Merry Red Christmas

The Red Inn From The Road

8" x 24"

oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

There is nothing more Christmasy than a red inn on the coast. Except of course, if you add some snow.

Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile will recognize this as a familiar painting. This was a commission and the 38th time I've painted this beautiful place in one form or another. But this was a new size canvas for me and I really liked it. 

Happy Christmas to all! I hope Santa brings you everything you wished for.

Entering Boston

Entering Boston

12" x 12" x 1.5"

Oil with palette knives on Blick Studio Artist Panel

SOLD

I have done many of these Entering signs before for various Cape Cod towns-Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet, as well as one for Foxboro. Now it was Boston's turn. I wanted to have this as my anchor piece for the collection of 10 Boston paintings I completed for the Zullo Gallery's holiday sale, 

Here is a photo I took of them all together before I delivered them to Medfield.

While it would be really difficult to hang them on the gallery wall like this, I really liked how they look all together, especially with the different panel depths giving them dimension. As someone on Facebook described it, "I feel like I just took a nice walk through Boston on a clear day." 

I love that!  

The Seaport, Boston

View from the Seaport District, Boston

6" x 12"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD at Zullo Gallery, Medfield

This was the last of the 10 paintings I completed for the Zullo Gallery holiday show. I struggled with how much detail to put in to the buildings in the background but I think I ended up in a good place. This walk around the Seaport is great to do during your lunch hour on a beautiful sunny day in Boston. The boats coming in and out are fun to watch too.

60 Beacon Street

60 Beacon Street

12" x 6"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD at Zullo Gallery, Medfield

I've painted this beautiful brownstone on Beacon Hill many years ago on a much larger canvas (click here to see that version) and I so enjoyed it that I wanted to paint it again smaller for a small works holiday show. There were a lot of windows to paint but the most fun was painting the window boxes with the pretty flowers.

A Slice of Beacon Hill

A Slice of Beacon Hill

8" x 8"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

Next up in my series of small Boston paintings is this little slice of the beautiful brownstones that line up Beacon Street. I took the image that inspired this painting from the Boston Common during one of my lunchtime walks while working in the Back Bay area.

Boston old and new

The Old State House, Boston

12" x 6"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

My friend Nancy took the photo that inspired this painting of the Old State House in Boston. I loved the combination of the old and new architecture as well as the color of those beautiful green lanterns. The strong vertical composition also appealed to me and so I asked her if I could paint it.

The State House, Boston

The State House, Boston

6" x 12"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD at Zullo Gallery, Medfield

Continuing my series of small Boston paintings, I had to paint the iconic State House that sits at the top of Beacon Hill in Boston. This painting along with 9 others will be on display at the Zullo Gallery in Medfield MA through December for their holiday show.

Introducing a 52 week challenge for artists in 2021

CALL TO ARTISTS 

Who’s ready to hit the reset button for 2021? I am! And I'm currently in search of artists who are willing to participate in a 52 week challenge with me starting on Wednesday January 6 of 2021. Please note: THIS IS NOT A PAINTING CHALLENGE. These are simple weekly exercises that I've written to help you look inward, focus your work, and grow as an artist along with me and other artists. These challenges could apply to artists at any point in their career. And I'd also love to get your feedback in order to improve it for the future. Best of all-it's free! 

Each Wednesday, I will post the challenge to social media with a link to my blog where you can download the worksheet. To give you an idea of what these challenges might look like, below is the monthly syllabus, a sample weekly worksheet, and how to sign up. 

JANUARY: REFLECTION AND MOTIVATION

FEBRUARY:  GETTING ORGANIZED 

MARCH:  SHARING 

APRIL : GENERATING IDEAS 

MAY:  HONING YOUR CRAFT

JUNE:  REMOVING NEGATIVITY 

JULY:  FINDING INSPIRATION 

AUGUST:  PRACTICE WRITING AND TALKING ABOUT ART 

SEPTEMBER:  MARKETING YOURSELF 

OCTOBER:  GAINING CONFIDENCE 

NOVEMBER:  GIVING BACK 

DECEMBER:  CELEBRATING 

Below is a sample worksheet with a few annotations to give you an idea what to expect:

So who's in? If you'd like to participate, please send me an email at anngorbett@gmail.com to express your interest. If you would like a printed workbook mailed to you for the cost of printing and mailing, please include your mailing address. Thank you and I look forward to a creative new year!

