... a place to hang my still wet paintings while they dry.
update 6 and tempus fugit
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)3 Dec 2008 at 6:24 am
Yes, I've been slowly plugging away at the painting, although reality caught up and I became very busy in the shop and out. I am working on an exhibit of Transcendentalist Books for the Cantor Gallery at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. The collection has come from the Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH. Here is a PDF from their site discussing some of the books and the thinking of the tran ... read more
Update 5.3 More Bird
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)6 Nov 2008 at 9:57 pm
OK, I got a little ahead of myself and had to leave the little houses behind for a bit. I feel pretty good about the little pecker...
... read more
Update 5.2 Plein Air Wisdom
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)6 Nov 2008 at 6:23 am
Color and drawing decisions made painting outside need to be quick, but not rash; accurate, but not obsessive and confident but not insistent. The trick to then working indoors from photographs is to use all this information in an honest, not artificial way. It's all about the painting after all.
I am re-posting a previous essay I wrote on plein air painting:
True Magicians
Contemporary Plein-air p ... read more
Update 5: Better Bird & Another 'hood
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)5 Nov 2008 at 9:13 pm
There's no question painting like this is work. Very satisfying, but work none the less.Those of you with kids of a certain age will be familiar with the character Dory from the movie Finding Nemo. The voice over was done by Ellen Degeneres. Dory is an ocean fish with short term memory loss who befriends the lead character, a clownfish named Marlin on his quest to find his missing son. Anyway ... read more
Update 4: Bird Blocked
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)1 Nov 2008 at 8:06 am
Yesterday I was able to finish the foremost field and row of trees. I also started blocking in the Hairy Woodpecker a little more. I made a small shelf for the mount to sit next to the painting and put an old paint rag behind him for a similar color field.
I also stopped using my laptop and setup my old computer and monitor. The laptop monitor has a real color and value shift depending upon whe ... read more
Update 3: Down on Graves Street
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)30 Oct 2008 at 11:22 pm
Again, not much time to paint today, even still I got a good piece of this neighborhood finished, or nearly so. I believe this is Graves Street. I've been working on this in a certain way, pretty much moving right to left through this mid-ground, and drawing as I go along, with the paint. I think for the remainder I am going to define the rest of the drawing more tightly. I almost jumped to th
... read more
Update 2: Little Houses, Big Bird
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)29 Oct 2008 at 12:24 am
The male Hairy Woodpecker is just sketched in at this point. I really want to bring him up to full realization, but there are many little houses to paint between now and then. Again I found only about an hour yesterday to paint. This neighborhood is coming together well though.
Here I have begun sketching them in with a pencil just to locate them in space. keeping track of where I am on the canv ... read more
Deerfield Woodpeckers Update
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)28 Oct 2008 at 8:41 am
I was able to find about an hour and a half yesterday to make a few miles on this painting. I reworked the industrial building right of center, which is actually one of the many buildings owned by Yankee Candle. At one point in time it was a car museum housing the collection of Mike Kittredge, the founder of Yankee Candle.
Several years ago I worked on his swimming pool in his home in Leverett, M ... read more
Painting in Progress
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)26 Oct 2008 at 5:53 pm
I have begun what is hopefully going to be a series of oil paintings around a similar theme. The detail above is about 12" x 9" of a 60" x 20" panorama painting that I will be chronicling here as it is completed. This past summer I rediscovered my fascination with climbing and hiking to high places. Achieving altitude on foot and taking in vista views earned through sweat and toil is an expe ... read more
Work for Hire
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)7 Oct 2008 at 10:10 am
The Art of Action finalists have been chosen, and congratulations to all of them. Now that I am free from the heartache of trying to get on the list I would like to address the Work for Hire clause in the application. During this process, late at night, when I was imagining that I had become a finalist, I was planning my strategy to challenge this during the contract phase. The goals of this pr ... read more
Art of Action & Drawn to Drama
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)6 Oct 2008 at 6:33 am
Apparently the jury choosing the twenty finalists for the Art of Action project in Vermont are having some trouble agreeing upon the final finalists. The original deadline for notification given was last Friday at 6:30 pm and like many of you, I too was checking my messages and email throughout the day. The Art of Action page now states that the decisions will be made by Wednesday the 7th, so al ... read more
Vermont's Art of Action
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)17 Sep 2008 at 8:51 am
Lyman Orton is an interesting man. As the heir to The Vermont Country Store he grew the retail and catalog business started by his father Vrest in 1946, into the 60 million dollar a year success that it is today. In addition to employing about 350 people in Vermont, he also started The Orton Family Foundation as a resource for small cities and towns “...to build vibrant and enduring communities.
