A couple of wee scenes

Switching from big to small, I painted these wee ones in class last week. Very fun because you have to paint them quickly and you can't get too fussy at this size with the knife.

Ptown Cottage

2" by 3"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas
SOLD

 Beacon Hill Steps

3" by 2"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

Georgia on my mind

Mini O'Keefe

After Green Oak Leaves by Georgia O'Keefe

Approx 5" by 4"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas
SOLD

I just learned that this painting from my mini master series went to a new owner this month through Custom Art Framing and Gallery 9 in Norwood.

Thrilled and happy for the news. Thank you.

Lunch with a View

Lunch at Fanizzi's

24" x 24" x 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

I painted this large painting while working at the Artists Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place this weekend. It was painted from a photo I took while in Provincetown. I really wish I was there right now, don't you?

Meet Cute Cassie

 Cassie
9" x 12" x .75"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board
SOLD

Jeremy commissioned me to paint a portrait of his family's beloved pet, Cassie. Unfortunately they lost her recently and wanted a painting done of her from a time when she was so happy relaxing in the grass. You can see that she had the most beautiful smile. What a sweetheart. Look at this cute face.

I took this photo to show my work area as I painted Cassie.

And just for fun, always remember to....

Just put down the knife, and step away

Biking on the Boardwalk (v1)

18" x 18" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board

This was done from a photo I found of my sisters, my mom, and me biking in Atlantic City one summer. I think it was probably taken somewhere around the mid 70s. I love that my mother looks just like one of the girls. And my dad is actually in the photo too. Can you spot him?

I've put this painting away for awhile because I'm not sure if it's done yet. I figure if I look at it with fresh eyes again in a week or so, I'll know what it needs. Right now, I think the boardwalk could have more obvious planks painted in and the background could use a little more detailing. But sometimes you need to just put the knife down and step away. Don't you wish you could hire someone to look over your shoulder as you are paintings and tell you when to stop? "It's done, put the knife down... now!"

I also took some photos of it after each stage so you can see how it progressed along the way.

I started painting the people first since that is usually the most difficult. I am getting used to and liking this orangy background color.

I'll keep you posted on any changes I make. Now-I'm off to paint a new commission I received last week!

Quansoo Beach, Martha's Vineyard

Quansoo Beach, Martha's Vineyard

12" x 24"

Acrylic on canvas
NFS

In the absence of a new painting to post this week, I pulled this from the pre-palette knife archive. Ten years ago (can't believe it's been that long)  I went on an amazing week-long painting trip to Martha's Vineyard. Our instructor brought us to incredible properties and beaches on the island each day, this being one of them.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Just Hangin' Around

Just Hangin' Around

12"x 12" x .75"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist panel

SOLD

This is a commission that I worked on this past weekend. Haydi gave me a black and white photo that she said her mother had hanging in their house on Nantucket for as long as she can remember. It was her mother's favorite photo of her and her two sisters. Can't you just hear the giggles?

Below is a photo I took after the first stage of the painting. I turned the photo "upside down" to paint their funny faces -you can see this on the iPad screen, but I also had a print out that I used for the "right side up" version, which is really the three of them upside down. Ha!

I also started with the orange underpainting again which I am really starting to like a lot. You can see little peaks of it showing in the final painting which is nice complement to all of the blues and purples. I use a dab each of cad yellow, cad red, cad orange, and yellow ochre acrylic paint and then just mix them all up to get this color.

A day at the beach

Perfect Beach Day

10" x 8"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas
SOLD at The Red Inn

What a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend it was. It had the feel of summer every day. I am so excited for summer to start that I couldn't resist painting this scene inspired by a photo taken on Nantucket last year. It reminds me of what a perfect summer day looks like. Bring it.

Seeing Red

The Red Inn, Provincetown

12" x 36"x 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

I painted this while working at the Art Gallery at Patriot Place this past weekend. The weather was beautiful here in New England and the gallery had a steady flow of visitors. It's interesting how you get used to painting with all the interruptions. In a way it's a good thing because it forces you to step away from your painting for awhile and then come back with fresh eyes. It's also so interesting to hear comments from the gallery visitors while you are working. One man said, "It makes me feel like I am right there, in the car, just driving by..." I loved that. It is also fun to watch the kids (usually young budding artists themselves) as they stare in amazement at your painting. So cute.

Frank sent me this funny photo he took as I was trying to take a photo of this painting at the gallery.

Below is a photo of the painting in progress after Saturday's shift. I then finished it up on Sunday and remembered to bring my bigger palette knives which helped make the job easier. You can also see here that I used the red orange underpainting again.

And if you ever get to Provincetown, you need to stop in at this place, The Red Inn. Spectacular views, food, and hospitality.

A wee cottage

Iota Cottage, Provincetown

8" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

SOLD

This painting started out as a completely different painting of a completely different house. It was never quite jelling, so in a moment of frustration, I scraped it all off.  I then quickly switched to painting a different house on top of the ghosted remains of the old one and forced myself to keep it loose.  In the uncropped image below, you can see evidence of the underscraping (I think I just coined a new art term). I'm not quite sure how you could frame this but it is interesting to see the edges.

