Larger Work: A Boston Perspective

A Boston Perspective

36" x 24" x 2"

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board
SOLD

Polo and I are getting ready for our show that opens this Friday at Gallery 9 in Norwood. I wanted to include at least one large piece so I chose this Boston view to try. These larger pieces are quite the undertaking and this view in particular was a perspective challenge to say the least. As I look at it now, I can see several things that still aren't quite right, but I'm hoping that it's still believable and unmistakably Boston. That was my goal. Can you identify the street corner that this painting captures?

This painting took several days to complete. I took this photo below after day 1 to show you the painting in process which I think is interesting to see.

I am always amazed at how much time the "finishing" work takes when preparing for a show. The varnishing, framing, wiring, signing, pricing, etc... Lots to think about and finalize, but come Friday-we'll be ready!

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.

A masterpiece in frosting

Last Friday night was the reception for the Just Desserts show at Gallery 9 in Norwood. In addition to submitting a painting, artists were encouraged to bring a dessert that was inspired by their submission. I had always wanted to try my hand at "painting" a masterpiece on a cake with frosting. A logical transition for a palette knife painter, don't you think? Well, here it is...

My first Ann Gogh:

Here is a close up after the first few bites were enjoyed:
Which masterpiece do you think would look good frosted on a cake?

Vote for your favorite

Can you help me decide?

I am planning on entering a painting into a show at Gallery 9 called Just Desserts at the end of this month. I can only enter one painting so I need your help deciding which one to enter of the 3 choices below. What better way than to create a poll? So please cast your vote in the poll at the top of the side bar to the right by 10 pm on Wed, April 27.

1. Say Cheesecake

2. Sweety Pie

3. Tiramisu For You

Oh and the gallery is offering an interesting incentive to a lucky juried prize winner. They will have an oversized image of your painting made into a store sign (see below) to display outside of the gallery. Pretty cool huh?

Thanks everyone. Vote early and often.I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.

Things are still Looking Up!

Looking Up
Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist panel

8" x 8"

I painted this in one session from a reference photo I borrowed from our instructor, Kim. During critique, everyone said that this should have been my "Looking Up" submission for the November show at Gallery 9. Ah, well. too late.

But the First Friday reception for the Looking Up show was a great success. All of the paintings were so interesting, I couldn't stop looking at them. Here is a shot of them all hung up together.

The gallery also had a canvas set up at the show and artists were encouraged to paint a portion of the painting. The painting will be auctioned off to raise money for the Norwood Food Pantry. What a great idea. Here is Polo adding one of his signature apples to the painting.
Here is what the painting looked like at the end of the evening. My contribution was the wallpaper.
Check out more photos from the event here.

Things are Looking Up

The Penthouse Suite

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

10" x 10"
SOLD

This is my submission for the November show at Custom Art Framing & Gallery 9 entitled "Looking Up". Every artist is given the same size canvas to participate and interpret the theme. I've been obsessed with painting windows lately, so I chose this photo reference looking up at some city buildings. I imagine the view up there in the penthouse is pretty great. Ah-maybe some day-things are looking up!

The paintings should look pretty cool all hung together since they will all be the same size. Stop by for the reception Friday, November 5 from 6-8pm and check out all of the great art.

Reenergized and inspired

I'm back from a wonderful vacation in hot and steamy, but inspiring Texas. I am reenergized and ready to focus on some new projects.

I signed up for The Sketchbook Project and the theme I chose is Boys and Girls. Like the paintings I've done for the Family Album series, I thought it would be fun to do some sketches from family photographs old and new. Look out Facebook friends cuz I may be invading your photo albums for sketching ideas. (if you signed up for that new "see who's viewing your profile" thing, you may see my name there!). I also saw that Boston's MFA currently has an exhibit about family. Photographer Nicholas Nixon took photos of his wife and her 3 sisters every summer for the past 35 years. Fascinating stuff. Might need to check that out for inspiration as well.

I started my sketchbook in the center.

I thought this photo that my Uncle Tommy and Aunt Arlene sent me of all of their grandkids (taken last year-it's still growing!!) would make a great centerfold.

Isn't this a hoot? I might jump around the sketchbook a little, instead of going in order, just to keep things interesting. And I can't help but want to write a little about each sketch to go along with it. Perhaps that's the blogger in me.

I've also signed up for Custom Art Framing and Gallery 9's upcoming exhibit called Looking Up. They supply you with a 10" by 10" canvas and you take it from there. What a fun idea and I can't wait to see them all together. The show goes up in November.

And finally, thanks to Kathy for the wonderful post today on her blog Weller Wishes about some of the pretty things you can find at Gallery 9. She included a photograph of one of my black and white Family Album paintings that is currently on display there. Kathy is also participating in The Sketchbook Project. Check out the cute illustrations she has done so far for her "Raining Cats and Dogs" theme.

