Just a Peek

Just a peek of the face that I worked on today. I don't want to reveal too much as it goes along...just a glimpse here and there before the the whole work comes together. I have more pictures of what went on in the studio today on my other blog. Having company while I worked was nice!

Boy at Buttonwood Park

I saw this boy with his Mom and Dad and older brother trying out the new playground in Buttonwood Park. He liked to sit at the bottom of the slide. We played here as girls but there was a corkscrew style metal slide at the time.

This paiting is available for bids starting at $150 US dollars. Bids may be made via e-mail.

Much of the Background

I have not touched the members of the family yet so they are still very sketchy. I spent my time today working on the water and background. The small painting that I made a few weeks ago is a big help as a reference. I did change a few things. In the small work, the girl's arm is straight. I changed it to a bent arm so that it draws you back into the painting instead of just having a rectangle of blue ocean on the left side of the work. Also, in her hand in the large work, she will be holding a small beach stone that she picked up during the shooting.

Underpainting

Today I got the chance to cover nearly all of the canvas. I am blocking in where everything goes and trying to get the colors pretty accurate. After Christmas, I will continue to develop the painting and will keep you posted on the progress. The hours of good natural light are very short this time of year. When do the days start getting longer?

Starting on the Larger Work

I have changed the position of the father's head. Over the next few days I will try to cover the canvas with the general idea and then build it up into a complete painting over the next few weeks. Eventually, on my other blog, I will post more photos of the whole process so that you can see, step by step, what goes into making a larger portrait commission.


Here I am checking the proportions of the face and the bodies before I commit to using paint. It saves a lot of time to make sure the dimensions are right from the very beginning. I use an old pencil compass that my Dad used when he was in school. It must be at least 50 years old.

Izzy Helps Out with a Big Commission

Today I was lucky and had a very nice visit in my studio from Izzy. She is very interested in art and she helped me with the underpainting for this oil study that I worked out today. Tomorrow I will start on the big canvas. It gives me a general idea of how to approach the large canvas and gives me a chance to see what works and what I would like to change. It is just a general sketch and the work I start tomorrow will be nine times larger. In the larger work I will capture a greater likeness and will have more room for details. This is very exciting for me! Thank you, Izzy for stopping by and showing an interest. You are welcome in my studio anytime!

AnnMarie Writing

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Finished this one today. I will post some pictures of my set up and daily painting easel on my other blog so you can see how fortunate I am to be so portable that I can paint in such comfortable surroundings. Now that I use walnut oil, there are no fumes so no need for ventilation. For me, the walnut oil has freed me to paint almost anywhere...in my car, in homes without the hazards of mineral spirits. So nice!

This painting is no longer available.

AnnMarie in Prose - Underpainting

I am on vacation in Michigan with my sister, AnnMarie. She is taking a course on Writing Essentials and as she did her homework, I took the opportunity to paint her. I will tell you that I have relaxed more than I have in a long time since I have been here. Her home is peaceful and full of clocks that make all kinds of bird calls and chimes and bells! It is great! It is like stepping back in time! While I painted she also read to me some excerpts from If You Want to Write - A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Ueland. I think any artist would love this book. It was first published in 1938 but it so current; as AnnMarie says, "It is timeless."

Buttonwood

Shades of Green

A friend told me the other day that he can't see the color red. I wondered what the world would look like with no red. There would be no brown because to make brown you would need red. There would be no violet and no pink and of course, no red. So for today's painting, I left the red paint off my palette using only blue, yellow, black and white paint. I don't know if this is how he would see the fountain lady at Buttonwood Park near the greenhouse but this is how she looks with no red.

An Award!

An Award!

• I just received a creative award for my blog thanks to Kelley MacDonald
  
  

Now I am asked to list 7 non-art related things about myself.


1. I love to cook, have taught cooking classes, been asked to write a cookbook and I am a foodie (will set vacation/day-trip destinations based on the food I can get there! Dungeness Crabs in San Francisco, Newport Rhode Island's Salvation Cafe's Codfish on Cilantro Mashed Potatoes with sake mushroom reduction glaze...)


