Provincetown Library Interior

Studying the View (Inside the Provincetown Library)

24" x 18" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

One of the things I miss during this time of staying at home quarantining is visiting the library. I miss our local library so much, The Walpole Public Library. They just recently began delivering books to your home and of course I immediately started taking advantage of it. But nothing beats visiting in person so I look forward to when I can go back.

One of my other favorite libraries is the Provincetown Library on Commercial Street at the tip of Cape Cod. I recommend a visit to anyone who in in Provincetown. Inside this library there is a replicate of a ship which takes up a whole floor. It's amazing. Also the views from inside are incredible. One of the last times we visited, I saw this light coming inside and creating interesting shadows on the floor and knew I would paint it some day. I don't normally paint interiors but I really enjoyed this so I hope to do some more.

I was deliberately trying to be looser with my painting technique and layering of colors which I hope you can see from these close up detail images.

Summer Shade

Shadowcaster

18" x 24"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

SOLD

I've always loved this white house on Commercial Street in Provincetown and have been wanting to paint it for awhile now. On one of our day trips to Provincetown I captured this beautiful light and the tree casting its shadows upon the house with my camera and I knew that this was going to be a painting some day. That day is here.

As usual, I started with the most important part-the house.

Then I painted the sky and the tree.

And last, the hedges and fence in the front.

I always leave one of the bottom corners for last so that I can add my signature using my paint eraser/wipe out tool while the paint is still wet.

Dune Tour

Dune Tour

12" x 36" x 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

When a painting is this large it's difficult to see the palette knife textures and details in the image of the whole painting so I like to take these mini details to share as well. They look like little paintings themselves.

New family portrait commission

The Cavanaughs in Banff

11" x 14"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

My cousin Amy asked if I would paint this picture as a gift for our cousin Rob (in the middle). Rob is an orthodondist and worked on the teeth of all of Amy's 4 kids. This painting was given as a thank you for all of Rob's hard work.

I always start with the faces and work out from there. They are the most difficult part and you need to get those right before you can move on to the rest of the painting. Here is how it looked after I completed phase one, the faces.

I then moved on to paint the clothes and then last of all the beautiful mountains in the background.

The reference photo was taken in Banff and the Columbia Ice Fields and was a very memorable vacation for Rob's family. Now they will have a painting to remember it for years to come.

The Red Inn 14 (or 36 depending on how you're counting)

The Red Inn From the Road, Number XIV

18" x 36"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

This is a new size for my Red Inn paintings and I really like it. This is the 14th painting of this view of the inn from the road on a larger canvas size, but it's actually the 36th time I have painted the inn overall if you include all the various canvas sizes, shapes, views, and seasons. And that's no April Fools joke!

It took several session to complete and I took some photos as I completed each stage. I started as I always do painting the red of the inn, the windows, and the roof.

Then I add the white trim, water, and sky.

Then I work on the trees.

Next I started in on the bushes and all of the beautiful garden details.

It's almost finished at this stage, I just needed to paint the road and sign the painting. I usually leave one corner unpainted until the very end so that I can sign my name to the painting while the paint is still wet.

The last detail was to add RED INN above the front door. I used my paint eraser tool (also called a wipe out tool) to do this part. It's the same tool I use to sign my name. It lifts off the paint to reveal the color underneath-in this case the red.

Best Friends: : a new pet portrait

Best Friends

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

Commission

Rex asked I would paint this cute image of his friends two dogs as a gift for her. The image captured the moment when the doggie on the right finally accepted the newer doggie on the left in to the family. Awe!

Province Lands

Province Lands

12" x 36" x 2"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord
SOLD

This beautiful view is what you will see if you go all the way to the end of Commercial Street in Provincetown on Cape Cod. It's off of Provine Lands Road and it's part dunes, part marsh, part ocean, and part beach. In the distance you can see the Long Point Light Station.

I'm off and running with my paintings for the red inn season which opens in April. My goal is to have 5 new paintings by the time they open their doors. We are headed down (up?) to Provincetown this coming weekend and I hope to get some more inspiration.

Wish me luck!

What a pretty kitty

P.K.

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

Commission

The third and final cat portrait for my friend Danielle.

P.K. is short for pretty kitty and what a pretty kitty he was. He passed away several years ago but still a beloved pet. He looked a lot like my cat Skippy who owned me for 17 years until he had to be put down back in 2001. I did acrylic painting of him several years ago. You can see that painting by clicking here.

Here is all 3 of the paintings together. I decided to give them all a consistent blue background since they will be hung all together along with Paprika whose portrait you can see below.

Meet Lulu

 Lulu

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife of Ampersand Gessobord

Commission

This is Lulu, the second cat that my friend Danielle asked me to paint for her. She has such beautiful eyes, don't you think? They are looking right at you asking for treats.

Fluffy : : new cat portrait

Fluffy

6" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

Commission

Awhile ago I painted a portrait of my friend Danielle's cat Paprika as a tribute to her after she passed away. You can see that portrait of Paprika by clicking here.