... read more
Birds & Bees Puzzle
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)15 Sep 2008 at 3:06 pm
I've had this concept for a while and recently made a proposal for a few large puzzles like this. I thought it was time to attempt it. The idea is to make puzzles from not only paintngs, but from different objects and finishes. Here is the first attempt. Birds & Bees
... read more
Harvey's Lake
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)7 Aug 2008 at 6:43 pm
There is no such thing as a paid vacation when you are self employed, so it's a rare occurrence for me to go along with the family for a whole week. That said, we just spent a great week in a cottage on Harvey's Lake in West Barnet, VT. Other than reading, relaxing, swimming and kayaking, I found the time to make these two paintings from the yard of the cottage.
The skies were very dramatic most ... read more
Finished!
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)30 May 2008 at 8:50 am
There are many more pictures on my portfolio site www.frankgregory.com
The mural is painted in artist's acrylic on a non-woven Tyvek material made for murals and backdrops. It was painted in the studio then wallpapered into place. The diorama is made of wood, concrete, Plexiglas, epoxy, acrylic paint and natural materials.
... read more
Almost There
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)20 May 2008 at 7:54 am
This shows some of the concrete rocks and plexi/epoxy water surfaces.
Here is the diorama and mural seam drawn in red.
... read more
More Mural
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)23 Apr 2008 at 6:30 pm
The mural has been installed and is now in progress at the nature center, hence all the blue tape. These photos show the door painted on site to blend this image with the mural I completed last year. It's kind of a Twilight Zone door merging two different centuries and seasons. More to come as the diorama is completed and blended into the mural. Be sure to visit my photoblog and click on some ... read more
More Mural Update
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)15 Apr 2008 at 6:05 am
Here are some new images of the progress of the Native American village mural for the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, CT. I plan to install it this week and finish it on site. This is all artists acrylic on a Tyvek non-woven material similar to the housewrap, but sturdier and made for murals and backdrops. If anyone is interested in purchasing some to try, I bought a fairly large quantit ... read more
The Art Department is Now My Photoblog
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)11 Apr 2008 at 6:44 am
Instead of having this hub turn into a photoblog I am now posting my digpics on the art dept, my other art blog. If you haven't done so already, please be sure to also visit Frank Gregory Studios to see my public art portfolio. Also, if you have tried to email me from this page, you will have been sorely disappointed, apparently I hadn't updated the listing in a long time... it is now accurate so ... read more
....and more pics
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)6 Apr 2008 at 12:52 pm
These were all shot this morning on a hike down to the Connecticut River below Poet's Seat Ridge in Greenfield, MA. I shot these RAW and messed around with them in Photoshop. ... read more
Some New Pics
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)6 Apr 2008 at 9:31 am
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New Camera
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)29 Mar 2008 at 7:42 am
Those of you familiar with my paintings on this site will recognize this view. I bought a new digital camera last week. A Sony A100 that was being sold as an open box from Best Buy, even though it had zero clicks on it. It's not the best of the best, but it's still a remarkable picture making tool, and a steal for a 10 mp DSLR for $320. Anyway, I've been having a ball shooting with it. Shooti ... read more
Mural In Progress
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)28 Mar 2008 at 7:33 am
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and only 12120 hours later
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)18 Mar 2008 at 6:49 am
Put that way it really doesn't sound that long.... but it still is a year and a half. 505 days also sounds long. 727200 minutes, not so much and 43632000 seconds, shorter still. Regardless of how it all appears this is how long it has been since my last post on this blog according to this calculator.
I am amazed by the number of daily hits on this stale blog. It's not a huge amount. but it's con ... read more
New Things are in the works....
by frankgregorystudios@gmail.com (Frank)30 Oct 2006 at 9:29 am
I am in the midst of re-arranging my internet activity. I have created a new online Public Art portfolio here. In short order the old website will be replaced with a new hub leading to all these various places. This site will continue as is. ... read more