Plein Air Workshop

Come On In, We're Open

Oil with a palette knife on artist board

8" x 8"

Click on the image to enlarge
NFS

Last weekend, the husband and I participated in a Plein Air Workshop taught by the talented and creative artist, Kim Morin Weineck. She started with a short lecture and handed out all this fun stuff to help us get inspired. And look at the cute bags she made for everyone that contained fun art supplies to help us out with our planning and sketching.

It was a little grey out but the rain held off for the most part. We set up in Norwood Center and I decided to paint the front of Julie's store which is so cute. Here is Kim all set up to paint (and keeping pesky people from parking there and blocking my view!)

Lately I had been painting a lot from photographs and you forget how the photo is somewhat already cropped and composed for you, so Kim reminded us when you paint on location, it's important to plan what you are going to paint by sketching it out first. Here is my page of possible compositions. I decided to go with the square format.

And this shows my setup after I had worked up my sketch onto the panel.

And of course, I had to include some close up shots of the painting.

What a fun day all around. Here's a link to see Polo's painting.

Photos from the show

I wanted to post a few photos from our show last weekend. Here we are in front of our hard work.

My family portraits can be seen in this shot.

The crowd enjoying the scene.
I love this cute photo of Kim, the gallery director, and Julie, the gallery owner, with Nancy peering in through the background.

To see all the photos from our show posted on the gallery's site, click here.

And as a finale, a happy happy birthday to my cute man who celebrated his birthday today.

Countdown to the show

Tonight's the night! I know a lot of this blog's readers don't live in the New England area, but I hope that if you do, we'll see you at Custom Art Framing and Gallery 9 in Norwood from 6-8pm this evening.

Things are really heatin' up. Last night, the Gallery preSOLD my giant 36" by 24" Boston city scene painting. Woo hoo. I am so excited and thrilled.

And, get this, Julie has also set up a live feed so you can watch the show even if you can't be there in person. How exciting is that? Click here for the live feed link.

Call for inspiration

These 3 painting were done from some of my family's old photographs. They are currently hanging at Custom Art Framing & Gallery 9 in Norwood and have inspired a few people who have seen them to commission me to do paintings from their own family photos. I mean, don't we all have photos just like this at home somewhere?

Which sparked an idea.....

I have an art show scheduled for the month of June and I'd love your help. I would like to invite you to submit a family photo or two of your own that you think might make a great painting.

Here are the rules:

1. Please don't send photos taken by a professional photographer. The photo must have been taken by you or someone you know.

2. Preferably color but black and white is ok too

3. Preferably nostalgic

4. Preferably with people

5. Email a jpeg image to anngorbett@gmail.com and provide a little info about the image, who is in it, and the approximate date the photo was taken if you know it.

6. The last day to submit an image is March 1, 2010

7. By submitting an image, you agree to allow me to use it as inspiration for a painting, choose the composition and the size, exhibit in shows, post on my blog, and offer up for sale.

8. You are by no means required to purchase the painting.

Take a look at my Family Album Series to view previous paintings I have done from family photographs.

I am excited to see what you can dig up!

Oh, and by the way, my mother, who is in 2 of the 3 paintings above, would have turned 76 today. She shared her birthday with Elvis Presley. I'm sure mom and The King are having fun somewhere today.

Support local artists this holiday season

This coming Friday, December 4, Custom Art Framing & Gallery 9 in Norwood is having a Shop Til You Drop event from 6-10pm with wine, cheese, and socializing. I can't think of a better way to shop-I mean who else is doing that? If the mere thought of going to a mall makes you sweat with anxiety and dread (like me) why not support your local businesses and artisans by buying unique gifts for everyone on your list?  I can't think of a better, more meaningful way to deck the halls.

Yesterday I visited the gallery to have some framing done and drop off a few smaller pieces. I took a few shots of some of my paintings that are hanging there. The ones seen here are from my Family Album series, as well as two of my tree paintings. All done with a palette knife, of course. It always makes me feel so proud to see them. What a terrific job Julie has done transforming her new location into a wonderful shop.

Life is a bowl of mashed potatoes

Life is a Bowl of Mashed Potatoes

Oil with a palette knife on 1.5" cradled artist board

10" x 10"
NFS

This painting was done last year from a family photograph of a Thanksgiving dinner just before we dug into that big bowl of mashed potatoes and mom's famous strawberry jello mold.  It is currently hanging at Gallery 9 in Norwood. I love painting from old family photographs. They bring back such fun memories. And I love Thankgsiving. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite holiday. It always means family, food, and a long weekend away from work. If you have a favorite family photograph that you might be interested in having a palette knife painting like this done, check out my commission prices in the side column. They make great Christmas presents! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and eat lots of mashed potatoes.