2. I have my motorcycle license.


3. I am an herbalist and once owned an herb shop!


4. I am a sharp shooter with a riffle.


5. Got put in a holding cell in a police station in a suburb of Chicago for riffling through police mail!! Long story...I was innocent, honest!!


6. Set a trap to lock someone in the bathroom by forcing a scrap of my coloring book into the lock when I was about 7 and forgot I did it and locked myself in. My mother had to call the fire department to break the window to get me out. Hmmmm.


7. I have duel citizenship with Ireland!

and now for 7 of my favorite blogs to follow...the most creative...

Emily and Ruth

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I said that I would use this journal to paint things from my daily life so what am I doing as a city girl painting elephants? Well, I live across the street from these two girls; Ruth and Emily. When I was in Grammar school I remember we only had Emily and we were told that we were getting a new elephant and that the children of the city were to name the new elephant by vote. That is how Ruth got her name. When my daughter was four, we moved into this house across from the zoo and she came to me saying there were elephants outside. I thought she meant in the zoo but she tugged me over to the window to show me that the elephants were walking with their trainer right across the street from our house!! It was very exciting. So yes, Ruth and Emily are part of my daily life.

Girl at Fort Phoenix

I loved the character of this girl. She gave me the impression that she was far wiser than her years. She was part of the wedding party and...(now I am just guessing at this part)... she was taking a break from it all with her Dad and sister. I really don't know if the man was her Uncle and if the girl was her cousin. It doesn't matter. It reminds me of being a girl...running around the cannons, and how good it felt on a "big" day in a fancy dress to suddenly not have to be so formal again.
5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Second Girl at Fort Phoenix

Fort Phoenix has to be one of my all time favorite places to go when I need to clear my head and have some quiet time. It has a nice beach, benches that look over the ocean and of course, the old cannons. It is a nice place to fly a kite, walk your dog or, as in this case, take wedding photos before the reception. This young lady was with a wedding party and she escaped from the photographers just in time to pose for me! I don't know your name but if you end up seeing this, thank you for being such a super model! 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

X

The Pepper Mill

Painting at the Fort

The Green Pearl Earring

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I have the huge advantage that my daughter is an ever available model and that she is such a beauty. I used her today to study the planes of the head. I need to do more of this. I also want to study the planes of the hands. I may try that tomorrow. 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Study of a Sargent

I am so glad to be back home and making my daily painting again. After my sculpting class I wanted to do a study of the face. I picked a John Singer Sargent painting to copy for my practice. He was such an amazing portrait painter. His work has influenced me greatly. So here is my little painting that I offer you for today. I hope you enjoy it!

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Last Day of Sculpting

This was a great experience, to strip away the skin and get to know a little bit about the bone and the muscles that make up the body. I learned a lot from my teacher Rick Casali. This has just whet my curiosity and I am looking forward to going home to study this more. I will dust off the old "anatomy for artists" books and make some clay studies at home...and sketches...and paintings. I will have to apply what I have learned to my daily paintings. That is the great thing about being an artist...there is always more to learn.

Anatomy Study Day Two

Half of today was sculpting and the other half was watching a portrait demo and going out to dinner. No time to paint with the schedule as is and tomorrow will be even more busy. Monday I have an eight hour ride back to Massachusetts and may be able to paint in the evening when I get home. I miss the daily painting very much.

First Sculpted Study

Still here in Annapolis. Today I took some time out to start a sculpted study of a man. I will be putting him together over the course of three days. I have always wanted to try a 3-D work. You can see how he shapes up tomorrow and the next day.

