Teddy the Cat

Teddy

6" x 6"

Oil with palette knives

Michelle saw some pet portraits I had done that were on display at Artists Studio & Gallery at Patriot Place and asked if I would paint one for her. This is Teddy and what a handsome cat he is. A great face to paint with those beautiful blue eyes!

She send me this photo she took of Teddy with his painting. I think he approves!

Entering Cape Cod

Entering Cape Cod

16" x 16"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

I've been having fun painting these town signs on the cape. If you've ever been to Cape Cod, this scene should look very familiar to you. It's the rotary just after you cross the Bourne Bridge. Hopefully you can cross the bridge before the traffic gets backed up.

The official start of summer is just around the corner everyone! (or just around the rotary, lol)

Have a seat: an Adirondack adventure

Sandy Bottoms

Adirondack Chair

Hand-painted by WAGG (Wednesday Art Gallery Group)

Up for raffle at The Sandwich Arts Alliance

My weekly painting group recently completed this Adirondack chair to help with a fundraiser for The Sandwich Arts Alliance. There are 30 chairs in all that are currently on display in Sandwich MA on Cape Cod for the remainder of the summer. Then they will be auctioned off in September. To see all of the chairs and to download a map, click here.

Each week, for about 2 months, we met up at the Art Gallery At Patriot Place to work on our chair. We had such fun painting the chair together as a team, and we took several photos along the way. I've included some here to show you the steps in our process.

Our chair arrived all primed with white. The chairs are really high quality, made by a company in Canada call The Best Adirondack Chair Company. They even fold up for easy storage.

 

After brainstorming ideas for what to paint on our chair, we thought it would be fun to paint the chair to look like a beach towel was draped over it. We chose this colorful towel and colorful chair as our prototype.

Then we sketched out ideas for which summer icons we wanted to include on the towel and narrowed it down to starfish, shells, fish, beach ball, waves, flip flop, and a sun. Later we added a lighthouse, and a sailboat.

We tackled painting the bright green background color first, using both spray paint and brushes. It was a very challenging spray painting in the windy conditions outside the gallery at Patriot Place!

I had to be "flexible" to make sure all the nooks and crannies were covered on all sides and underneath.

We then traced our design on to a large sheet of tracing paper.

Then we transferred the design on to the chair using graphite paper making sure to add a "fold" on the towel for added interest.

We began by painting the black outlines around each design first.

Then moved on to painting each of the summer images. We were surprised by how many coats of acrylic paint we had to use to get good coverage on top of the bright green background.

Here you can see our prototype chair next to our painted chair.

When we decided to name our chair "Sandy Bottoms" we discovered that it was also the name of a summer cocktail, so we painted a cocktail napkin to the arm of the chair with the recipe written out.

After several coats of polyurethane, it was then ready to deliver to Sandwich. I was happy that the chair fit inside my car upright.

The Sandwich Arts Alliance had a fun opening reception to view all 30 chairs. Each chair was presented with their artists and their sponsors. 

Some little ones having some fun in the chairs.

Our sponsor ended up being the SAA which means it will be on display there all summer where you can buy raffle tickets.

Meet Buster

Buster

9" x 12" Ampersand Gessobord

Oil with palette knives

Bill asked if I would paint this portrait for some friends of his who recently lost this cute pup. How can you say no to this adorable face? You can't. 

Here is a photo of my set up after my first painting session and before I completed the background.

 

Hannah

"Whatcha Waitin' For?"

(Hannah)

9" x 12"

Oil with palette knives on cradled board

Tom asked if I would paint a portrait of this beautiful young girl named Hannah. He was her swimming teacher and he wanted to give this painting to her parents as a special gift to remind them of her love for life. He said she often liked to say "Whatcha waitin' for?" and this picture seems to be inviting you to jump in the pool with her. 

New dog portrait : : Katie

Katie

8" x 10"

Oil with palette knives on cradled board

Cheryl asked if I would paint a portrait of their beloved Katie who passed away recently. She asked if I would add a tennis ball in the picture since Katie was obsessed with them. What a happy dog she was!

New nocturne of The Red Inn

The Red Inn at Twilight

12" x 24"

Oil with palette knives on cradled board

SOLD

Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that I have painted this beautiful place in Provincetown many, many times. I think it's about 40+ times now. I've painted it in summer, fall, winter, but never at night. I was anxious to try a twilight version of the inn showing how it's all lit up in the evening with just a hint of a beautiful sunset left over in the sky.

Here is an in progress shot.