Oh-and in case you're interested, this home is currently for sale. It's a 1 bedroom, 1 bath, 3 room home for the wee price of $599,000.

Memories of Martha's Vineyard

Nancy's House, Martha's Vineyard

9" x 12"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
SOLD

Sarah commissioned this painting of her mother's house on Martha's Vineyard. Sadly, her family recently had to sell it, so Sarah wanted to have a reminder of the house and the beautiful gardens that held so many wonderful memories of her mother. Sarah has a great blog called Unshoveling the Past where she recounts many stories of her family growing up. She accompanies her stories with old family photographs, and of course, I want to paint each and every one of them!

Tiptoe through the tulips

Tulip Garden

8" x 8" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board
NFS

I was walking back to work from lunch one day and this tulip garden outside of a nearby office building caught my eye. This one particular tulip had opened up so wide and the colors, light, and shapes were so magnificent. Just calling to be painted.

Van Gogh Up Close

There is a show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art right now through May 6 that I would so love to see. It's called Van Gogh Up Close. And if you haven't seen this interview on Charlie Rose, you will also want to see the show after watching that video.

There was one painting of his that caught my attention. Perhaps because I had never seen it before. I posted it on my Inspirational Paintings board on Pinterest and it appears others like it too because several people repinned it shortly afterwards. I just loved the light he created in this piece, and the greens are spectacular.

When I first started painting with a palette knife, I created what I call my Mini Masters series which were inspired by famous painter's works. I think you can learn a lot by trying to recreate a great piece of artwork that you admire. Van Gogh was a frequent subject of mine. These are a few of the pieces I created based on his works:

SOLD

SOLD

Sculpture class at the Museum Fine Arts, Boston

This past Sunday, Polo and I took a one day figure sculpture class at the MFA in Boston. It was a rainy day and perfect to be inside learning a new skill. While there was a learning curve,  I did find many similarities with painting with a knife and I sculpted most of the time using just a simple butter knife. In contrast to drawing from a model, the teacher reminded us that when you are sculpting a 3D figure, you need to CONSTANTLY keep moving around to get a view from all sides. This was a hard thing to remember to do, but of course made sense.

Here are a couple of views of my sculpture in progress. We had a live model to work from which I hadn't done in awhile and was great.

Here is Polo working on his masterpiece:

Because the class was held at the museum, a bonus was to be able to walk around and view their amazing collection after class was over. I had yet to see the new wing of the museum so this was an unexpected treat. Here are a few shots inside and out. 

I didn't take any photos inside the magnificent new Sargent room but saw many of my mini masters in their full size glory including the Boit Daughters, Mrs Fiske Warren and her daughter Rachel, and Mrs. Charles E Inches. I did love that they have the wall papered in that room to evoke the period of his works. 

What a wonderfully exhausting day of art!

A flurry of flowers

They say April showers bring May flowers. We just got a ton of rain last night so it seems to be a good time to share a flurry of flowers. These are each only about 3" by 3".

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

$15 as card

Below you can see how I painted them all together on one sheet of 12" by 16" canvas.

 

Here they are after I cropped them and turned them into cards. All but one of these was sold at the show.

And as always, I have to include some chunky delicious close ups...

Happy spring everyone!

Race Point, Provincetown

Race Point, Provincetown

12" x 36" by 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

I painted this while working at the Artists Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place this weekend. This photo below helps to show the scale of this painting, an unusual size for me but really fun to work on. I started using the iPad to display my reference photo while painting. I LOVE IT. the colors so much more brilliant than a print out and I could zoom in on certain parts of the photo as I was painting. So awesome!!

Provincetown at sunset

Provincetown at Sunset

9" x 12" by 3/4"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board
SOLD

I took this photo of Ptown at sunset and I really loved the glow of the buildings and sky. I painted more texture and waves in the water at first, then I thought it was getting too fussy so I scraped it off. I liked what was left so I let it be. Interesting how that those accidents can happen sometimes.

While I didn't use an underpainting this time, I did sketch the buildings in with an orange/red color and left some of it show through.The birds were a last addition to help to draw you into the scene.

More Ptown to come...

Santa Barbara-a new commission

 

Botanical Gardens, Santa Barbara

11" x 14" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled board

SOLD 

This beautiful scene was sent to me as a commission piece. I tried something a little different for me this time before I started in on it. I painted an underpainting wash in acrylic with an orangy-red color. I was hoping that it would help unify the painting and also keep it from feeling too chilly. Although I think I covered up most of it, you can see little hints of the orange peeking through in these chunky delicious close ups...

When I emailed my commissioner a photo of the finished painting, he wrote "Ann...I...LOVE...IT!! You nailed it!  I dig the texture and colors. Takes me right back there. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Now-isn't that just the greatest compliment ever?

Happy Easter

Mini Renoir
After "Girls Putting Flowers On Their Hats"

2" by 3"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

SOLD

I wish for everyone a wonderful Easter weekend.

Watercolor postcards

When I go on vacation, I sometimes paint these mini watercolor postcards and mail them to friends and family in lieu of a traditional picture postcard. My two sisters have the biggest collection of them and I when I go to visit, I look at them again and it's fun reminder of the trip. It's also interesting to see what can happen to them in the mail!