Bust in Egeli Studio

I left my house this morning at 8 A.M. in Massachusetts and arrived at the Egeli's house and studio in Annapolis just before 5 P.M. I got the tour of the studios and the house. After dinner, I wanted to paint so they offered me the studio. It was so fun to be in this huge studio with giant paintings and plaster casts and replicas of human skulls and beautiful vases and staging for sitters. It felt like Christmas and I did not know what to paint. Then I saw this peaceful man frozen on an antique hutch. So he is what I painted. 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Eddie in My Back Yard

I am lucky enough to have Eddie Dillon as one of my very good friends. He is the one who cut a year's worth of panels for this blog. He is songwriter and musician and he is giving me a solo performance in order to be my model today. He is multi-talented having just finished his first novel. He also performs a live theatrical show about growing up in an Irish family and his adventures as an American-Celtic performer. You are a sweet and valued friend. Thanks, Eddie!

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Downtown New Bedford

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Downtown New Bedford holds a lot of memories for me and the fondest are from childhood. My sister, Maureen and I would walk downtown to wave hello through the basement window to the women who sewed there. We would buy five cent erasers in the shapes of animals at Star Store. We would go the chapel to confess our sins and we would go to the library to take out new books and watch silent black and white movies such as King Kong and The Phantom of the Opera. The Star Store is now the art school for The University of Massachusetts so there is a new and thriving art community there now. This woman held an art portfolio as she walked William Street over the slate sidewalk. 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

The Gondola Ride

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Providence, Rhode Island is about 40 minutes from my house. It is a very dramatic city bursting with great places to eat, great art galleries, a very giant mall for my daughter's pleasure and WaterFire! WaterFire is held twice a month in the summer and it is a huge event during which, large fires are lit at intervals down the center of the river. There is classical music pumped from the buildings, there are street entertainers and there are the gondolas! So romantic!

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Mossy Moran

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I went to the Kinsale Inn in Mattapoisett tonight for a good hot dinner, the company of friends and to listen to Mossy Moran. He is a wonderful Celtic Musician and has a lovely voice. I could not stay long. I left at 8:30 to dash home and paint this for today's post. I know that these little works are just a training ground for me and that I use them to sharpen my skills and as a discipline but sometimes the tight time limit leaves me wanting to add more, to make the likeness more accurate, to finish the work just a bit more. But this is all good. It forces me to be decisive and get the most basic elements down as quickly as possible. If it were a painting a week I would be tweaking it for seven days!

So thanks to Mossy for giving me permission to use him as tonight's model and for my friend, Aoife Clancy who told me that I should go tonight and see him play. It was a very nice time...next time I will paint and post first so that I can stay a while longer.

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

The Shell Seekers

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This is an oil study that I did today of a Father and his daughter . They are part of a commission of a family portrait that I am starting this week. I am trying to familiarize myself with the subjects a bit before I start putting the whole family together. They are on a beach in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. I let them be as natural as possible and I like the way that turned out. It allowed me the chance to observe their personalities and how they interact with one another. Such a sweet family... I am enjoying every stage of this commission.

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Judah and Teddy

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When I was little I had a stuffed animal dog named Henry. We went everywhere together that was allowed. I could not bring him to church and I could not bring him to school. This is Judah with his good friend Teddy. They are leaving church together. Lucky for both that bears can now go to church. Judah still has to leave him home for kindergarten...I think! Do they allow bears now in Kindergarten? 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Robert Costa Plays One Sweet Guitar

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This painting is of my nephew, Robert. He played for me for the first time at my house. Singer/songwriter Eddie Dillon was there, too. We were all impressed. The songs he wrote can be found on his new album that he just released with his group, Driven Wind. I think when I sketched this, he and Eddie were improvising an incredible duet for us. He is going to be coming back down to New Bedford in November to perform. I am very excited for him! 5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale) Here is a publicity photo of musician, Robert Costa. I love this one!

Texting "Good Night"

It has become a ritual with my daughter and her friends as I am sure it has become for millions of people world wide. Every night Alexandra texts her friends to touch base on their day and to say good night. She probably sets plans for tomorrow, too. I was lucky because tonight when I asked her what I should paint and she told me to paint her in bed texting her friends! I get so excited to have her model. She doesn't often volunteer and she never stays still for very long...maybe ten or fifteen minutes but that is enough for me to capture the mood; quiet, content and connected. So now I text everyone "Good night" just like Alex.

