Sometimes, it’s truly a pleasure to take a break from flinging paint and plaster at walls and sit down before a canvas on my easel. I recently had two such projects. My first commission went as smoothly as any artist could wish. My client has a vacation home on Long Beach Island and was looking for large canvas pieces. After discussing the size of the walls, we settled for gallery wrapped canvases, measuring 30′ by 40″. I would paint the edges, eliminating the need to frame them. What to paint? After reviewing literally hundreds of photos, the choices narrowed down to a particular stretch of beach and another view of the bay area. The dunes were easy to find reference pictures, but the advantage of having an artist design the scene is that it can easily encompass all the particulars that were important to my client. No one photograph could do that. These clouds, these waves, this angle of the bay where small ponds caught the reflecting blue in the sky. Add a slight touch of impressionistic painting, and voila! We have arrived. Here are the two paintings, still at home in my studio. It was really hard parting with […]
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If I had my choice of my favorite places to paint, the list would probably not include a confined space that brought out my heretofore unknown claustrophobic angst or an outdoor project that put me at the mercy of the elements. This first space was a little nook carved out of the unused space under a curved staircase. My client had found the perfect spot to give her daughter a room to construct a Lego City, and keep it protected from her younger brother. Here’s the space waiting for me. The first request was easy. The room would be painted blue. I’d add clouds, a primitive rainbow in solid colored stripes and a few butterflies. Somewhere a few items were added: very realistic jets, helicopters, seagulls and bunnies. What would Lego City be without this? The room went from a cramped 30″ in height around a curved wall to a height of eight feet. Below are some closeups Here’s a picture of the finished space. I’m hoping to be invited back when Lego City is built! So, you would think I’d be ecstatic at the idea of working in a wide open space, under blue skies? Well, to a […]
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