Mia and Juliana Christmas Surprise

I made this portrait about two weeks ago right when I got back from Annapolis. It was a Christmas present to the Grandparents of Mia and Juliana from their son, John Santos. Mia and Juliana are a few years older than their images in the portrait and they were happy to pose under the work. I was lucky enough to be invited for the presenting of this gift. They even fed me some fantastic traditional Portuguese dishes of cod and octopus. I loved it. It was a very good evening. Thank you to the Santos family.

James at Twenty

This is my son, once again, being the model for my work. I wanted a casual portrait of him as he is, pensive and in his hooded sweatshirt. I still have to thank Rick Casali from Maryland Hall for being such a great teacher in the Charcoal Portrait class that I took and to Andree Tullier for the Charcoal Drawing class. They both taught me the basics of using charcoal. Now I find it is the first thing that I want to do when I wake up in the morning. No kidding, I like it that much!

Little Maggie

This is a charcoal portrait that I did today of Liz's niece, Maggie, who is three years old. My son tells me all the time that she is the cutest baby he has ever seen. I never saw her as a baby but I think that he must be right!

I have been very busy lately doing charcoal portraits and I love it. If you would like me to do a charcoal for you, just contact me at cm.mccoy@comcast.net and we can make arrangemnets.

Thanks.

Christine

The Norton Gallery

The Norton Gallery in Padanaram Village will now be representing my portrait work. This is a charcoal that I finished yesterday the owner, Phil reading to his son. They are the only framers that I go to and send my clients to. They are good people and run a great service. If you get the chance to visit this area, make sure that you stop into their gallery. They have many beautiful works of this area by local artists. I don't think that they have a website but they can be reached at (508) 997 - 9674 or they can be visited at 330 Elm Street, South Dartmouth, MA 02748. Padanaram Village, which is part of South Dartmouth, is a beautifully quaint New England harbor-village with great dining and unique shops. I love to go to the book store and the antique shop which has a great collection of old doll house furniture and all sorts of wonderful things that always send me down memory lane!

Alexandra in Charcoal

This is a charcoal portrait of Alex. I am getting much more comfortable working with it, lifting it off the paper, pushing it around with a dry brush and pressing the charcoal dust into the paper with tissue paper. Charcoal is wonderful to work with because it is fast and once framed can last hundreds of years just like a painting. I love it!

Painting the Figure from Life

This painting is from two classes of Rick Casali's painting class at Maryland Hall. The model is Liz Makowski and she is not only beautiful but she is also one of the funniest and most charming story tellers that I have met. She had the whole class laughing many times and the time flew by! I am so sad that the class is over.

Charcoal of Dante

Rick's brother, Dante modelled for us. I am starting to get more comfortable with charcoal. It can be moved around and changed so easily. It is much more fun than pencil or pen. Now I am starting to experiment with different papers. They can hold the charcoal very differently. I found one that I like that comes in single sheets. I hope to be doing a lot more charcoal portraits.

Today's Class

Today we worked on painting portraits from life with John Ebersberger. He expected a lot from us and I like it that way. He makes us really try to take it further than we have before. We had yesterday afternoon and today to work on it. Again, I was trying to establish the planes of the face. I can see places where I would like to adjust but for the amount of time that we had to work on it, I am very happy.

Today's model is Jessica Terneus.

Brenda

This is Brenda Redding who modeled for my Pastel Portrait class. She is a lovely woman and I hope one day to be able to work with her again. She has a natural classy sweetness that I feel I did not capture. I would love to paint her in oils...or even attempt another pastel of her...but this time I would have her in a more natural pose. This pose was for several artists and she had to sit in a position that would work for all of us. It was a good experience and made me want to really learn to work with pastels more. Thank you, Brenda for doing such a lovely job!

Galesville, Maryland Dingy

Today I found a little hamlet called Galesville on the West River just a few minutes from where I am staying in Edgewater. I am going to go back here again and again to paint if I have any say in the matter. I sat at the end of a dock and painted this dingy. It kept swing in the breeze but I did a pretty careful study before I started painting so it didn't matter too much if it bobbed around. after I finished painting I met a man who was tying raw chicken to strings and dropping the chicken in the water and then tying the other end to the dock. I had to ask him what he was doing and he told me that he was "chicken necking." You use raw chicken necks as bait. when you see the string tightened you gently pull it up and with a net, you catch crabs! Now I have to buy some chicken nicks and borrow a fishing net and catch myself some crabs for dinner one night!

Thinking

This little girl had just that look that shows that children are wise. I don't know what she was thinking but I have a feeling it may have been beyond simple words.

This is the Infamous Art Landry!