Notebook, Juiceglass, Pear

This is my kitchen table. It is central control. It often has my notebook computer on it. The speakers were attached because Alexandra and I watched "Catch Me if You Can" during dinner. The pear was meant for the salad that I never ate. The flowers in the vase were given to my daughter from her boyfriend, Brodie. The glass is just that. I used my view finder and did a quick sketch. Again, I used the walnut oil which I truly love and this is the result. It looks like home to me.

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Green Grocer Pumpkins

Just a bunch of pumpkins for today's daily painting. They were done at the Green Grocer organic food store in Portsmouth, RI. It was a little drizzly so I ended up having to pack up before it was finished and then it stopped drizzling, of course. I set up the paints again and continued on. So here it is. Oh! I did something different today. I tried using walnut oil instead of turpentine. I love it. It made the paints so buttery and easy to work with. I will continue playing with the walnut oil and keep you posted on the results.

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

The Laundry Basket

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Okay. Now I know that something has fundamentally changed in the way I view the world. I was sitting in bed about to shut off the lights and call it a night. I looked up to see my laundry looking like a painting! It was a beautiful painting!! I began to paint it in my head and then I got out my sketch book and did a little sketch just to get it out of my system, but then the sketch looked good to me too! So today I painted my laundry...something I usually don't enjoy seeing... and I am very happy with the resulting little painting! I love this one! I also included the thumbnail sketch.
5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

A Walk in the Park

From before the sun comes up until well after the sun goes down, people walk around Buttonwood Park. The sun was setting and the light struck this woman and I thought that this would make a nice painting. The only problem was that I was driving my car at the time. Tonight I did this painting from memory. It is the first that I have ever painted this way. I made myself do it as an experiment because my favorite blogging artist, Edward B. Gordon, wrote that his post of yesterday was done strictly from memory. It was amazing and you should really check it out. It was interesting to do...I didn't expect to enjoy the whole process as much as I did. Tomorrow I think I will paint some drift wood that I have in my house from one of my beach combing days!

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

New Packaging!

Your oil painting by Christine M. McCoy from her "A Painting a Day" series will be arriving beautifully gift wrapped. The natural choice is environmentally friendly and mostly recycled packaging. Holiday neutral crimson raffia ribbon and nature inspired paper are from a local source in Rhode Island. Your gift-wrapped oil painting is then wrapped in protective bubble-wrap. Included is a receipt which will have a picture of the work and instructions on care and copyright. This document serves as proof of ownership of an original work of art. These will be sent out in a padded envelope for added security. You may choose to have the painting shipped directly to whomever you would like. You have the option to include a gift note with your personalized message inside! What a wonderful surprise to get in the mail!

Sunset on New Bedford's East Beach

I wanted to paint from life again. Using a palette knife to mix and paint, I tried to get the colors of the sunset. It all changes so quickly. Everytime I look up there is a change and it makes it fun. There were four Portuguese men fishing. One came up and told me that he used to paint when he was in high school in Portugal. He liked the colors. I didn't quite capture them when I took the photo for the blog. The actual painting is not so green. I tried to correct this but the lights in my house are not like day light. Maybe I will shoot it under natural light tomorrow and show the difference.





5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Maureen's Front Stoop

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Back from cooking and back to painting! Today I went to my sister Maureen's house where she was getting her lunches packed in Bentos for the coming week's worth of work lunches. I didn't want to paint in the house while she was cooking so I went out to her front stoop. When we were little girls, we would all sit on the lowest step of the front porch and hang out with our friends and keep an eye on the neighborhood. My Mother would say, "Get off the stoop!" I don't know why. We weren't expecting company. Maybe she thought it just looked bad. Now that we are grown we sit on the stoop. She sits there with Craig and they chat as I paint and when I take a break from painting I sit there too. We still keep an eye on the neighborhood. "Are those lights on in the car across the street?" We never did investigate that.



Oil on Panel / 5.9” x 5.9” / 15cm x 15cm


Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

False Evidence

Now the plan is accomplished and the two conspirators start to celebrate just as Karrin's heart drops. Not very nice. I wonder now why I even read it this way! I must have a dark side. I did enjoy painting the series though. I had planned to do four more, and I may still do them, but for now I want a break. I need to paint in other colors and outdoors is so beautiful this time of year that I don't want to miss it! So farewell to the Fresca Grill...for now...I know I will be back there in paint and in life!

A Little Break

This is a little watercolor that I painted of my Martini Brahmin Handbag that is hanging on my wall. It is not for sale for two reasons, first it is in my notebook and second, I painted it with my left hand because my right hand and back are very tired so I am giving them a rest. Not too bad for my left hand!



This is a picture of all the paintings in the Fresca Grill Series so far. I like the way they look all together but, alas, there was interest shown in one so it looks like the set will be broken.




Here I am on the left with my sister, AnnMarie on the right. We are at Fresca Grill and since she is the one to get me painting again after a 14 year lapse, I had to include her on this blog. It is dedicated to her after all! What a great time we had there Tuesday night! She goes back home half way across the United States in less than a week. I will spend as much time with her as I can. I want her to be my model for a painting. :-)

Forged Evidence

Here is Karrin, soon to be holding the forged letter...it is not painted in yet so you have to use extra imagination for this one. The conspirators are huddled in the background.

This one is not finished because my painting arm is tired and I want to rest it. But I am still trying for a painting a day, so here it is. I painted the majority of this one with my left hand. That made for slow going and an unfinished painting.

He Knows

My sister AnnMarie came down from Michigan today and guess where she wants to go on her first night here.
That is right... Fresca Grill! So as soon as I am done with this post, I am off to meet her there!

Well it is a good thing someone was watching out for Karrin. This man saw the whole thing.

Thanks to Joe from Fresca Grill for modeling for this painting. I took liberties to make him a bit more intense for the story line! Oh, the drama!

5.9" x 5.9" / Oil on Panel / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Hearing a False Rumor

Now the conspirator delivers a false rumor. The woman at the bar listens incredulously. The news is something that she did not want to hear...but she will wait for evidence...this rumor can't be true!

I enjoyed painting our new model, Karrin. I have known her since she was eleven years old and this year she seems to have suddenly turned into a woman! Thanks, Karrin for joining us in this project! I think I will have to make some of these into larger works!


Oil on Panel / 5.9” x 5.9” / 15cm x 15cm


Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Day Off

Even God needed a day of rest...which makes me wonder....How does Edward B. Gordon do It? :-)

The Conspirators

The story continues at the Fresca Grill
I get the feeling that these two are up to no good...well actually I asked them to pose this way. I wanted something romantic but Alexandra and Jared are just friends and I should have had her pose with her boyfriend but...if I had, I would not have this little drama of intrigue working its way out in paint, now would I? So it turned out for the best that Jared had a little sneer and Alex look a bit uncomfortable. What could they be conspiring about? Well, you will have to come back to see...anyway, I give no details so you can make the conspiracy about anything you want. Thanks again to Fresca Grill's owner Victor and my two dramatic and absolutly gorgeous models.

Oil on Panel / 5.9” x 5.9” / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)

Fresca Story-Forged Confession

Here is a continuation of the story. Again it is Jared and he was writing something totally unrelated to forged confessions...although really I am not sure because I don't know what he wrote but I do know I made up the forgery part for my painted drama series! That night gave me a lot of great material. Thanks again to Victor, owner of Fresca Grill for the beautiful setting. My friend, Jane is celebrating her birthday there tomorrow. Wise woman...that is exactly where I would choose to go!

Oil on Panel / 5.9” x 5.9” / 15cm x 15cm

Purchase of this daily painting may be done through contacting my email . Each daily painting is $150 US plus applicable tax. (Please see Terms of Sale)