ARTmonday: Lee Essex Doyle Chimera at Childs Gallery

My very dear friend, artist Lee Essex Doyle is exhibiting her newest work at Childs Gallery in Boston in a solo show called Chimera. Lee is many things—mother, friend, artist, and traveler. Her wanderlust defines her style and her work.

Lee excels at capturing the essence of a place in her delicately and boldly colored and detailed works, which depict architectural impressions of her journeys, from India to Greece to  Italy to Havana.

Here is a sampling from the beautiful show:

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Santorini Sky

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Hockneys View

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Mykonos Memories

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Bethesda By The Sea

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Illumination

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Echoes of India

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Cloistered Sea

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Cerulean Star

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Minaret Memories

Lee Essex Doyle Travel Paintings Mediterranean Night

Chimera by Lee Essex Doyle at Childs Gallery, 169 Newbury Street, Boston through August 30, 2019.

ARTmonday: Artwork for TroyBoston Model Apt #1409

I love when I have the opportunity in my work to showcase local Boston artists and makers. For the last couple of months I’ve been working on a interior decor scheme for a model apartment at Troy Boston, a brand new, upscale, “green” rental building in SoWa. It’s a little outside my usual scope of projects and it’s been fun. You may have seen the initial post I did about it, when I was determining the color scheme for the apartment—Impressions: Creating a Color Palette of Charcoal + Dusty Rose. The final palette is indeed based on this post, with plenty of textural elements, including velvet, sheepskin, cork, plywood, and copper.

The best part has been curating the artwork. The art collection is the distinctive feature of the overall design and I hope people will view it as an exhibition rather than mere decoration. The pieces, which include paintings, photographs, sculpture, and mixed media pieces, are all done by New England-based female artists. Some of these Boston artists are  talented friends (Lee Essex Doyle, Tess Atkinson, Grace Hopkins),  others are young artists whose pieces I’ve purchased over the years at the SMFA Art Sale (Laura Beth Reese, Eugenie Lewalski Berg), others are artists I’ve become familiar with through blogging (Cig Harvey, Alicia Savage, Anastasia Cazabon, Anna Kasabian, Rachel Cossar, Winky Lewis, Jenny Prinn), and others are Boston artists who are new to me  (Heather McGrath, Linda Cordner).

I knew from the start that I wanted to include a statement artwork of a partially obscured woman; a moody fashion-y photograph of an elusive woman. I was able to get a few, though no oversize pieces due to the prohibitive cost of printing. Nevertheless I think the collection will hold together well. At the end of this post, you can see my current hanging scheme for the main wall, and for over the bed. I also plan to print a few of my own Instagram photos to pin or (washi) tape up.

Here I present to you the Troy Boston Model Apt #1409 art collection featuring over a dozen Boston area artists.  I hope you love it and will learn more about these talented women, all of whom have generously lent me their artwork.

alicia-savage-field

Alicia Savage
 self-portrait  •  Panopticon Gallery
Fort Point, Boston, MA

laura-beth-reese-snowy-nude

Laura Beth Reese  •  self-portrait from Nude series
Boston, MA

dig-harvey-the-goldfinch

Cig Harvey, MidCoast Maine
The Goldfinch  •  Robert Klein Gallery

anastasia-cazabon-bed

Anastasia Cazabon  •  From the Secret World series
Boston, MA

grace-hopkins-ca01

Grace Hopkins  •  CA01
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-nassau06

Grace Hopkins  •  Nassau06
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

grace-hopkins-lights-la45

Grace Hopkins  •  LA45
Color photograph on canvas
Truro, Cape Cod, MA

rachel-cossar-tights

Rachel Cossar  •  Tights
Instagram photograph backstage
Ballerina, Boston Ballet  •  Boston, MA

lee-essex-doyle-lantern

Lee Essex Doyle, Boston, MA
Prada I Orange  •  Childs Gallery  •   Watercolor and ink

winky-lewis-swimsuit

Winky Lewis, Portland, ME
Black and white photo of the artist’s daughter

eugenie-lewalsk-berg-six-couples

Eugenie Lewalski Berg  •   Six Couples
Cast concrete relief with graphite and oil pastel
Boston, MA

linda-cordner-bayside-sky

Linda Cordner  •  Bayside Sky  •  encaustic
Linda Cordner created this large encaustic for the apartment after seeing my color palette inspiration post.
SoWa, Boston, MA

tess-atkinson-vista-series

Tess Atkinson  •  Vista Series
Color photograph face-mounted on plexiglass
Boston, MA

iceland-heather-mcgrath

Heather McGrath  •  Sunset in Iceland
Color photograph printed on sheet metal
SoWa, Boston, MA

anna-kasabian-tide-pool

Anna Kasabian, North Shore, MA
Tide Pool III   •  stoneware
This many not be the exact piece that will hang. Anna Kasabian is lending me three pieces, which I will see when she drops them off next week.

jenny prinn

Jenny Prinn, Maine
Little Footsteps I  •  Oil on canvas
This is not the exact canvas I’ll be hanging. Jenny Prinn has graciously offered to paint an original work for the project.

•            •          • 

Main art wall
troy-art-1

•            •         • 

Art over the bed
troy-art-2

•            •          •

ARTmonday: 10 Watercolors of Venetian Interiors by Lee Essex Doyle

If you’ve been following my art posts for a while, you’ll have seen work by my very talented, very dear friend Lee Essex Doyle. Two years ago Boston’s Childs Gallery showcased “Dreams of Dawnridge,” watercolor paintings based on the glam Los Angeles home of artist and designer Tony Duquette. In 2009 I featured her “Postcards from India” series depicting impressions of Indian temples and palaces in Rajasthan, which she showed at Peter Marcelle Contemporary in New York. (I am lucky enough to own two from that series.)

Lee Essex Doyle’s newest show, “Illuminated Moments” opens at Childs Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston this Thursday, January 22nd, 2015 (previewed on Artsy). The works are inspired by Doyle’s recent travels to Venice and Havana. This latest series of watercolors reflect the vibrant light of the two cities. The palette is more pared down than in years past, but the compositions just as masterful and the lines and patterns as intriguing and pleasing as ever. The stairways, with its curlicue railings are invitations to explore and the lanterns and chandeliers are enchanting.

I can’t wait to see Lee and her beautiful paintings in person on Thursday, but until then we can gaze at these . . .

lee-essex-doyle-palazzo-cini

Study for Palazzo Cini, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-prada-II-yellow

Prada II Yellow, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-prada-II-giustina

Prada II Giustina, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-cini-panes-grey

Cini Panes Grey, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-palacio-de-la-condesa

Study for Palacio de la Condesa de Revilla De Camargo, Havana, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-palazzo-polignac

Door to Palazzo Polignac, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-palazzo-priuli

Study for Palazzo Priuli, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-scuola-grande-stair

Study for Scoula Grande Stair, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-palazzo-grimani

Courtyard, Palazzo Grimani, Venice, 2014

lee-essex-doyle-fondamenta-view

Study for View across Fondamenta Osmarin, Venice, 2014

ARTmonday: Lee Essex Doyle “Dreams of Dawnridge”

Boston-based artist (and one of my dearest friends) Lee Essex Doyle is showing her newest series of paintings, “Dreams of Dawnridge” at Child’s Gallery in Boston. It’s on view until this Saturday, January 21, so if you’re on Newbury Street, try to pop in for a look. They’re absolutely beautiful. The pieces are based on L.A. artist and designer Tony Duquette’s ornate home, called Dawnridge.

“Double Sunburst”

“Library Altar”

“Thai Cockatoo”

“Malachite and Bird Cages”

“Red Interior”

“Ducommon Console and Mirror”

“Green and Yellow Interior”

“Garden Antelope”

See images from Lee Essex Doyle’s “Postcards from India” series.

Get the Look: 25 Nude Artworks

If you are feeling inspired by yesterday’s images of interior spaces hung with nudes, here are drawings, oil paintings, watercolors, and photographs available for sale online and at galleries in a wide range of price points.

Francine Turk

Tony Vevers, DNA Gallery

Brandon Herman, Untitled (Suzie Hedge)
archival print starting at $20 at 20×200

Left: Robert Malherbe, Nude with Tilted Head, 2008, oil on linen
$2,950 at Tim Olsen Gallery
Right: Jean Paul Brusset, ink drawing, c. 1950
starting bid $499.99 on eBay

David Bates, Reclining Nude, 2011 Betty Cunningham Gallery

Martine Emdur, Diaphne, 2010, oil on linen
$16,000 at  Tim Olsen Gallery

Cynthia Packard, Studio

Left: Embarrassed Female Statue, French drawing, c. 1910, $68 on eBay
Right: Young Female Nude, Michael Werner, $120 on eBay

Jean Fusaro, Nurose, 1959, oil on canvas
$3,800 at Douglas Rosin Decorative Arts & Antiques

Jacqueline Marval, Nu Allonge, 1912, Papillon Gallery

Left:  Robert Malherbe, Christina Flats VI, 2007, oil on linen
$4,000 at Tim Olsen Gallery
Right:  Pronkin, original india ink female nude, $6.75 on eBay

Neil Rodger, Nude with Bracelet, 2007, oil on canvas, Everard Read Gallery

Dana Ellyn, Balcony, 2011, watercolor, $90

Malerie Marder, Untitled, Artspace

Sally Michel, Reclining Nude, Childs Gallery

Left:  Original signed female pastel nude, $14 on eBay
Right: The Rac, Mama Singing in the Rain, pastel drawing, $46.75 on eBay

Rebekka Guoleifsdottir, From the Earth,
archival print starting at $100 at Artspace

Rebekka Guoleifsdottir, Bubble Bath
archival print starting at $100 at Artspace

Left: Lucie Bennett, Green Torso, gloss paint on aluminum
Right: Guna Naruns, nude watercolor, $95 on eBay