Yes! I finally did a portrait of my very good friend, Art Landry. For years some of my friends would hear my stories of my adventures with Art but they would never meet him so they began to think I was making him up. So here is proof that he exists, Jane! (Can a painting be proof?)

Something Like Ma

"Ma was painting and she didn't like how her self portrait was coming out so I took over." -Alexandra

Being Jared

Jared came over for a surprise visit today! I haven't seen him in quite a while so we were very happy that he stopped by on his way to Boston. He did not pose for me but while was on the computer with Alex, I did a quick sketch. It doesn't look like him but Alex says that it is still cool!

The Road Less Traveled

This is the road less traveled. Maybe every road in Provincetown could be called that. That's what makes it such a special place. This is the road that leads to the top of High Head. It was very windy and very beautiful as the sun was getting low in the sky. This one is a 9" x 12" so it is not a Daily Painting. It was good to work on something a little larger for a change and very good to have the chance to paint with other much more experienced artists for a week.

Christa Painting Me

This is a watercolor sketch of Christa painting a portrait of me on the beach. While she was painting the Pilgrim tower in the background,

I took a break from modeling and painted this sketch of her. I wanted to buy the painting that she made but it came out too good so she didn't want to sell it. :)

Monday's Sunset

These sunsets have turned out to be a series. The sky changes so fast that choices have to made even more quickly. The wind was cold and gusty so everything had to be clamped or held or steadied. It is like a great game because even when you can't capture it, you learn so much. Even when you loose you win.

Firey Sunset over P-town

I had to paint very fast. The sun went from yellow to orange to the most amazing red. The water changed to reflect all of this and I could not keep up. I was chasing the light as Joanette said. Then I looked up and all the painters were packing up. I knew I would come back but why are the sunsets so fast? I was told to anticipate the color. I will have to paint more sunsets so that I may be able to do that!

Dark Tower

My daily painting was of the sunset in Provincetown. I like this little one. It is very much as it was to me. The flecks of seaweed look like seagulls flying in for the night.

Two Dingies

This morning we headed out to the same spot where the tilted boat was painted yesterday. Hurricane Earl never hit us leaving us just with the tail end of rain and wind. Today, the day after the storm, was gusty and clear. I had to weigh my easle down with rocks so it would not tip over in the wind. Here are the dingies after the storm. P-town is a great place to paint.

Hurricane Ready

This morning I went out and painted a boat tilted on its side to ready itself for Hurricane Earl. This way, if there is a lot of rain, the water will run off the boat and into the ocean. This is the theory anyway. I will try to got back after the storm and see if this boat made it through.

Fallen Tree

Provincetown, Massachusetts is on the eastern most tip of the United States. I came here to paint today because two great impressionist painters, Cedric and Joanette Egeli, are here for the Summer and I wanted to take this chance to paint with them. This was a very quick warm up for getting back to painting outdoors in the special light of Provincetown. It is never easy for me to see light and just paint it. I think that I will try to do several in a row next time.

Padanaram Sailboat

Just finished the commission of the sailboat in Padanarm Harbor. It was peaceful to paint this beautiful boat on the water. I would love to see it with its sail opened up and moving! It must be very dramatic!

x

My Ally

My Ally is not feeling well today. She is just getting over a cold and so I tried my hand at charcoal. I think that this may be the first charcoal that I have done since my first drawing class in Boston almost twenty years ago! About two months ago, I bought a book on charcoal portraits, a drawing kit that contained charcoal pencils and a stack of charcoal paper. I did make one study of a John Singer Sargent so I guess this is my first charcoal from life in many years. It is not finished but Ally posed for about an hour. She liked the way it was coming out so she would go back to posing after little breaks. Maybe we can finish it tomorrow. Still beautiful as always, she does look tired. Thanks, Ally!

Tea Pot and Scale

Tonight I made a watercolor of a teapot on a scale. I was in the kitchen with James. He was drawing and I was playing with a little Winsor and Newton paint box. I was drawn to painting this teapot because I love tea and all the accessories that go with it.

James

Soft pencil sketch of my son, while not a painting is all that I created today.

Teen Girl A

Once again it is my daughter who is the model. She is handy and has great bone structure and she is such a sport about having her portrait done. My son helped with the composition idea. We wanted something that looked timeless so we used a scarf to hide her modern haircut. We gave her a frame to hold to give it some solidity and grounding. James liked the idea that it made her look like she was looking at us through a window. You can click on the image then click on it again to see it blown up many times greater than life. I love the way the fingers are just mere suggestions! You can see all the brush work on the face. Ally really likes the likeness and that is all I need, to know that I did a good a job!

