happy Fourth of July everyone!