Gloucester City Hall at Night

 Driving home from work a few months ago, I was passing the Gloucester City Hall, when the contrast between the bright yellow artificial light shining on the main tower , and the subdued , blue light on the rest of the building caught my eye. The view made me want to try and paint it. The painting is 6" x 10" acrylic on a wood panel.

The Junk Squad Painting

This is a painting I started several years ago. It is of myself and 3 of my best friends from college, David Stickney, Tom Mulrey and Josh Hayes. We were known in college collectively as "The Junk Squad", (which is a long story in itself).  The painting is based on a photo that was taken many years after college, when we all happened to be visiting another friend of ours for an annual brush-burning party. As the years passed and we had all gone our separate ways, the opportunities for these kind of group photos became less and less. I wanted to commemorate the gathering and the friendship with something with a bit more feeling than a snapshot, so I started this 16" x 20" acrylic on canvas painting.
But before I was able to finish it, I got sidetracked with one thing or another, and before I knew it several years had passed. Then our friend Dave, (on the far left), got sick and died last year.
On the anniversary of his passing this year, I was finally compelled to finish it off.
Time and friends, often slip away from us while we aren't paying attention.

Some Small Paintings

 Here are some small ( 3.5" x 5") paintings I did recently. One is of my wife Amy, and the other is of my friend Dave. They are acrylic on canvas.

Laborare est orare

With the encroachment of the Coronavirus, our church decided to hold it's first ever "virtual" church service this last Sunday (March 15). I usually doodle in a small notebook during the sermon, but being at home and watching via YouTube gave me the opportunity to actually paint during the entire service. It's watercolor on watercolor paper. This art is driven mostly by anxiety, but also by the sermon, which talked about Jesus being the vine, and all of us Christians, the branches growing from that vine.

Native Woman

A quick, (45-minute) 4.5" x 7" acrylic study on paper done from a blurry photograph I took years ago of an exhibit at the Plymouth Plantation Mayflower II kiosk.

The Bunghole

Finally got around to finishing a painting of the well-known Salem landmark  "The Bunghole" liquor store on Derby Street, that I started 3 years ago as a companion piece to the "Steve's Market" painting I did almost 11 years ago. (I move pretty slow sometimes). They are both notable for their antique neon lighting. This is acrylic on a 12" x 16" x 1.5" wooden panel.

Falstaff Painting

An old painting from college days. Oil on a 9" x 12" canvas panel. It's funny that I have ended looking more like Falstaff than I ever would have imagined.

Le Chat Bleu

A small 4.75" x 8" acrylic study 0n paper. It's of my cat Pyewackett. A Russian Blue.

Newburyport Steeple

Another recent painting. This one is acrylic on an 4" x 12" x 1.5" deep canvas. It is a painting of the First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist church in downtown Newburyport, MA. It was painted from a photo taken at dusk.

Here is s shot of the painting in progress. I started with a thin brush and black liquid acrylic, drawing it like a pen and ink drawing and then gradually roughing in the color. 

Portsmouth NH

Latest painting-in-progress. An early evening, winter view of downtown Portsmouth, NH.
It is in acrylic on a 6" x 12" Masonite panel.

Here is the painting in progress. It started as a black and white drawing done with a very fine sable brush and liquid black acrylic paint.

The Proposal

Today's gouache painting which was done from a photo I took about 8 years ago at the Fezziwig's Ball in Salem, MA. I was taking pictures when I spied this young couple having an exchange in the background, who looked like they stepped right out of a Jane Austen novel. You can practically hear the dialogue; "Miss Bennet, I have been granted a commission in the Queen's navy, and before I left, I wished to inquire, if you are not previously engaged, if you would perhaps agree to become my fianceé."

Update: Another gouache sketch of the same couple, different view.

Pirate Sketch

A small gouache painting of my friend Edward Syracusa, dressed in his pirate finery.

Small Acrylic Painting

A recent, small ( 5" x 5" panel), acrylic painting. Done at the February Artscribblein
meeting. Just to show I can still paint.

William Shakespeare

A quick gouache sketch of my friend Cliff Allen as William Shakespeare. It's based on a photo I took of him performing at a small renaissance faire in Newbury, MA. In the original he was actually holding a Gatorade botttle in his right hand. He has also posed for a painting of a pirate captain.

New Sermon Series Art

My latest painting for Highrock Northshore. It is for a new sermon series on Exodus.
It is a kind of vertical triptych showing bondage, escape and deliverance to the promised land.

Logan Portrait

Here is a 5" x 7" acrylic and gouache painting of the Marvel character Wolverine from the movie "Logan". I painted the image to use on a friend's home-made birthday card. The inside said "Happy Effin Birthday". I don't usually like painting figures from pop culture, but since my friends are huge pop-culture geeks who loved the movie and I have been feeling a bit like "old man" Logan myself lately, it seemed like a good fit.

More Little Paintings

Two more 2.5" x 3.5" acrylic paintings. These were done as a 10th anniversary present for my wife Amy.  It's a portrait of her and a self portrait of myself as the king and queen of some fictional country.

Little Paintings

My wife and I visit a chiropractor regularly, but last month we completely missed an appointment. As way of an apology, my wife asked me to do a small painting for our doctor Amy Rosen. I had purchased a pack of tiny 2.5" x 3.5" canvases months ago, and had never figured out what to do with them. This seemed like a great opportunity to use them.  The subject matter of favor was Crane's Beach in Ipswich, MA. These are what I came up with.

My wife and I ended up choosing the image of the beach path as it was the simplest and seemed to work the best at the small business-card size. I made a little display easel for the painting out of basswood. Our gift was a big hit and our absence was forgiven.

Advent Art

A piece I finished recently for Highrock Northshore church for their Advent sermon series; "Unexpected:When God Catches You By Surprise". The original is acrylic on a 14" x 17" birch panel.
It was somewhat inspired by VanGogh's "Starry Night".

Here is what the finished slide looks like.

ArtSunday Painting

This last weekend I organized an small art show for my church Highrock Northshore that we call ArtSunday. It's designed to showcase the breadth and variety of the artistic talent that we have within the congregation. Although we have several professional artists in our church, this show also gives people with widely differing levels of artistic skill, a low-pressure environment to display their art. This is the second one of these that I have done over the last year. The theme of the this one was "Intimacy" which tied in with our current sermon series on sex and intimacy. Above is my entry for the show, another little 5" x 5" acrylic painting titled "To Sleep". It is a painting of the bed I share with my wife Amy. Originally it was going to be called "Amy's Favorite Place" but we preferred the more subtle reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet.