Waiter at Anthony's-sold

Oil on canvas on board, 6" x 8"

My friend Janice and I went to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston recently to see the Shepard Fairey show (he was the creator of the famous Obama "Hope" poster). It was an excellent show- I was very impressed with both the quality and the quantity of the work. Janice posted some pictures on her blog. Afterwards we went next door to Anthony's Pier 4 for lunch. It's a pretty upscale place but we managed to eat without breaking the bank. I sneaked some photos while I was there. I've found that I like painting older men; their faces have so much character...

The red bike-SOLD

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

Sometimes I just want to paint something bright and sunny. I was attracted to this scene because of the variety of greens and bluish greens, with that red strip across the bottom and the red bike.

Saturday night-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

This past Saturday night we went to a nice little restaurant/bar not far from home, with a couple of cute bartenders.

Morning at Amy's- sold

Oil on canvas, 8" x 10"

Amy's is a cute, friendly little coffee shop in Providence.

Holding court-sold

Oil on canvas on board, 6" x 8"

If you tried to look at this blog yesterday afternoon, you may not have been able to see any of the posts, although you could see the sidebar. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when my husband and I eventually were able to get it back online. If that happens to your blog, the solution seems to be to empty the cache then hit refresh. (Don't ask me why.) I also set the clock to Eastern Standard time (finally) so it no longer looks like I'm posting at 4AM.

Making a point, drinking a pint-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

The pink scarf- sold

Oil on linen, 6" x 6"

I loved the pink scarf and the big hoop earring on this girl. The background had a lot more going on  but I wanted to keep it simple.  Does the pink shape carry too much weight in that corner? 

Cafe Chokolat- sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

I stopped in to this little coffee shop on my way to my teaching job last week and was just entranced by the colors and tiers of muffins on the counter.

Snow II-NFS

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

Another painting from the other day. The snow's gone now, it rained that night.

The snow is melting... -sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

... so I tossed my painting gear in the car yesterday and went out to paint. How can any painter resist those deep purple/ blue shadows? This building is at a country club/ golf course near my house.

Workboots-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 6"

I'm having a show right now at JRS Fine Art, 218 Wickendon St., Providence, through the end of February. It's mostly small paintings of landscapes and restaurants; the title of the show is "Little Rhody". The gallery is open Tues.- Fri. 11-5, Sat. 11-4, Sun. 1-4. Stop by and check it out if you're in the area!

Tulips

Oil on canvas, 5' x 5"

I bought these tulips the end of last week and struggled to find a great composition, without any luck. I finally did this little one, but I'm hoping the flowers will last just a little bit longer so maybe I can do something better.

Crude but effective- this is the holder I made to work on little paintings. It's just a piece of masonite with a 1" x 3" cut to fit and nailed to the bottom, to serve as a ledge. A bull clip holds a piece of a shingle to the top and is easily moved. (Shingles are very thin at one end, so the clip can hold it.) The whole thing is easy to pick up and move to a place with good light for photographing. I know- it's really ugly- but it was cheap and works perfectly.

A busy night-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

The waitress- sold

Oil on linen, 6" x 6"

Summer hat-sold

Oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

Sometimes mental fatigue sets in and I can't deal with composing groups of objects in new and interesting ways. Then I hunt around for one thing I can light dramatically and have fun painting.