"Beacon Hill Trifecta!"

"Beacon Hill's Trifecta"  12x16 oil

My winter Beacon Hill painting...

As I completed my most recent Beacon Hill painting, I was excited to learn that my winter version of Beacon Hill, completed recently, was just awarded first place in oil painting and Best in Show at Norwood 's Art in the Park. I spend a lot of time on "the hill" since my son and his family moved here last fall and I find it a visual feast. Being enamored of historic architecture and antiques,  this is my newest painting paradise. While I sought to impart the cold, mysterious snowy atmosphere to the winter scene, I wanted to give the view from MT Vernon Street the same warm and glowing feeling I experienced that hot spring morning. My son and I had just finished breakfast at the bakery at the bottom of the hill and were walking back to his place. The view of three steeples lining up and being illuminated by the strong light when looking down the hill was impressive. I like the constant contrast of the old flat brick facades with the rounded brick facade portions added later. I initially was planning to include an overhead branch in my foreground, but decided that the composition was even better without it. Instead I decided to include  the "no parking" sign on the lamp post that is so Beacon Hill. The pure cad red right out of the tube popped it immediately to the foreground.  I kept colors strong and warm, with many gradations in my red bricks to bring out the forms and move the viewers eyes through the painting. Having completed 3 seasons so far, I look forward picking my "summer scene".
Adding an edit as I learned that this painting also received first place in the 2015 Foxboro Art Association show.

Beacon Hill Beauty

"Embracing Winter "of 2015 12X16 oil 

Boston had record snowfall this winter and neighborhoods were coated every few days with a  fresh white blanket. The snow piled up, cars were buried and paths became narrower and narrower as navigating the streets became more and more difficult. While frustrating for many, for me the freshly fallen snow presented an opportunity to see the beauty of the city in a different light. This scene of Beacon Hill is from the first storm, Juno, in January. It continued snowing for another 6 weeks giving me plenty of time to work on my painting. The late night view afforded the scene an ephemeral  untouched, untrodden freshness. The old fashioned lamp posts illuminated the scene in a unifying manner and created wonderful patterns as light and shadow alternated on the banks and buildings. The color harmony was strong and allowed me to focus on creating a mysterious glow bringing the viewer deep into the nocturnal space. I used rags instead of brushes in the first phase of painting. When I switched to brushes later, I kept edges soft and minimized details to give the viewer enough information to fill in the scene on their own.

Beacon Hill is Quintessential Boston

Acorn Street, Beacon Hill, Boston, MA   16x20 oil on linen

When I was asked to paint a wedding present for a couple moving to CA from Boston, all sorts of ideas flooded into my head. The groom had lived in Boston and especially loved Beacon Hill. Perfect! My son and his family just moved to Beacon Hill last month. It was a part of the city that embodied all the elements of "old Boston".  The brick buildings, cobblestone streets, old fashioned lamp posts that are on day and night, the window boxes and iron work all exemplify my image of old Boston. Almost every doorway demands to be admired and photographed or painted. I was excited to have a destination in the new family neighborhood. I spent the first day photographing all the streets, crisscrossing up and down the hills and looking for possibilities for future paintings as well. I repeated my steps and process that afternoon so I could examine morning versus afternoon light. I broke out my sketchbook on Acorn Street and did some preliminary studies. I hoped this would be the setting for the painting. After contacting the couple to be sure this would be to their liking, blocking in the masses commenced. I took advantage of the lamplight to brighten the colors somewhat as the street is narrow and dark. I chose the spot where the ancient green vine grew up the building to capitalize on the red/ green harmony and echoed this harmony in the window boxes. The colonial American flag that flew above the street clinched my choice of scenes as it defined the character of the neighborhood, being  repeated on other streets around the hill. The flag provided a point of interest to move the viewer down the hill while letting other detail and color diminish in the distance. Although the street was very crowded with tourists on my weekend visits, I decided to leave the people out of it.  I wanted to portray it as I saw it on weekday visits; a quiet, well kept and serene neighborhood with a lot of history.  Next stop- Louisburg Square!