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Art is busting out all over! The Heart of History Exhibit at Salem Art Association’s gorgeous new gallery, is featuring artwork inspired by and painted at The House of the Seven Gables!

My two submissions: H7G Front Door, acrylic, 16×19″ framed, $250; and Gable Gardens, oil, 21×17″ framed, $300.

Gables Garden was done in oil as I sat in the shade under the beautiful wisteria arbors in the gardens at The House of the Seven Gables. You can see a peek of it on the left. The month was July, and the garden was in full bloom!

H7G Front Door was painted in the garden at the H7G in the springtime. The front door of The House of the Seven Gables faces the ocean. so you feel as if it is around the back! The front door is criss-crossed with metal nails placed at each cross — a sign of prosperity since houses were build using wooden pegs in those days! I was especially inspired by the strong diagonal shadow running across the front of the house. (Shown as Featured Image)

The grounds at H7G are one of my favorite places to sit and paint! Between the gardens, the historic buildings, and the ocean breezes it is heavenly!

The exhibit Heart of History can be seen at the Salem Arts Association Galleries, 159 Derby St., Salem, MA; Nov. 14 – Dec. 20. Gallery hours: Saturdays and Sundays noon-6pm. Virtual Gallery and Online Shop at salemarts.org

The Winter Member Show at the Marblehead Arts Association will be on exhibit from November 14 to December 24, 2020. The show features the best works of the artist members of MAA.

My submission is September Light, acrylic, 16×20″, $350. This painting was created on location on a perfect September day as I sat on the rocks near Fort Sewall in Marblehead.

Marblehead Arts Association is located at 8 Hooper St., Marblehead, MA. Gallery Hours are Wednesday through Friday from noon until 5:00 p.m.,  and Saturdays from noon until 4:00 p.m. The exhibit also includes the Hoopers Treasures 8″x8″ paintings. And don’t forget to visit the lovely Artisan Shop!

Hey! Check this out! My artwork has a cameo in Hubie Halloween! The set designers borrowed one of my painted figureheads from its lamppost in Salem and placed it in Marblehead during filming, and it survived the cutting room! Does this make me part of the Hollywood elite?

The figurehead is part of the Salem Beautification Committee’s Ladies of Salem initiative. Businesses can sponsor an artist to paint a Jenny Lind figurehead to grace a lamppost in Downtown Salem, both as an advertisement for their company and as a lovely way to make Salem even more beautiful and historical. The Jenny Lind figurehead memorializes the hand-carved figure that graced the bow of the Salem ship, Nightingale.

I have been selected to paint five Ladies of Salem. The first, which is the one chosen by the Hubie Halloween set designers, was done for Cabot Wealth Management. She is done in the colors of the company: blues and greens. Her skirt features a map of the world to signify the company’s origins in the Salem shipping trade, and her cameo is painted with a compass rose.

The next three were done for The Village Tavern, a wonderful restaurant on the Essex Street Mall. One of the Ladies is mounted over the restaurant door, right by the Salem Harbor fountain on Essex Street; the other two are displayed inside the restaurant. These figureheads’ dresses  are painted in colors shown on the company’s logo: red, brown, black and white. The outside Lady features part of the restauranteur’s collection of tap handles.

My fifth Lady of Salem was commissioned by the Beautification Committee. Salem has a well-known history in the China Trade. But the city was also a major trader in the Caribbean, some of it was regrettably and shamefully during the Triangle Trade. Some of the trade was regular shipping of fish, lumber, etc. The beautiful Caribbean Lady of Salem has a blouse which reflects the pink and coral island sunset, and her skirt is painted in the blues and greens of the warm tropical waters with schools of fish spiraling across it.

Come to Salem and find all the Ladies of Salem done by local artists for many businesses all over the Downtown area. This is a fun way to see the city and learn about Salem’s history.

Salem Arts Association members and community of artists explore Salem’s history with Autumn, Halloween, Witchcraft, and the Spirit of the season. The resulting exhibit represents diverse interpretations of the theme and how, by bringing them together, we create a collective understanding of it.

My paintings in this show are Celtic Owl and Shell Selkie, both inspired by my father’s stories of growing up in Ireland. Celtic Owl is drawn in the style of the ancient monks, with intricate woven knots and shapes filled with bright jewel tones. It is done in ink and pencil, 11″ x 14″ matted and framed, $175, and is hung in the gallery during the show.

