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.

Hammond Arches at Night

A small painting of the arches at Hammond Castle at night. 

Painting is 6" x 10" on a wooden panel.

The Diver

 Recent painting of a diving helmet from the Maine Maritime Museum. Acrylic on  4.5" x 8" x .125" thick birch plywood.

Friends

A gouache sketch of two good friends of mine, Levi and Grace Nelson. Levi is a graphic designer and painter in his own right. I did this as a kind of "thank you" to them for just being two of my favorite people.

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.

Le Chat Bleu

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

Edwardian Couple

Another quick sketch done in gouache on paper. An Edwardian-era couple frolicking in the surf.

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.

More 5" x 5" Paintings

Some recently completed 5" x 5" acrylic paintings. They are small and quick to do, usually only taking an hour or two.

The Sky 

The Beach

The Gate

The Red Chair

Small Watercolor

A small (4" x 3.5") watercolor done on my vacation in Maine. It's a species of wildflower called a Bunchberry, (which sounds like a type of breakfast cereal).

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.

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.