Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), Acrylic Painting

Here is my finished painting, Prison Bars and Roses.  I gave it the subtitle "Scarlet letter project" because I painted it for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum held to celebrate 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, shown below.*  I made the prison bars into the background for the lines of text. And I painted the branches of the wild rose bush in the shape of the letter A, with the scarlet roses on its long branches. I am glad I had a chance to do this, and I think I understand the novel because of this project.

On Mar. 28,  having brightened some of the roses to make them more  intensely scarlet, and having obsessed over the shading on the prison bars, I finally decided to just check that I hadn't obliterated any commas while I was moving text around to refine the spacing.  So I opened the novel, found the quotation, and sure enough, a couple of commas were now missing.  That was easy enough to fix.  But I also noticed that "would" in the last line should have been "could."  I am also a proofreader, so I am doubly glad I caught the error, even at the last minute. This is not exactly a spelling error, but I must written the wrong word when I originally transcribed the quotation, because the mistake is in my initial sketch. have made the mistake when I first transcribed it.  It was easy enough to add the missing commas, change 'would' to 'could", and while I was at it, I modified the 'm' in the last word (him), to make it easier to read. Once everything was dry, I wrapped the painting up for delivery to the Salem Athenaem. 

*Here is the (correct) quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 27, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 27, 2025.  I call this the "Scarlet letter project" because it was painted  for a special event on March 30th at the Salem Athenaeum held to celebrate 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I designed this painting based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* The prison bars serve as the background for the lines from the novel.  And in my painting,  the wild rose bush that is mentioned in the quotation shows itself  through the prison window, with the red roses on its long branches suggesting the letter A in red: the Scarlet Letter of the novel. 

On  Mar 27, 2025, I thought my painting was done.  I had made a lot of very small changes, behavior that I now take as a signal that I am almost finished with a painting.  So I signed it and installed a wire on the back, in prepration for delivering it to the Salem Athenaeum the next day.  And no, I still hadn't realized there was an error in the text.  I knew I would keep fiddling with the painting until I actually turned it in, like I always do.  And in this case, that turned out to be a very good thing. To be continued. . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 26, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 26, 2025.  I decided to paint this for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  So I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I decided to use the prison bars as the background for the text. The wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation, is visible through the prison window, red roses on its long branches position to suggest the letter A in red: the Scarlet Letter of the novel. 

On March 25th and 26th, I was working close to the deadline so started to refine the image.  I continued to work on the prison bars, concentrating on making the lighting consistent (using nearby window blinds as a guide!).  I also worked on brightening the roses.  And still didn't realize there was an error in the text.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 25, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 25, 2025.  This painting is for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum, marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  This painting began with a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  I used prison bars as the background for the text. The wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation, in my painting is visible through the prison window, with its long branches positioned to form the scarlet letter A which is central to the novel. 

On Mar 25, having resolved the issue of the color for the window frame, I knew I had the final composition, so began to refine the details. I got my T-square out again and began to straighten the lines of the prison bars and the window frame.  At this point, I still hadn't noticed any problem with the text. To be continued. . .  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 24, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 24, 2025.  This painting is for a special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based this painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  I used the prison bars as the background for the text. The quotation mentions a wild rose bush, which in my painting can be seen through the prison window, its long branches positioned to form the scarlet letter A which is central to the novel. 

On Mar 24, after looking at my painting for a couple of days, I decided to change the color of the window sill from dark brown to a lighter gray, close to the color of the bars. So I quickly painted in the change (on the front of the canvas and around the sides as well.) Once that was done, I was happier.  I think the change made for a more coherent composition, with tension between two components (inside and outside) rather than three (the window frame). The added benefit is that the lower contrast with the sky will make any little errors in the edges less distracting. And no, I still hadn't realized there was an error in the text. . . To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 21, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 21, 2025.  This painting is for the special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  This painting is based a quotation from the novel, seen below.*  My painting uses prison bars to provide a background for the  text of the quotation. The wild rose bush of the quotation appears through the prison window, with its long branches positioned to suggest the scarlet letter A which is so important in the novel. 

On Mar 21, 2025, I added a layer of gray to the brown window frame, and then began I began straightening the lines of the window.  At this point, I thought I was close to finishing this.  But I was wrong.  I also thought the text was correct.  Turns out I was wrong about that, too.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 20, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 20, 2025.  This is for an upcoming special event at the Salem Athenaeum to mark the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter."  I based my painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.* In my painting, I used prison bars as the background for the  text of the quotation.  The wild rose bush mentioned in the text is seen through the prison window.  I know that each year the wild rose bush in my yard makes long branches (called runners), hence the long branches on the rose bush in my painting, positioned to suggest the letter A, so important in the novel. Ane though the wild roses I have seen are usually white, and rarely even pale pink, I decided to make this roses red so that the branches form a scarlet letter.  

