Housewarming Present

A client requested a painting of this house for a relative, as a gift after the house was purchased. The house is an interesting color, and the homes next door on each side show the context.

Grand Victorian House

This house was originally built in 1836. It received an update with Mansard roof in the 1850s and is rumored to have been featured in a Pepperidge Farm commercial in the 1980s.

https://youtu.be/_Q5tbO_qLcg

Watercolor on paper, 12x16 inches

 

 

The Old Town Bridge in Wayland, built in 1848

 

Water flowing through though four round arches reflects a beautiful stone bridge in Wayland, MA.  The Old Town Bridge built in 1848 is located near the Wayland Country Club in Great Meadows Wildlife refuge.  In June 2023 I arrived to paint, first removing some poison ivy with gloves.  After setting up the easel on shoreside mud, I put together a monochrome sketch, then added color.  Here is the result:   9x10 oil on stretched canvas.

For more information on the Old Town Bridge, the link below includes a history:

"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Town_Bridge_(Wayland,_Massachusetts)".

The final product

The painting was developed in color over several sessions.  It includes a commuter rail train headed east.  The river flooded on the final day and I was able to add a bit of water in the foreground.

309 12x20 oil on linen, Acton, Mass.

The burnt umber underpainting

To paint the farm on a 12x20 stretched linen canvas I began with a burnt umber monochrome painting.

309

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A study sketch

To prepare for a painting where the furrows were to become larger than in life I made a drawing of a farm which departs from reality in this regard.  The furrows were actually smaller in height from bottom to top.

This sketch took about two hours in vine charcoal on 14x16 paper.

 

308

 

An Acton Farm

 The owner of this farm asked for a painting of his farm.  This watercolor includes distant white pines, a commuter rail train, crops in furrows, purple and yellow flowers, in foreground grass.

306, 7x10 inches

A 1921 Boston and Maine Railroad Blue Caboose

Painted en plein air, using pen, paper, masking tape and watercolor.  Blue caboose railway car with signal sign and trees in background.  Central Massachusetts Rail Trail along Route 62, Hudson, Massachusetts. 

304, 6x6 oil

According to this website: https://www.traillink.com/trail/assabet-river-rail-trail/

this piece of railroad history is a 1921 Boston and Maine Railroad blue caboose.

A house built in 1911

This house, white clapboard with three stories, was built in 1911. A real estate agent gave the painting to a client.

288, 11x9 watercolor

Gates Pond Resevoir and Pumphouse

Painted from life at Gates Pond on Taylor Road in Berlin, Massachusetts from a peninsula that juts out into the reservoir.  This is one of two pumping stations, brick, abandoned and standing in high waters.

287

Small Painting from Hudson, Massachusetts

Hudson Massachusetts is a town that recently won an award for its vibrant downtown shopping district.* 

A couple of years ago longtime business Vic's Barbershop moved to a new locatioin and to record its original appearance, I painted a detailed portrait of the original location of Vic's Barbershop from a snapshot (https://assabetarts.blogspot.com/2021/06/barber-shop-has-been-in-downtown-hudson.html).

Since then I have painted several small watercolors scenes from life in this town.

Below, some horse paddocks and a red barn near River Road in Hudson with the Assabet River.

This watercolor is 6x4 inches. My favorite part was masking out the fence boards using thin tape.

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* References:

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/hudson-americas-main-street-contest/      

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/business/2021/12/20/downtown-hudson-ma-declared-winner-of-2021-americas-main-streets-contest/8967423002/

https://www.mainstreetcontest.com/