Danielle recently asked if I would paint portraits of her other two other cats at the same size and also one of her first cat, PK, who passed several years ago. So my next several posts will be all about cat portraits! Cats a great fun to paint with a palette knife. Especially the whiskers.

Great Danes: : Large pet portrait commission

The Boys: Ziggy and Rory

24" x 36"

Oil with palette knives on Ampersand Gessobord

Comission

Tim asked me to paint a portrait of his two Great Danes as a gift for his partners's birthday. These large dogs needed a big canvas and it took about 8 painting sessions to complete. I took some progress shots along the way. 

Here was my set up. I printed out the reference photo at actual size (on 4 color copies 11" x 17" that I taped together.)

I started with the most important things first-the dogs. I painted a little of green background around them so that I could make sure they would read on the dark green and also to soften the edges of the dogs a little bit.

Then I painted the trees in the background.

Then the flowers, grass, and finally the rocks. The rocks were the hardest thing to paint. They have a lot of colors and textures that I wanted to capture but didn't want them to distract from the dogs.

The painting is now hanging in its home in Austin Texas and the owner sent me this pic of Rory on the couch staring at the painting on the wall. Apparently, he does this every day for 15 minutes at a time.

Thor and Loki at the Public Garden

Thor and Loki

9" x 12" x 1.5"

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

These two Sharpei cuties are residents of Boston and like to hang out at the Boston Public Garden. I had done a painting of Thor on the beach previously but now Thor has a new sibling, Loki to share his escapades with so Hercules wanted me to paint a new painting of both of them together.

Here are a few shots I took along the way to show the process and the progress. I always start with  the most important thing, the subjects, then work my way out from there adding more details along the way as needed.

Notice that I left a little orange corner unpainted in the bottom left. Do you know why? That's where my signature goes so I leave a space to carve out my initials at the very end.

Superbowl Sunday

Polo's Pat Hat

8" x 6"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas panel

SOLD

We will be working at the art gallery at Patriot Place this Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday, but will be home in time to watch the game in the evening. While it will be a "Patriotless" game, it will still be fun to watch both the game and the commercials (but when do you use the restroom without missing something??).

Happy Superbowl Sunday everyone! Next week, one of two lucky cities will be celebrating their world champions with a parade.

Grandkids are the best

Grandkids are the Best!

9" x 12" oil with a palette knife on Blick Studio Artist Board

Commission

This commission has made its way to these lucky grandparents in Chicago. Their good friend Betsy wanted to give them a special gift so she asked if I could paint from a photo that they loved of a special day with their two grandkids. Isn't it the sweetest picture?

Here is a photo I took of my set up at the art gallery showing the painting in progress. I was painting during a playoff game-thus the hat!

Lili : : new Husky pet portrait

Lili

11" x 14"

Oil with a palette knife on Blick Studio Artist Board

My nephew Xander is turning 30 this week. His mama wanted to get him a special gift and decided on a painted portrait of his beloved Husky girl, Lili. She is such a good model and this photo of her swimming is one of Xander's favorites. 

Happy Birthday to Xander!

2020 Announcement :: Getting Focused and Organized

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe it is 2020 already? It's a little surreal. I started this blog on January 1 of 2009 and I plan to keep it going for as long as I can. It's been a documentation of my journey as an artist and I often look back on it to remind me where I've been and where I want to go.

This year I have a big announcement to make as I start my 11th year as a blogger. I've made the decision to retire from my full time graphic design job of 30 years and focus on painting. It's pretty exciting but also very scary.

This is my first week working at my new full time job as an artist and I am trying to get organized. I am a list maker and have lots of ideas so I recently collected all of my notebooks so I could start making a plan. Each of these notebooks hold various thoughts, ideas, and inspirations. The reason there are so many is that I have them in various places-in the car, in my purse, at my bedside table, at my desk. How do you organized your ideas? I would love to hear any suggestions or other words of advice you may have while I wade through the waters. I am a sponge ready to soak it all it!

Ready? Let's Go!

Pure Joy

Pure Joy

Oil with a palette knife on Ampersand Gessobord

36" x 18"

My friend Ann commissioned this painting for her husband's birthday. She sent me the photo she had taken that she wanted me to paint from and I could picture it on this size canvas immediately. I wanted the focus to be on the dogs while still creating interest with their surroundings using depth, color, and atmosphere.

Here are some closer up shots of the doggies. They are such happy Goldens in their happy place-water!

An international commission

This is Boston

8" by 16"

Oil on canvas

SOLD

Bio Bio River, Chile

8" by 16"

Oil on canvas

SOLD

These two pieces were commissioned by someone who bought a small painting of mine at The Artists Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place. The paintings were inspired by photos he took while flying overhead two of his favorite places, Boston and Chile.

These were painting on a loose piece of canvas and I deliberately left the edges rough. 

They were mailed off to Mexico City this week so I guess I can now say my work is collected internationally. That's pretty cool, right?