Cozy Cottage, 12x12 inches, Oil

Not For Sale At This Time

I had a good weekend painting away!   My guys were doing home repair stuff that makes me a nervous wreck (definitely not a micro-manager, definitely not...) so I settled in to the studio. With my music turned way up and no one to disturb by singing along at the top of my lungs, I was feeling 'beachy'...  And I found this photo I took last Summer on Cape Cod.  As I was painting, the scene just felt comfortable... familiar, and I couldn't figure out why.  As I was putting the last few brush strokes on, I realized, that my good friend Joan Brancale had painted this exact cottage from this exact angle (we both must have stood at the edge of their driveway), and her painting hangs in the dining room of her Summer home, where I have frequently visited.  Oh, well, great minds think alike, I suppose!

*I have had a last minute cancellation for my figure workshop this Friday, March 30 at my studio!*

Email me for info at kcareymac@hotmail.com

Salt Water Taffy II, 5x5 Inches, Mixed Media

This is the last week for my show at the wonderful shop called Nest in Dedham, MA.  These candies were bought on my trip to Provincetown, and painted during Hurricane Irene.  The 'mixed media' was a complete accident.  It was supposed to be an all-acrylic painting, but something funny was going on when I started painting the yellow and green striped taffy.... I picked up the tube of Lemon Yellow and saw that it was Oil paint!  So... mixed media it is ;)

Also of note... Paco discovered during this painting that he LOVES Salt Water Taffy.  He was so quiet, and I finally turned to him, and he had a green one with the twisted ends of the wrapper sticking out of each side of his mouth, acting very nonchalant, so maybe I wouldn't notice....

Begonia And Larkspur, Days Cottages, Truro, 6x12, Acrylic

One more - a whimsical interpretation of the Days Cottages in Truro on Cape Cod - from my show at Nest.  I am so grateful that as of today 4 have sold - and the Opening isn't till Saturday.  I'm just WOWed!  The names of these two cottages (they are all named after flowers) are Begonia and Larkspur.  I love the light from the setting sun hitting the side of the cottage on the left.  Time and time again I return to this string of cottages up against Massachusetts Bay, and am captured by the romance of a week of escape... to just the sun, the sand and the sea....

I sent out an 'Event Invitation' on Facebook to my Opening on Saturday (622 High Street, Dedham), and was so technically inept I ended up 'publishing' it three times - the first two were incomplete - and I apologize to all my Facebook friends.  And thanks to my daughter Molly for coaching me through the revision... 

*No Painting Safari This Friday*

I couldn't complete a painting donation for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Thursday because of the high humidity - Friday morning's the deadline!!!  Next week.  Take care!

Little Orange Dinghy, 6x8 Original Oil Painting by Kelley MacDonald

The harbor in Provincetown often has this very narrow orange dingy in it.  When the sun is setting it hits it's hull and it just sings!  I was a little discombobulated today in my 're-entry' to real life.  For almost a week I had just me to think about, and painting.  Today the dryer broke, I cooked a big breakfast for my family, one cat was practicing 'killing' the other cat, and Paco, my pug, just couldn't leave my side, and so he kept getting tripped over.  Oh, yeah, and I tried to paint.  So aside from the glare (which officially I promised not to mention), I'm pretty happy with it, all things considered.  

Cape House, 20x24, Acrylic

A few years ago my friend Phyllis invited a bunch of artists to stay with her and paint at this little piece of heaven in Truro, MA, on the inner arm of Cape Cod.  It is a truly magical place, a few houses down from Hopper's house, that I recently posted a painting of.  This house has historical significance in terms of the art history of Provincetown, MA, an art colony that was the birthplace of the Cape Cod School of Art.  This house was funky to say the least and probably could sleep - I don't know - 20?  This is the entrance, the back of the house.  Pretty sure the story is this place was designed by 2 RISD grads.  Cape Cod Bay is in the background.  I loved the door!

Off Season, Acrylic

The whole board:

Yesterday a bunch of us piled in our cars and met on the Cape to paint the lovely cottages at Chase's Ocean Grove.  We met some really nice people, and a fabulous bulldog named Monty, and got some sun and sand in before the huge dark clouds overtook us.  Instead of trying to do a complete plein air painting I thought I'd be better served by taking a big board (18x24), dividing it up into 4 rectangles and sketching with Prussian Blue and white acrylic paint.  Just really trying to work on composition - choosing a site and making it a welcoming visit for the viewer.  Some worked better than others...

Salvia Cottage, 12x12 Oil

sold

On a trip to Ptown during a painting trip this week, we pulled in across from Days Cottages (Ptown, I think, or it could be in Truro....)  And having just been to all the fabulous galleries in Ptown I was  so psyched to get out the paints.  All these little cozy cottages are lined up along the road, perched on the edge of the beach - nothing between them and the gorgeous bay but a strip of lovely sand.  The neat and tidy cottages each bear the name of a flower - I chose Salvia, partly because of the red jeep with the green kayak in front of it.  The light was just starting to slant and there was fantastic 'bounce' of this yellow light up into the shadow on the right side of the building.  Anyway...this nice family from Western MA was staying there, and they purchased the painting right off the easel.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it!

Cape Cod Bliss, 14x18 Acrylic

Yesterday I went to the Cape with Denise Zompa and Phyllis Adams to drop off entries for the Cape Cod Juried Show.  We figured it was so gorgeous we should paint while we were there. I amazed them with my organizational skills at the Art Association drop off (I had printed out the information on all my entries and had everything neatly wrapped in bubble wrap, labeled, with my business card taped to the back, and remembered everything I'd need - a first for me!  HowEVER when we got to the painting spot I'd forgotten my BRUSHES, and my PALETTE.  Kind of tough to paint like that.  Fortunately I'd found an old half hardened brush in the bottom of my bag, and I had a 6x8 canvas still in it's wrapper, so with the borrowed brushes from Phyllis, using the canvas as my palette, I was able to cobble together a painting.  Still felt discombobulated, though.  But the painting was about the sky and the water, the feeling of the day.  Hopefully that comes though!

Bass River, 6x12 Oil

SOLD

This was painted on my recent trip to the Cape. It was that magical moment just as the sun sets and the glow is caught in the sails of the boats. I know a lot of people won't paint this colorful moment because 'nobody will believe it', but this moment at dawn and dusk are the times of day that make me feel most alive and connected to everything else in the world, corny, I know. So actually I dont' CARE if anyone ever buys this type of painting from me, I do it for myself. I did a workup of this on a sleepless night last weekend, in an 8x16 format in acrylic - you can see it on my studio blog : http://welcometomyartworld.blogspot.com.