Tree and Hillside (Appleton Farms) (reposting) goes to Boston

Yesterday, I delivered this painting to TAG (The Art Gallery) in the Sowa district in Boston where it will be on display in October. I painted this scene in 2015, based on a photo that I took at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, up the road from Beverly, MA. Back in 2015, I posted the daily progress of painting this. This painting has been on display in my studio for several years, and I have been pleased and surprised by the number of people who recognize the specific location. Anyway, it will be fun to have it on display in Boston. 

Still Life for a Good Year (Digital Drawing)

I recently posted a drawing video that I made on my iPad. This is just a little still life for Rosh Hashana. I used the "Procreate" program, which captures a  stroke-by-stroke video as you draw, and also makes the final frame of your video a jpeg of thw drawing. But the final frame is usually a little rough, and it was in this case. So to make the image you see here, I shared the jpeg to the iCloud, opened it in the Painter program on my computer. Then I cleaned up the image with digital pastel, and straightened out the lettering.  Now I can use the image to wish everyone a sweet year ahead.

Still Life For A Good Year (Drawing Video)

Still Life for a Good Year (Drawing Video):  

Watch this drawing video: 

I made this  little animation this morning using Procreate on my iPad.  It's a little early but I had so much trouble getting this to post that I am gonna leave it here now.*  I also realize that I have drawn something similar a few years ago.  But then, there's nothing new about Rosh Hashana. And this time, there are pomegranates. 

Sending this out to wish those celebrating L'Shana Tova, and to wish everyone a sweet year ahead.

*I couldn't get it to post directly to Blogger, but you can follow the link above to see it.

Face to Face (My Dad and Me): Rescued Photo

A few days ago, while I was looking through a bunch of family photos, I came across a picture of me and my Dad. This was one of many wedding pictures taken by my Uncle Ike Fitterman, a very talented photographer.  He always did a great job of capturing people's faces and he certainly did that in this case. It was great to see myself face to face with my father.  But I could see why the photo hadn't made the cut for reprinting or framing.   This was taken in the Rabbi's office before the wedding began.  Unfortunately in the original photo, the background included a framed abstract painting, part of a wooden door, baseboard, and an electric outlet and wire.  I decided to try to rescue the photo.  I scanned it into my computer and opened it in Painter and simplified the background by drawing into the image with digital pastel, and finished up with some posterizing effect.  It was great to remember this moment, and also to feel that I was collaborating with my Uncle Ike. I suppose I could have saved this image to post next June for my wedding anniversary or on Father's Day. But I am posting this today to remember my  father, who was born on August 28.  

Reposting "Spring at Kelleher Pond" on display at the Bower Gallery

This painting was on display in July at the Bower Gallery in Beverly, MA.  This is oil bar and acrylic, based on my photograph of a neighborhood pon. I took this picture at the Bower when I was downtown on July 21st.  

"Teacups and Saucers" Heading to New Home

This painting is going to its new home.  I painted this in 2024 for a special "Alice in Wonderland" show at Porter Mill Studios. This is inspired by the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and the text is from the book by Lewis Carroll. Most recently this painting was on display in Boston's TAG gallery, which also posted it on Artsy. From there, it sold to a far-away buyer and is now on its way to Oregon.  

Early Mother's Day Flowers (photo)

These beautiful flowers were delivered a few days early so I could enjoy them all Mother's Day weekend, and I certainly am!

Flora, the Flowering Cod

Here is Flora, the Flowering Cod, my decorated wooden codfish   This is the final photo that I took before I delivered her to back to Marblehead to be an entry in the annual Cod and Whale Auction. In this event, local artists decorate pre-made fish cutouts which are then displayed and auctioned off to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art. Since the day before, I of course had done a lot of cleanup and added additional coats of paint where needed.  But I also added some more leaves at the edges of the fish, to make the rows of flowers more symmetrical. Then of course I painted the sides (gold) and back (white), signed the back, and added hanging hardware.  Flora was ready to go to Marblehead.

Flora, the Flowering Cod (as of April 29, 2026)

Here is my decorated wooden codfish form as of April 29th.  This is for the annual Cod and Whale Auction in which local artists decorate pre-made fish cutouts which are then displayed and auctioned off to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  At this point, Flora was pretty close to my initial idea, which was to transform the "flowering cod", a real species, in rose gold flowers and polkadots.  At this point had colored in the leaves with a mix of gold and green acrylic paint.  I had straightened out the lines on the fins and repainted them with a mix of gold paint that was slightly darker.  I had also painted the sides with the same color.  I thought I was finished, but I was wrong.

Autumn Woods at Long Hill (Painting as of April 26, 2026)

Here is my painting as it looked on April 26th.  I continued to add oil bar, working it in in small areas over the acrylic paint.  I added bright green oil bar to the yellow-orange that runs across the canvas about mid-way.  I used dark red oil bar to add detail to the red bushed in the distance.  I also added some pale off-white oil bar to some of the tree trunks, to add more contrast.  To be continued. . . .

Flora, The Flowering Cod (as of April 24, 2026)

Here is my entry for the annual Cod Auction as of April 24, 2026

Every year, some 50 area artists pick up wooden fish cutouts in Marblehead, decorate them, and then deliver them to be displayed and then auctioned online to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  This year, my codfish was inspired by some  pretty uninspiring photos of a "flowering codfish", a species with rows of brown markings shaped only vaguely like blossoms, against a stippled background.  I decided to make the markings look more  specifically floral, use rose-gold instead of brown, and turn the stiples into a polka-dot background.  Once I had the idea and sketched out the design, this project went pretty smoothly.   Here you can see I have added the polka dots and markings on the fins, using gold-colored marker.  These will match the edges of the fish, also to be painted gold. I also sketched in some leaves.  To be continued. . . .

Autumn Woods at Long Hill (Painting as of April 23, 2026)

Here is my painting as of April 23rd.  I began to add some oil bar in a few places.  (First acrylic and then oil bar: you can't put oil bar over acrylic.)  Using oil bar over a base of acrylic is something I tried a couple of years ago. At that point, I was motiviated by time pressure, an impending submission deadline, and I thought I could eliminate some drying time, which worked.  But I also liked the effect.) Here you can see the oil bar in the layer of purple lines over the background trees, and the little marks of pale yellow to indicate leaves.  To be continued. . . .

Autum Woods at Long Hill (Painting as of April 22, 2026)

Here is my painting as it looked on April  22, 2026.  At this point, I had roughed in all the areas of the painting, using acrylic paint. I used my reference photo as a guide.  The biggest struggle for me was painting the areas of fallen leaves in the foreground. So I turned the both the canvas and the reference photo upside-down, and then focussed on painting shapes.  This trick almost always helps because it forces you to paint what you actually see, rather than what you know or remember. To be continued. . . .

Flora, The Flowering Cod (as of April 22, 2026)

Here is my Cod project as it looked on Aprill 22. This is for the  annual Cod Auction to raise money for Marblehead Festival of Art. I had already sketched my design onto the gessoed wooden form, using pencil.  It was time to start painting.  There were a lot of rational ways to begin, but I went directly to the flowers because I wanted to try my idea of painting them a kind of rose gold color, instead of the brown seen on the markings of the actual species, Flowering Cod.  So I mixed some acrylic metallic gold with some pink.  This wasn't the final color, but close enough to convince me that my idea would work.

Flora, The Flowering Cod (as of April 21, 2026)

This is my entry for the annual Cod Auction to benefit Marblehead Festival of Arts as it looked on April 21st. Some 50 artists decorate wooden cutouts of codfish which are displayed in Marblehead and then auctioned. This year I was inspired by photos of a species of cod called "flowering cod."  Actually, the name was more inspiring to me than the actual appearance of the fish:  rows of brown shapes that only vaguely look like flowers, against a stippled skin.  But then the idea came to me: I would make rows of shapes that acctually looked like flowers, I would shift the color from brown to rose-gold, and would replace the stippled markings with polka dots.  Once I had the idea, the design came quickly.  I drew a mock-up on paper posted here recently.   And on April 21,  as you can see, I sketched  the design onto the wooden cutout. 

Autumn Woods at Long Hill (Painting as of April 21, 2026)

Here is my painting of the autumn woods as it looked on April 21st.  You can still see the faint lines of the grid from the sketch I had drawn on the canvas a few days before.  I had used blue conte crayon in my sketch to outline basic shapes. My plan was to begin with acrylic paint, and add some oil bar later.  So I began painting by simply going over the trees with a wet brush. Then I used some transparent acrylic paint to establish where the brightest colors would go, especially the red and yellow.  I also establish the backdrop of trees with a layer of blue-gray, and added brown lines to indicate the trees in the background. And I added some blue for the sky. To be continued. . . .

"Chicken Collage" in Porter Mill's "Beastie Show"

I created this chicken collage back in 2012, inspired by some interesting chickens that I had seen at Long Hill Gardens.  This collage has been in my studio ever since.  My chicken is now on display at Porter Mill in the "Beastie" show.  This was a surprise to me (and to the chicken I suppose), because I had drawn a blank for ideas for this event.  But on April 20th, at the last minute, even as the show was going up, it occurred to me to submit my Chicken Collage. So I did, and now it is in the vitrine at Porter Mill, among some of the other "beasties" in the show.

Autumn Woods at Long Hill (Sketch on Canvas) April 19, 2026

On April 19, 2026, I finally started work on my painting.  I always begin by creating a grid on my reference photo, and then I make a rough grid on the canvas.  This helps a lot with getting things in the right place, and eliminates many (but not all) do-overs.  I use conte crayon to for the lines of the grid and for the sketch itself.  Here I have sketch in the main shapes of my composition.  To be continued. . . .

Autumn Woods at Long Hill (Reference photo for painting)

This is the reference photo for my paintng, "Autumn Woods at Long Hill". When I use a photo as a painting reference, I want the dimensions of the photo to be in the same ratio as the canvas I will be using.  In this case, the canvas is 20 x 20.  So I had to crop to make my original rectangular photo into a square.  It took a while to decide where to crop, but apart from that, I didn't need to do anything to the photo.  This was unusual, and a good thing.  So I was ready to paint. 

Flora, The Flowering Cod (Sketch as of April 18, 2026)

Every year I decorate a wooden cod for the Marblehead Cod Auction, to benefit the Marblehead Festival of Arts.  I had been thinking of what to do this year.  I started looking though pictures of different kinds of codfish.  I found one called "the flowering cod."  Although the name sounded promising, the photos of the actual fish were not.  The fish has brown markings which vaguely resemble flowers, against a lighter background of stipled skin.  That didn't sound appealing. But I kept thinking about it. What if the markings actually looked like flowers? What if I substituted a pink-tinted gold for brown? What if the stippled skin became polka-dots? So I drew this sketch of a codfish decorated with flowers and polkadots. . I traced my wooden cod cut-out onto a big piece of paper and drew this sketch.  I would call her Flora.