Shell Selkie reminds me of the stories of the selkies, sea folk who spent part of their time as seals in the Irish Sea and part of their time as humans or half humans. This selkie is in  mermaid form and is holding a shell to her ear. The painting is done in cool tones with lots of the spirals that are characteristic of Irish art. Shell Selkie is painted in acrylic on 11″ x 14″ gallery wrapped canvas and the design continues along the edges of the painting so it needs no frame. It can be hung on the wall, but it’s depth allows it to stand on a shelf. It is being offered for $300, and will be part of the virtual online show because of space considerations.

The show will run from September 5 through Sunday November 8, 2020 at our new gallery location, 159 Derby Street, Salem, MA 01970. The gallery is right beside the Friendship docked at Derby Wharf, and across the street from the historic Counting House, part of the National Park Service. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 6:00 p.m. 978-745-4850. The virtual gallery is at the Salem Arts website, www.salemarts.org

My newest commission is a painting of Salem Common in Salem, MA done entirely in black and white. The painting is done in acrylic paint on gallery-wrapped canvas and is 20″ x 40″.

I was glad to be asked to create a painting of Salem Common because it is a place I love to visit to walk around the paths, to sit and read, or simply to people-watch. It also holds many wonderful memories for me. There is a children’s playground in one corner where I took my own children when they were small, and where I now bring my grandchildren. I have taken many romantic strolls there with my husband during our 45 years together. Lots of good memories!

I wanted to include the iconic bandstand, the historic archway, and the lovely black wrought iron fence as well as portray the paths, the large grassy area and the lovely old trees. I purposely kept The Commons free of people so that each time it was viewed, the viewer could picture him or herself in the painting doing whatever inspired him/her at that particular  moment. It was an interesting and challenging exercise to paint all this greenery in shades of black, white, and gray!

I meet the most thoughtful people! A woman was moved to commission a painting of her friend’s home when she learned her friend was moving. The photographs she gave me to work from showed a neat-as-a-pin home, obviously well-loved and cared-for. Against this canvas, I was asked by her to include some special surprises for her friend: a much-cherished pet dog, butterflies, special flowers and shrubs with meaning for the woman, and more.

The woman asked me to portray the home in a realistic style, in watercolor painted rather loosely, and both she and I were pleased with the result!

The Galleries at Lynn Arts is proud to present a collection of artwork made during the Safer-At-Home shutdown for the global COVID19 pandemic. It has been an intense time, and it inspired me to make an intense painting.

My creation for the Made In Quarantine show was inspired by my anger at President Donald Trump’s almost complete lack of leadership during the pandemic and his intense politicization of the unprecedented disaster it has caused our country. So many people dead and suffering, so many jobs lost, so many businesses and schools shuttered, yet Trump treats it like an afterthought and dangerously confuses US citizens with daily lies about COVID19.

The painting is called Taking Note. It is painted in acrylics on a 12″ x 24″ gallery-wrapped canvas. The background of the canvas is white with orange type-font lettering. Superimposed on the “typing” is the word “LIES” written three times in stenography. The shorthand words are dripping with the blood of Covid’s many victims in the US — blood that could have been saved if he had done his job.

I payed for college by working as a secretary, taking shorthand and typing letters. Most secretaries were women, and stenography is basically a secret language of women. Donald Trump has been dangerous to all Americans, but he has been especially awful to women. I thought it was appropriate to remind him that I, and other women — certainly the millions that marched together the day after his inauguration — have been Taking Note of the mess he has made.

This painting is a stark contrast to most of my paintings. Usually, I try to reflect the beauty of the world that God has given us. I try very hard to see the good in life and not paint ugly or unhappy subjects, to leave the world better than I found it. But sometimes something happens that is so bad that it must be remembered and trumpeted. Trump’s careless handling of this health disaster moved me to do so.

New gallery hours: Fridays 5 – 8 PM, Saturdays 11AM – 5PM and the last Sunday of the month 11AM – 4PM. To accommodate the needs of safety of our community we will allow 10 people in the big gallery, 2 persons in the small community gallery and no more than 4 in the shop including cashier at any time. Masks are required inside the building of course.