Homage to John Singer Sargent

Today's Daily Painting was made in homage to John Singer Sargent. I used a painting that Sargent made for Jacques Barenton of a little girl in a sailor outfit. I modernized her by putting her in a red shirt, made her a brunette and tossed the big outdated bow for my study on my tiny 15 X 15 cm panel. It is a good exercise and I would like to try it on a larger scale. I do like the small scale because it forces me not to get too fussy about the details and just focus on the major impression.

Portrait of girl in sailor outfit by John Singer Sargent for Jacques Barenton.

Liz Taking South Park Nap

While James and Liz watched an episode of South Park, I took the chance to paint them. James said that the south Park episode was about 20 minutes long which means that I painted both in this time. I am guessing that I spent not more than 5 on James and the rest on Liz. It was very fast work. It had to be. It is a cloudy day and at 7:30 in the evening we already are loosing the light. Liz took a nap and James of course was drawing through it! They had both seen the episode before. Only four days until the new episodes! Yeah!

P-town Beach Model Sketch

Yesterday had me back in P-town to discuss with the Egeli's my options for studying this fall in Annapolis. The Egeli's were having a class and their model, Christa, was posing again so that the workshop attendees could finish the paintings that had started earlier in the week. I was just there for the afternoon but they invited me to stay until morning. I wasn't sure if I was going to make a start at a painting or if I was was just going to sit and watch them on the last afternoon of the summer workshop series. I ended up doing a few sketches of the model and of some of the painters. This is one of the sketches. My sketch book is also a great place to keep quotes that I hear as I am working. The clouds were rolling in as we were all getting started and a drop or two fell before the big clouds rolled away. Some of the painters were concerned and the instructor gave a great quote and it is there at the top of the page.

The Wedding Dress

This post is definitely NFS. I am back to painting and drawing. That is the good news. The bad news is that it came at such a high price. Nine days before the wedding and I am released of any promise that was made. Yes, I was shocked to say the least. I think it was the closest I ever came to fainting. But I survived it and now I have this dress as a memento. I am sad that it did not work out and I am still in shock, I am sure, but I have a great group of friends and family who can console me in this confusion. I don't understand fully what happened but I do know that it is time to pull up the old boot straps and regroup. Yes, when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I have no hard feelings..OK, one or two but overall he was a very good man and he knows what he wants and it is not me! Just wish he could have figured it out a little sooner. As for the dress...I am not sure yet.

Made in the Shade

Today I had the day off from cooking and I took the opportunity to take the two hour drive to Provincetown to paint and see the Egeli's. It was a great day. I love being there.

We had a beautiful model, named In....oops...I can't find where I wrote it! So, beautiful Russian model, if you see this, please drop me a line with your name and I will fix the description of this work on this post!

She sat in the shade and I was able to get a likeness of her that I was happy with. The light in the shade reflecting off of her skin was a joy to paint. I hope that I get the chance to paint her again this Summer!

The first photo was taken in my kitchen after the sun had set using artificial light (my kitchen bulb). It yellowed the entire work.

This second photo was taken in natural light. The colors are much closer to how the work appears in real life. It is much cooler in color giving you the feeling of what it was like in the shade.

The photos only can give an idea of the work. The actual painting is more of a combination of the two. My camera cannot capture the full range of colors so to me, the live works are always more interesting.

Self Portrait on a Hot and Humid Day

It is very hot in the house today and I started to paint. I gave myself one hour to paint my general image and finished just under the hour. I always feel uncomfortable to show myself in portraits. They seem to always come out rough and I tend to look angry or harsh...I guess that is my concentration face...poor sitters if that is what they see when I paint them!

It was a good exercise to paint so quickly but I want a more finished self portrait. One day, I would like to put 5 hours into it like I did on the previous post of my son...I will let this one stand as is. Ok, I lied. I could not let it stand. I took it down.

James in Newport

SOLD

Today's painting is of my son, James. We took a couple of days off together and we went to Newport. I think that this is the first time, other than visiting him up in Boston, that we vacationed together without his sister. We saw a mystery play, went window shopping, he got fudge and we had a very nice time. He is twenty now and no longer my little boy. I am very proud of him. (Does it show in the painting?)

Hacker Street

Before I went for a walk with my sister, Maureen I had just under an hour to kill so I painted the view at the end of her street. The wind off the water was pretty cold but there were people wading in the water anyway. I wish that I had more time to paint this one.

Bammi and Miami

Alexandra went to Miami with me and Steve to meet his family. She was not feeling well but she ended up being a good sport and she really enjoyed the boat show.

I seem to enjoy the challenge of painting these little tiny portraits. Her face is just over an inch wide and when I was almost done, the panel fell onto my palette and I had to scrape off globs of paint!! All part of the experience!

