Opening at the F.A.N. Gallery

Everything went very well at the opening Friday night in Philadelphia. Here I am with Fred, the gallery owner, a man who is wonderfully passionate about painting. The show looked great, if I do say so myself, and several paintings sold while I was there at the opening.

It turns out that the first Friday of the month is a big time in Old City, Philadelphia, with galleries staying open until 9PM and lots of funky bars and restaurants in the neighborhood. Philadelphia Style magazine published a great article about First Fridays which included an interview with Fred.

The gallery has a new website and a new blog, where they published a short interview with me. The show is up until October 1, although it will be closed Sept. 21-25 because of attendance at the USArtists show, which is a fundraiser for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Girl Talk

Oil on canvas, 8" x 10"
Well, the winds of Irene are raging outside right now. This is my last post before the opening of my show at the F.A.N. Gallery next Friday night, Sept. 2, 5-9 PM. If you're in the area, drop in!

A whole lotta shakin'-sold

Oil on canvas, 20" x 24"
Did I not say that something was going to happen? And funnily enough, this is what I was working on when the earthquake hit- a painting of Union Station in- where?- Washington DC. Call me prescient.

Primary colors

Oil on canvas, 11" x 14"
In the old city of Quebec, any corner you turn may hold charming sights, like yellow houses with blue doors and baskets of red flowers.

On another note- things artists don't want to hear on the eve of their big one-person show:
- The economy is tanking.
- There's a hurricane due to land on the east coast on the day your work is due at the gallery, 300 miles away.
And if it's true that everything comes in threes, there may be one more surprise coming...

Ann and Otis- sold

Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"
From one of my favorite photos, a painting of my friend Ann and her dog. Look who's got the couch...
This will be in my show at the F.A.N. Gallery, coming up very shortly. I really like the work I've been doing the last two weeks- wish I'd been painting like this all along, I would have had all the work I needed weeks ago. As it is, I'm making a last minute push to get everything finished, varnished, and framed.

Time to go home- sold

Oil on canvas, 11" x 14"
This will be at my show at the FAN Gallery in Philadelphia.

T is for tavern-sold

Oil on canvas, 20" x 24"
This is one of my favorite buildings in downtown Providence, and I've painted it several times. The light in the afternoon is very intriguing.
Getting ready for this show at the FAN Gallery, I've worked a lot from photos on the computer. One thing I've found is that it seems to be easy, particularly on larger pieces, to let your darks become too light. Photos on a monitor have so much more light and color than a print of the same image! Before you know it, all your shadows are too light and you've lost the contrast that you need. I had to work back into this to reestablish the darks. It can be helpful to make a print so you can find a happy medium, because prints are hard to work from too- the lights are too light and the darks are too dark. The truth is somewhere in between...

A bar in Brooklyn

Oil on canvas, 11" x 14"
This is headed for my show at the FAN Gallery in Philadelphia in September.

The tally

Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"

The craft fair

Oil on canvas, 11" x 14"
This is a larger version of a piece I did last year and will be at my show at the F.A.N. Gallery in Philadelphia in September.
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The Orange Umbrella-sold

Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"
This is a larger version of a painting I did a while back. It's a picture of the JRS Gallery on Wickendon St. in Providence, which just closed because the owner is now retired.

I'm pleased to announce that I have joined Daily Paintworks, a wonderful group of artists. Check it out!

Hints of lemon- sold

Oil on canvas, 12" x 16"
The roses got pretty beat up by all of the rain we had lately, but I did manage to get one painting done of them. After doing a red wine painting a few weeks back, I had to do a white.