On Mar 20, I worked on the window frame (and edge of canvas), adding a layer of brown over the purple.  My idea was to follow this with a layer of dark gray to achieve a color close to black. But as you will soon see,  I eventually changed my mind about that. Meanwhile, I worked a bit on the blue background and started cleaning up some of the lines. To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 19, 2025

Here is my painting as of Mar 19, 2025.  I am painting this for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, held to commemorate the  175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter." At least 10 paintings will be on display for the occasion.  My painting is based a quotation from the novel, seen below.* In my painting, prison bars serve as background for the text, and the wild rose bush (also mentioned in the quotation) is seen through the prison window.  The long branches of the rose bush suggest the scarlet letter A which is so important in the novel.  On March 19th, I started working on the sides of the window, and added this purple.  But don't panic:: this was not intended as the final color.  My idea was to use a very dark gray, almost black, for the window frame.  I decided to build the color in layers, rather than mix it, starting with a layer of purple, to be followed with a layer of brown, and then paine's gray.  I was planning to use the same dark grey on the sides of the canvas (to seal it), so also extended the purple on the sides of the canvas.  In fact, I ended up changing my mind about the dark windowsill, more on that later, but meanwhile here is the painting with a purple border.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 18, 2025

This is my painting as of Mar 18, 2025.  This is for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." I think there will be ten paintings offered by artists from Porter Mill Studios and perhaps elsewhere.  I based my painting on a quotation from the novel, seen below.* I am combining prison bars, which also serve as background for the text, with the imagery of a wild rose bush, mentioned in the quotation. In my painting, the rose bush can be seen through the prison window, and its long branches suggest the letter A, which plays an important part in the novel.  On March 18th, I continued working on the lettering and the shading on the prison bars.  I also added some darker leaves to the rose bush.  I added a coat of pale gray to the outer border, but I was still uncertain about the color. 

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 17, 2025

This is my painting as of March 17.  I am painting this for a special event next week at the Salem Athenaem, to mark  the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." My painting is based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I am using the imagery of prison bars, which also serve as background for the text. I am also including the imagery of a wild rose bush, which in my painting can be seen through the prison bars.  In my painting, the runners or long branches of the rose bush seem to form the letter A, which is so important in the novel. On March 17, I started adding some shading to the horizontal bars, to see if I could make them look three dimensional.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."  

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 16, 2025

This is my painting as of March 16.  I am painting this for a special event in Salem marking the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."  I am basing this painting a quotation from the novel, shown below.* The imagery of a barred prison window serves as a background for the text. The passage also mentions a wild rose bush, which I am showing as if through the prison window.  And the branches of the wild rose bush seem to form the letter A, which has an important role in the novel.

On March 16, I continued working on the lettering, and painted all the horizontal and vertical bars with a pale paine's gray.  This is not the final color, but I used the light background as an aide in working on the lettering.  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 15, 2025

This is my painting as of March 15.  This is for a special event in Salem to mark the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."  My painting is based on a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I am using the imagery of prison bars as the background for  the text.  The wild rose bush, also mentioned in the passage, can be seen through the barred window. The branches of the wild rose bush are positioned to form the letter A, which plays an important role in the novel, as a public humiliation and punishment for adultery that the protagonist Hester Prynne is forced to wear. 

On March 15, my multi-day effort to improve the lettering continued. using dark paine's grey to outline the letters, and paine's grey mixed with white as a background color to add definition. I adjusted the lettering of the third line from the bottom to make the line more symmetrical.  I made other small changes in spacing,  If all this sounds tedious, it is.  But it is important because the text is part of the painting. A belated thanks to my high school art teacher Robert Corty who always included a six-week unit on lettering each year.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), Painting as of Mar 14, 2025

This is my painting as of March 14.  I am painting this for a special event in Salem, MA,  to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  My painting features a quotation from the novel, shown below.* I decided to show the text as if written on prison bars. The imagery of the rose bush also comes from the passage.  In my painting, the roses can be seen through those bars. with branches of the wild rose bush positioned to suggest the letter A,  which the novel's Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment for adultery.  On March 14, I began a multi-day effort to try to get the lettering just right.  To be continued. . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 13, 2025

Here is my painting as of March 13, 2025. (I am painting this for a special event in Salem, MA,  to celebrate Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  I am using a quotation from the novel, shown below,* writing it on prison bars.  The rose bush is also mentioned in that passage.  In my painting, the roses can be seen through the prison window.  The wild roses in my backyard produce long branches (runners) which I prune, but here I painted them in, positioned to form the letter A, which the novel's Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment for adultery.  On March 13, I wanted to make the roses smaller and more subtle and I also needed to add another (lighter) coat of blue for the sky, so as I did that, I used the background color to cut in to the roses and leaves to define them and in some cases make them smaller. To be continued.