Vignette painting of Cap'n Jack's Wharf

Cap'n Jack's Wharf Vignette

Approx 10" x 23"

Oil with palette knives on rough wood board

SOLD

Here is another painting I just completed of an iconic place in Provincetown on Cape Cod, Cap'n Jack's Wharf. I painted this on a rough wood board that I found at Michael's Arts and Crafts store. I loved that it still has the original tree bark on the top and bottom. I treated the board with a couple of coats of clear gesso to keep the oil paint from soaking into the wood. I left the edges of the painting rough on purpose since I wanted some of the original wood grain to show through.

Here is an in-process shot.

 

New commission: Entering Hull

Entering Hull
16" x 16" x 1.5"
Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

Jennifer saw a group of my Entering sign paintings hanging at the Art Gallery at Patriot Place and asked me if I had ever painted Entering Hull. I said I hadn't but that I would gladly paint one for her. So Polo and I took a drive down to the town of Hull (south of Boston) to get a photo of the sign as well as some of the beach she suggested for the background, Gun Rock Beach, where she and her friends like to hang out in the summer.

Here is a photo I took of the painting with just the sign finished. I like the short name and all caps type of this sign. The size of the type for EST and 1644 was also larger than the other ones I've painted, making it a bit easier to paint with my knives.

A new Red Inn interior

Fireside Chat at the Red Inn
Approx 9" x 12"
Oil with palette knives on rough wood panel

SOLD

I found some rough wood boards with the bark still intact at Michaels Arts and Crafts and it inspired a painting idea. I wanted to retain the wood grain and texture so I treated the surface with a couple of coats of clear gesso. This allowed me to let some of the natural wood grain show in the final painting. 

I chose a cozy interior of the Red Inn's front entry. It has a unique brick fireplace and warm leather furniture. There is usually a large painting or two hanging on the wall room, so I thought I'd paint a teeny tiny version of my Red Inn painting on the wall.

Here is a photo I took after I had competed the fireplace and the windows.

NEW : : large portrait commission

Betsy's Boys

18" x 36"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand cradled board

Betsy asked if I would paint a portrait of her 3 sons and she wanted it large. I hadn't painted a portrait this large before so it was a nice challenge for me. I really like how each boy's personality comes through in this painting, their nice casual poses, and their facial expressions.

Here are a few close ups and process shots I took along the way. I always start with the faces first.

Then I moved on to their clothing. Each jacket was dark so I adjusted the color slightly for each one to distinguish them.

Then I moved on to the background. The rocks were a bit tricky but I tried to make them interesting by introducing a lot of different colors.

Yesterday, the painting was shipped off to its new home in Ohio.

An animal menagerie

Last November I was asked to be part of the holiday show at the Zullo Gallery in Medfield, MA. I wanted to have a cohesive theme so I decided to paint this menagerie of 15 animals.

I was happy to find out that Foxy, Piggy, and Black Lab all found new homes for the holidays.

Here are a few other snaps from the show:

Just steps to the beach

Red Inn Steps To The Beach

12" x 12"

Oil with palette knives on cradled board

I am still getting paintings ready for the opening of the Red Inn in April. This is the latest addition to my series of paintings that will be for sale for the 2022 season. The back deck of this beautiful place is just steps to the beach!

Here are a few close ups:

New Pet Portrait: Cassie

Cassie

8" x 10"

Oil with palette knives on cradled board

A group of tennis friends commissioned this painting for their friend who lost this cute pup recently. Here is what she had to say to her girlfriends:

"I'm so overwhelmed with the neatest gift. I really don't have the words to even come close to letting you know how much this means to me. It's so very awesome and very special. You are the best girlfriends in the whole wide world. Cassie was an awesome dog and companion for me. So many memories. Thank you for doing this for me. Made me cry, made me smile and made me so thankful for each one of you!"

Sweet.

Inspired by American Horror Story

Haunted

16" x 20"

Oil with palette knives on board

SOLD

I thought it would be fun to paint the house on Commercial Street in Provincetown that was used as the backdrop to the Red Tide series of American Horror Story which aired last year. We've passed by this house many times on our way to the Red Inn and always thought it looked haunted. Now we know why. They were prepping it for the filming of the show!

Here are a few process shots.

Larger Seal paint pour

Curious Seal

12" x 12"

Palette knife oil on acrylic pour

SOLD

On view at Cafe Heaven in Provincetown

I posted earlier about a smaller 6x8 "test run" version of this painting. Click here to see that version. I finally got around to painting the larger version. This was a fun experiment using acrylic paint pour technique to create the ocean background and then painting the seal on top using my palette knives with oils.

Here is a photo showing my process. I had about 7 or 8 different colors of acrylic paint and it was quite messy. I let the paint drip down the sides but kept some of the orange ground color showing which I thought was a nice contrast to the blues.

And here is a link to video I posted on Instagram that shows how it turned out. I am quite pleased with the result but not sure if I'd do this again as it was quite a messy endeavor. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZuVRmbpTIW/