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!

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.

Downtown New Bedford

SOLD

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)

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)

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)

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)

Fresca Grill, The Story Begins

Last night I went to an amazing new restaurant in New Bedford on Rivet Street called Fresca Grill. I wanted to paint the inside of the gorgeous old brick building and Victor Vieira, the owner, was great to allow me to bring in a crew of models for my daily blogs! The atmosphere and the incredble food had me staying much longer than I intended. The sea bass on a foundation of truffled polenta with avocados and grilled tomatoes had me transported out of my everyday existence. This sounds dramatic but that is the essence of the Fresca Grill. Do yourself a favor and check this place out!

Looking through my material from that night, I found it read like a scrambled drama. I have decided to try to tell this mini drama through my daily paintings so stay tuned and read the titles to follow the story! Special thanks to Tasha who not only waited on us but is tonight's model and to Victor who so gracously let me use his beautiful restaurant as the setting!

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)

Long Day

I am very luck to have a daughter who plays along with me and will be my model. My favorite poses are the ones in which she stops posing and just relaxes. She flops herself down and suddenly there is the painting! Tonight, she and some friends will be my models in a new Restaurant in the city called Fresca. If all goes well, tomorrow’s blog will be a restaurant scene.

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

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James

I came home from work at 9:00PM and then had dinner and cleaned up. At 10PM I didn't think that I would have time to make and post a paintng but James volunteered to sit for me and I couldn't pass that up! This quick study took me only one hour to sketch and paint. I started at a little past 10 and was done by 11:15. I was able to take a picture, upload it to my computer and post it just under the midnight bell! Thanks, James, I couldn't have done it without you! (BTW he was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 Earth vs the Spider, during his sitting.)

Mudhead

Weeping Fig on Mantle

Oil on panel

5" x 7"

Again it rained all day and so I was forced to paint indoors. I came home from a nice dinner and started painting at 9:30PM. I work a day job and have family so I was pretty tired picking up the brushes but once I started painting it was all good. I relaxed and enjoyed the process. I feel that I did not give myself enough time. It is just started and a lot of the details and highlights are not placed but that is the nature of these quick oil sketches. It forces me to think and act quickly to get down the overall impression as fast and accurately as I can. They are exercises, like running or lifting weights. It is a training and it is very rewarding.

Movie Night

James is home from college and that means watching movies with Kayla and Liz. It was so good to have them all here again! Painting them was a good challenge. I wasn't sure if I could capture them but that is them without a doubt. My intention is to keep it simple for myself but in the end, I paint what I love even if there is a little bit of an overwhelming feeling. That is what makes it was so much fun. They did not pose or even hold still for more than a moment (it was a thriller flick). They were a joy to paint. I couldn't have had better subject(s) to paint to represent the highlight of this day.

Oil on panel, 5" x 7"

Lobsters in the Pot!

This is a 5" X 6.5" oil panting that was made by using my usual limited pallet of three colors (yellow, red and blue) plus white. Just four tubes allows me to keep my kit as simple and as light-weight as possible. I carry around a small box-ealse and all my supplies in a backpack so that I can set up quickly and paint almost anywhere I go. I like to create a painting that tells a story about something that happened during the day as a visual journal. The highlight today was lunch and dinner! Got a surprize gift of lobsters today from John. I cooked them up and shared them with Uncle Jimmy, my daughter and friends. Thought the lobsters would be my Painting of the Day. Ha! We ate them long before I pulled out my paints! Thanks, John.

Oil on panel, 7" x 5"