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him." 

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of March 12, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 12. (This painting is for a special event in Salem to honor Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text I am using, shown below,* is a quotation from the novel. The passage suggests the imagery in my painting comes from that passage: prison bars, with Hawthorne's text written on them, and branches of a  wild rose bush seen through the prison window.  The shapes of the "runner" branches of the rose bush are positioned to suggest the letter A, which is very significant in the novel.  On March 12, I was working on placement of the roses, referring to my sketch.  The flowers are very rough, but I was happy with them although they will need to be smaller.  To be continued. . . .

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter:

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 10, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 10.. (I am painting this  for a special event in Salem to honor Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text, shown below,* is a quotation from the novel. The imagery in my painting comes from that passsage: the wild rose branches seen through the prison window, with Hawthorne's words written on the bars. On March 10, my focus was to designate the main lines for the rose bush, with the "runner" branches bending to suggest the letter A, which Hester Prynne was forced to wear as punishment in The Scarlet Letter. I had already traced the lines for the branches using pencil on canvas, but now I was ready to paint in the branches with transparent brown paint. 

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of Mar 9, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 9.  I continued to work on the text and the background behind it.  I also used a layer of transparent blue to mark where the blue of the sky is going to go. (This is for a special event in Salem honoring Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text is a quotation from the novel, supplied below.*  The imagery I am using comes from that passage (see below), with Hawthorne's words written on prison bars, and wild rose branches seen through the window (so far just penciled in), suggesting the famous letter A that is so important in the novel.  

*Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Wooden Form for Cod Auction 2025

Last weekend I drove over to Marblehead to pick up my wooden form to decorate for the annual Cod Auction to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art. Everyone starts with the same form.  This year, all the codfish forms had sticky tags to make sure that all the finished fish face the same direction.  I have been trying to figure out what to do this year.  Some years back, I created a fish decorated with Portuguese tile pattern.  I am thinking of doing that again. . .same idea but different design.

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), painting as of March 8, 2025

Here is my painting as it looked on March 8th, the day I finally began to put brush to canvas. This is for a special event in Salem honoring Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  The text is a quotation from the novel, supplied below.*  The imagery I am using comes from a quotation from the novel (see below), with Hawthorne's words  written on prison bars, and wild rose branches seen through the bars, suggesting the famous letter A that is so important in the novel.  This part of the project is pretty tedious: laying out the lettering to make sure everything will fit.  As I began with my rough pencil sketch on canvas, I was uncertaiin of the color scheme.  I tried a transparent layer of light Paine's grey, just so I could still see the pencil sketch.  As I worked, I made my decision: pale grey for the background (prison bars) and dark grey for the lettering.). I was happy with the contrast and the general placement. 

Here is the quotation from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter::

"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Prison Bars and Roses (Scarlet Letter project), sketch on canvas

On March 7th, I began working out the layout for this painting.  (This is for a special event in honor of Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter.")  I am using a quotation* from the novel, written on the prison bars, with the wild rose suggesting the famous letter A in the background.  I had already made a sketch (posted here on March  5th). From there,  I worked out the basic layout on  10" x 10" graph paper to get the proportions and measurement right, and then finally sketched out the layout on the canvas in pencil.  This part isn't fun, and the resulting sketch is not pretty, but all this necessary to produce a good result. To be continued. . .

*"But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to him."

Reposting: Spring at Kelleher Pond, delivered to art show

This is my painting of Kelleher Pond in spring. I painted this with a combination of acrylic and oil bar.  This is one of two paintings that I delivered to Boston on Monday.  (The second painting is "First of May at Long Hill, recently reposted here Feb 5th)  These will both be on display in a show titled "Chromatic Currents" at The Art Gallery TAG.   

Prison Bars and Roses (Sketch for painting)

I made this sketch today (with Sharpies on paper), trying to formulate my idea for a painting.  This is for an upcoming show in Salem, of paintings inspired by Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter."  My plan is for the background to be sky blue, and I would try to use gray for the bars (to suggest prison) with lettering in gold. This is the third of the three sketches that it took to get this far.  The text is "But on one side of the portal and rooted almost at the threshold was a wild rose bush covered, this month of June, with its delicate gems which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom in token that the deep heart of Nature would pity and be kind to  him."