Robert

Today, I spent some time making a new and improved pochade box and I bought Michael Graham paints in Boston last weekend when I went to visit my son James. I wanted to test both the paints and the box tonight and I did this while watching The Soloist so Robert Downey, Jr became the subject of tonight's study. The box worked fine and it is the smallest painting box I have made yet. The M. Graham paints are amazing. I really didn't think that it could make such a difference but they are hand ground pigments mixed only with walnut oil and I used walnut oil as a thinner...no turpentine and no fumes. I painted in my living room and there is no smell of paint. I will post photos of the new box on my other blog. My thanks to Mr. Downey.

Sizing the Engagement Ring

I had my engagement ring sized at Ustinov Jewelers by the owner, Randy. I became instantly attached to this ring as soon as Steve offered it to me on March 23rd so it was a little difficult to hand it over to be sized. Randy did a beautiful job, talked with me the whole time he worked on it and now I have no fear of it falling off! Thank you, Randy!
















This is a two inch square compossition sketch in my Moleskine pad.

5.9 X 5.9 inches Oil on Board

If you wold like to purchase this daily painting, please send your bid by e-mail . Start price is 150.00 US Dollars. The bidding will end in one week, April 9, 2010 at 8PM US Eastern Time. Please see Terms of Sale for details.

Hix Bridge and a Boat

SOLD

This is the Hix Bridge. I travel across it every time I drive home from my physical therapy appointments. PT is always relaxing so I travel over this bridge relaxed enough to appreciate the view. Just over the bridge, there is a place to park and put your boat in the water. This is where I came across this little boat. Though I wanted to paint the bridge, this boat begged me to paint it and so I did. It is still too cold for me to be out on the water but the boat seems to promise warmer days to come.

This painting is no longer available.

Alex, Ana and Olivia

SOLD

Here is the my painting of the day, or should I say month! This one was very hard to do on a 15cm x 15cm panel. I loved the challenge, though! I find that I really like painting baby Olivia in her Mother's arms. She looks so comfortable there! I also like the way Alex holds up his pants to keep them from getting too wet! I really like this one!

This painting is no longer available.

An Award

I received an award for my blog yesterday from fellow artist Nicki Ault who gave me the award for creative and positive blogging and for my ambition at chronicling my work over the past 6 months! Very nice! Thank you, Nicki! To continue the recognition, I am passing this award onto my favorite bloggers and artists.

Cedric Egeli
Rick Casali
Andree Tullier
John Clayton
Desiree Holmes Scherini
John Ebersberger
Majorie Perrin
Abigail McBride

Many of these artists I met in Provincetown, MA and Annapolis, MD and they are all students of the great impressionists. I will update as many of their links that I can so that you can take a look at their work!

Steve's SAVI Boat

SOLD

Tomorrow is Steve's birthday and so today I painted his boat...well...a small painting of his boat! I fixed it a little after I took this photo but when I went to re-shoot the work, my camera could not tell that the memory card was inside! Grrrh! It would not let me take a picture! So this is his birthday gift at the not quite finished stage. Tomorrow I get to go out to eat dinner with Steve and his daughter Victoria! I am looking forward to it very much!

Update....Steve sent me a photo this morning of the finished work so that I could post it. He and Tory have decided to display it on a wall in the boat. Very fun....this is the first time that one of my works will be set out to sea!

This painting is no longer available.

Adah and her Baby

This is Adah, the daughter of my niece, Lauren. She is holding a little doll in a blanket. Adah is very independent with her doll so I am glad that she needs help with the receiving blanket. I lost count of how many times that I wrapped the baby up but I remember that it was a joy each time! This is a "shout out" to Adah and her little baby doll! I have been asked if I would take portrait commissions on these small panels. I have been saying no simple because when I paint these small works at random, it is just to please myself and to practice new techniques and to improve my skills. I don't worry about capturing an accurate likeness which entails hours more work. Having been offered more money by a client, I reconsidered! I will start taking commission on 5.9cm square works. The cost for each small oil portrait is 350.00 US due to the additional time and effort that I will be putting in to achieve a strong likeness. Thank you!

Rock Crabs

One thing that I like about living in New Bedford is that the Portuguese grocery store often has live rock crabs. Years ago, my mother and I would buy them, cook them up and feast on them for lunch with some Portuguese bread and butter. It was a simple meal but it is still one of my favorites. The other day, James and I bought four of them and had them for lunch. What a treat! So, here is a rock crab fresh from Little Portugal for you!

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

First Attempt at Little Girl

Today I got to work a bit more on the big painting. I got more done on the little girl. I decided to paint her holding the pebble in her hand that she had picked up on the beach. She still needs a few more days of work but it is coming along a bit ahead of schedule so that makes me very happy.