Bright and cheerful 🙂
Painting already underway for next solo show at
Beth Urdang Gallery, SOWA, Boston
in September 2018.
“Two Koi”
Oil on Panel
30×40 inches
2013
“Follow the Leader”
Oil on Panel
40×30 inches
2010
“Three Blooms”
Oil on Canvas
50 inches square
2006
These three paintings have just been added
to the collection of Care Dimensions
at their brand new location
in Lincoln, MA. “Three Blooms” and
“Two Koi” were purchased. “Follow the Leader”
was my donation to this wonderful hospice care
organization.
Earlier they had commissioned me to make a koi triptych painting
for their Kaplan House facility located in Danvers, MA.
“Jelly Bean”
oil on panel
12×9 inches
2017
This portrait was a collaborative effort with the dog’s
owner to create a surprise gift for her husband in time for
Christmas. He is crazy about his little female pug dog!
Earlier in the Fall, she and I had done a photo shoot of Jelly Bean,
inside and outside their lovely home in Magnolia. But,
as it turned out, Jelly Bean was in no mood to be photographed
that day. None of the two hundred images were worthy of
transferring into a painting. The pug looked angry instead of
her natural soulfulness.
What to do? Re-shoot? We decided instead to use the
adorable iPhone candid shot that her daughter had taken of Jelly
Bean sometime earlier. The photo was beautifully framed and
had been placed in a prominent spot in their bedroom. We
agreed I should borrow the photo in its frame to use for the
painting. Thank goodness, her husband never noticed it was missing.
What was the verdict Xmas morning?
He loved it!!!
🙂
“Cobalt Abstraction”
oil on canvas
12×12 inches
2017
It’s always interesting when a client places an order.
I had done a 12×12 abstraction for her earlier this year
which was a variation of an 8×8 abstraction already in my
inventory.
In this case she wanted another 12×12 abstraction as
a companion piece with more specific color choices.
The predominant color would be cobalt blue.
(Hence the title).
The other colors she requested were kelley green,
pink, yellow and white – all in specific quantities for each
color. Mind you, these were not colors I would have
thought of using on my own. New challenges.
I’ve always loved them!!
It’s so gratifying to receive a surprise email
like the one below from one of my clients ….
Her headline read “Awesome work in Sydney”
“Dear Linda – I am visiting Sydney….
and walked into the offices of Wellington Management…
to find a large koi painting by you in the reception area!
You are global!!!
My iphone image does not do your work justice!”
Wellington has seven of my paintings, mostly koi,
plus a rain forest with parrots.
The above koi painting was in their corporate
office lobby here in Boston for many years.
I had no idea it had been moved to Australia! 🙂
koi paintings
oil on board
All eight 12×12 koi images purchased together
from my October 2017 show in Boston!
Am so happy they remained together as a series, since that’s
how I had imaged them to be.
The series had been on display for awhile at Delta Airlines premier
lounge in Logan Airport, Boston.
As the display came to a close, they decided to keep them there!!!
Thank you Beth Urdang Gallery!
All was negotiated while I was on a trip out of the country.
And thank you internet! 🙂
To the Water
oil on canvas
36×12 inches
private collection
The above image is from a series of paintings done while I was a student for 6 weeks at the Skowhegan School in Maine during the summer of 1974.
Faceless people, free form, endless color. I loved doing them!
Recently, a client from Cambridge, MA visited my studio and loved this idea too. He also noted a watercolor I had hanging on my wall of musicians and dancers by Zygmund Jankowski. He was drawn to the free-form playfulness of both approaches.
When I incorporated these ideas together, including other romantic elements he wanted to include, this is what evolved on the canvas, 41 years later 🙂
Beach Party
oil on canvas
32×48 inches
private collection
Koi with Waterfall #5
48×60 inches
oil on canvas
About a month ago, I was contacted through my website by a young woman who had seen this painting in the lobby of Lahey Hospital in Peabody, MA. She was hoping that I was the artist. I was indeed the artist, and delighted to learn that her family had been enjoying this painting for some time during her father’s medical treatment at Lahey.
Shortly after that, her Mother contacted me. She had been trying to find me for four and a half years! Her husband, now deceased, was also a painter and absolutely loved the painting. Despite her inquiries at the Lahey, no one knew anything about me, or where to contact me. They do now 🙂 Because my signature in the lower right corner was difficult to read (she thought it was Hoyt instead of Holt), her daughter, ever the sleuth, googled koi painters. Thankfully, up popped my name!
Now that she found me (apparently many others had asked about the painting too 🙁 I quickly sorted through old slides that could be used for a giclee print. Well, this was one of those times that the painting slipped out the door without my having photographed it! What to do??!!
My wonderful giclee printer got special permission to photograph the painting on site (with his own security guard) and made an absolutely gorgeous reproduction – one fourth the size – 24×30 inches. The client picked it up over the weekend and is thrilled with the result. I was too!! Here’s a temporary home for her new piece: