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)