Cheers to Boston!

 

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

10" x 8" 

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

This is an iconic landmark here in Boston. On the TV show Cheers, it is the outside of the bar where Sam, Diane, Carla, Woody and the gang descended the stairs to go to work, and where Norm and Cliff hung out and drank beer inside. Of course they didn't really film the inside here, but nevertheless is it a great place to visit if you are ever in Boston. The Hampshire House hotel sits above the bar here on Beacon Street.

As usual, I took some progress shots and a few details along the way as I painted.

New Boston Public Garden painting

Entering The Public Garden II

6" x 12" x 2"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

I am currently working on a series of small Boston paintings in preparation for the upcoming holidays. This is Boston painting number 2 of 12 that I hope to complete by November. I had painted a larger version of this a few years ago inspired from a photo that I took at the entrance to the Public Gardens in Boston. I just loved the fall colors of the trees against the skyline. Painting with palette knives at this small size forces me to not get too caught up in all the details. 

New Boston painting: The Custom House

The Custom House, Boston

6" x 12" x 2"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

I'm working on a series of Boston paintings inspired by lunch time walks when I used to work downtown. Here is the first in the series, The Custom House. At the top of this building there is an observatory that has incredible 360 views of Boston. It's a hidden secret that not many people know or talk about. I took these images from a recent visit.

This observation viewfinder looked like a lady's face to me.

They even have a Peregrine falcon cam where you can watch the nest of some resident falcons. 

Here are are few close ups of the painting.

 

From the family album: Irish Blessings

Irish Blessings

16" x 16" x 2"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

Available

This painting was inspired by an old photo of my dad and my aunt-his sister Cathleen. I just loved the wonderful expressions on their faces and how it shows their true love for one another and for life. These two were so alike in so many ways, with same sense of humor and always making us kids laugh. I call the painting Irish Blessings because that's what these two were in our lives. Plus it looked to me like they were both wearing green so I'm assuming it was probably a St Paddy's Day get together in the 70s.

Here are a few close up details. 

Dad stirring his cocktail, likely scotch, which he liked to call "holy water."

I love the old faucet and measuring cups.

I'm pretty sure the Irish Blessing is what is framed in this tiny picture that sat on my Aunt Cathleen's kitchen sill in Galion Ohio.

Another painting from the family album

Cocktail Hour, 1971

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

16" x 16" x 2"

I have returned to paintings inspired from old family photographs and enjoying it so much. This one is of my mother (in the middle) at what looks to be a holiday cocktail party at our house with a few of her neighbor friends. I don't know the exact date so took a stab at the year. 

This was my set up at the gallery at Patriot Place. You can see that I have the photo up on my iPad as well as a color copy printed out at the size I am painting. I have taped the outside edges so it will leave a nice clean edge for adding the photo border and date at the end.

And here are some progress shots I took along the way as well as some detailed close ups.

Thanks for taking a look!

A happy girl and her happy dog

Augusta and Tito

16" x 20"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

Nancy asked me to paint this fun image of her daughter and her dog. I loved the happy looks on both of their faces as well as the beautiful background and shadows. This painting is all about happiness and summer.

NEW Red Inn wood prints

As an experiment, I ordered wood prints of these two paintings from Fine Art America. I wasn't expecting that you would be able to see the natural wood grain underneath the image, but it came out looking kind of cool, especially on the beach. These went up for sale at The Red Inn in Provincetown back in June. I learned that both wood prints have sold so I guess others liked them too.

You can order these wood prints for yourself through the FAA website. 

The view from the road is here:

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-red-inn-street-view-ann-gorbett.html?product=wood-print

The view from the sea is here:

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-red-inn-view-from-the-sea-ann-gorbett.html?product=wood-print

Thanks for looking!