Haunted House and Halloween Update

Up There

Approx 10" x 8"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

$75 unframed

Who living up there in that tiny room? I don't think this house is really haunted but on Halloween anything is imaginable. Happy Trick or Treating!

UPDATE The weather Halloween night couldn't have been more perfect. Warm, windy, and an amazing moon. I tried to capture it as it reflected in our dormer window, but photographer Kerry Hawkins captured it much better as you can see on her blog.

Our end of the street is kind of dark and we usually don't get many trick or treaters, so this year I made a few luminaria to try and entice kids to walk up the driveway. It worked! I couldn't believe we were able to keep these going with all the wind, but they lasted the entire night. And it looked really cool cuz the bags glowed an orange light. It was a tradition in our neighborhood in Ohio for each house to make these and put them out on Christmas Eve. I used to love driving around that night and seeing all of the streets lined with lights. 

And finally, scary Polo...

Abstract #1

Abstract #1

Oil with a palette knife on canvas paper

8" x 8"

SOLD

Here is my entry for the latest challenge from Karin Jurick's blog Different Strokes from Different Folks. It was a photo of rooftops in San Francisco. I really, really tried to keep it to just abstract shapes but then couldn't help myself by putting in a more details. It was fun to lay in big areas of flat color with the palette knife. Karin was right when she said that this was a perfect challenge with respect to value and mixing colors. I painted this all in one sitting last night because I really like to work wet into wet. And it's easier to scrape off areas that aren't working. I call it Abstract #1 because you never know what someone else might see in it, and perhaps it may become a series. Who knows? 

Library Auction Donations and Press Update

Prim Rose 

Oil with a palette knife on artist board

9" x 12"

Click on the image to enlarge

On Saturday November 14, the Friends of the Walpole Library are holding an art auction to raise money for a new town library. I've donated this painting and you can see it on their site along with many other wonderful original paintings. The auction will be held at the Walpole Country Club from 7-10pm and should be a lot of fun. So if you are looking for something fun to do on a Saturday night, purchase original art and gifts at unbelievable prices, all for a good cause, come on down.

I've also contributed two books by the author Kristin Kladstrup, The Gingerbread Pirates and The Book of Story Beginnings. Both are signed by her as well as the illustrator Matt Tavares.  

What a great gift! Thanks Kristin.

UPDATE On October 29, me and some folks from my art class appeared in the local paper. Here we are with our donations.

There's something about Mary Cassatt

Mini Cassatt, Mother and Child 

Oil with a palette knife on canvas paper

8" x 6"

SOLD

I painted this for an upcoming show that the Foxboro Art Association is sponsoring in January called Masquerade. Artists are asked to choose a painting by an artist they really like and do their own version of it. I chose this painting that was part of a wonderful Mary Cassatt exhibit I saw back in 1999 at the MFA in Boston. It has been awhile since I had done any more additions to my Mini Masters series and I forgot how much you can learn by doing an exercise like this. And it's even more challenging when you try to do it with a palette knife on a small scale. I think I might do some more!

Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning 

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board

9" x 12"

NFS

I finally completed this painting after many sessions in my Thursday night painting class. You may remember that I posted a sketch of this piece back in August. This was my first interior painting, and there was such wonderful light and details in the photo that I wanted to capture. Now...Kim says "DO IT AGAIN BIGGER!"

Patriot's Place on Columbus Day

It was a beautiful day for painting at Patriot's Place in Foxboro yesterday. That is, when the sun was out. Amazing this time of year how cold it can get when the sun gets hidden by clouds. Columbus day was our rain date because the original date of October 3 was a major wash out. After we were invited to come down and paint there, we were instructed by security that we weren't allowed to paint the stadium or any logos. I mean, what else is there? So I went with a square format thinking I might try and do an abstract composition. I ended up putting in more detail than originally intended but the front of the Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro had some interesting architectural details that I wanted to see if I could capture with my knife. Here is my sketch.

I took this photo after I had sketched onto my panel and put in the sky. Notice-no stadium in my painting. The kids that came by were very funny. They are so fascinated and honest with their comments and critique. 

Here is me at work. My favorite quote of the day was when a woman came up to me and said "my husband said I had to come down here and see your work because you were painting with a spatula."

Here is Polo busy working on his painting.
And here are his adoring fans.
After the event was over, we all went to Tastings and enjoyed some great wine and food. While we were there, the artist, Eli Cedrone was inside painting another beautiful interior of the restaurant. There is another event scheduled for Saturday, October 24. We might need a "snow date" for that one.

The finding of The Taking

I just finished reading this book, The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. It was recommended by Tony from my painting class who had seen the post I did about Caravaggio back in March and thought I would enjoy reading it. And I did. I enjoyed peaking into this world of art history and research through the eyes of a young art history student living in Rome and then the authentication and restoration process by an experienced restorer in the National Gallery in Ireland.  The book tracks the story of this Caravaggio painting, The Taking of Christ, lost for 200 years and then discovered in the 1990s hanging in a Jesuit rectory in Ireland. It also gives details about Caravaggio's tumultuous life, which I found interesting after having had taken that class at RISD. The man holding the lantern at the right side of the painting is supposed to be Caravaggio himself. He often inserted self portraits in his work. The painting was on display at Boston College in 1999. Wish I had seen it.

The Taking of Christ

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Oil on Canvas: 1598

National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin