A Cottage Called Al-Fred, 9x12 oil

SOLD

This little gem of a cottage is on Cape Cod, and my friends and I paint there a couple of times a year with my dear friend Joan Brancale, who is a fabulous painter. (She's been featured in magazines, and her art has been advertised in American Art Collector). This painting started out as a plein air painting, and I worked on it in the studio to fine tune it a little bit. I love the feeling of crispness of the air, when I look at it I can smell the salt water off to the left. I wanted to sit on those red adirondak chairs and watch the water!

Oh, and we were so curious as to the whole 'Al-Fred' sign - turns out that the couple is something like Aline and Fred, hence Al-Fred, :)

East Beach Date, Oil 18x24

In Westport, MA there are a few great beaches.  Some are great to swim in, some to fish in, some to walk, or just take in the view.  East Beach is a place where a lot of people just go to feel the sun and the breeze and gaze at the beautiful horizon.  One day last Summer when I was painting there, this couple showed up at lunchtime just to sit and talk.  The red jeep and young people enjoying the day was just impossible to pass up, and I had to take a picture.  I knew this image would make a great painting, and there's an upcoming show about the color red, which I mentioned in my Daily Blog.  So.... this was painted fast and furiously, in one fell swoop, and hopefully the energy I felt painting it can be felt by the viewer.  

I also used a few new colors that I'm enjoying from a trip in to Cambridge (Pearl Paint)... Carribean Blue (Old Holland) and some of Gamblin's Radiant Colors.

Sunflower Blitz, Acrylic 16x20

Better? I think it's getting there. My family is wondering if I'm going to fill the house with sunflower paintings, I think. They just keep getting more jubilant and loose. I was painting listening to a CD by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole a guy from Hawaii, who died as a young man, with a gorgeous voice. So gentle, peaceful. Listen to his work if you can. He brings to mind, in a different sort of way, Eva Cassidy.

Big Babies, Acrylic, 11x14

OK, between you and I (I mean between you and ME - sorry Sister Eugenia Margaret!!!) ... I'm CRAZY for sunflowers. They are not quite up there with my roses, but they have such personality! I wanted this to be very loose, like you feel when it's so hot and humid out (and the sunflowers love that weather, I think!) and colorful. Used acrylic for this one, and the photo is less orange-y in the sunflower petals than in real life.

Adamsville Landing, 8x16 Acrylic on Board

This is a larger piece (though on the computer it looks smaller!) based on the plein air study on my other blog - http://kelleymacdonalddailypaint.blogspot.com/ and it just tweaked the colors a bit. It seemed to call out for a more horizontal format. It's such a serene place, I think for sure it's as good for high blood pressure as 2 prescriptions!

Hanging now in the Westport Rivers Show through September 10.

Pansies, 14x18, acrylic

The garden is really shaping up. I took advantage of 'no wind' yesterday morning and started in on this view of one of the urns that boarders the vegetable garden. Don't you just love how cheerful pansies are? Whenever I look at them they make me smile!

Ptown Perfection, Oil, 9x12

This one won an Honorable Mention award at the Art League Assoc. Member's Show!
OK, so now I'll shut up about never being able to win an award :) This was a plein air piece done on location in Provincetown, MA. It was a wonderful day, and the guys who owned the house were so wonderful and gracious, and it is my intention to send them a print of this in thanks. The show is at Gallery 297 on Hope St. in Bristol, RI for the month of April.