Rocket Fighter - Acrylic painting of Vintage Painted Tin Toy by Debbie Shirley

Rocket Fighter

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

I had a lot of fun with this one - can you tell?
Love this cute little printed tin toy. I hope to have the time to squeeze in more toy paintings soon!

Yes, things are still crazy. If you take a look on the right side of this page, you will see my ever-growing list of upcoming events - and I am not even close to being done entering them there! If you are local, you will have lots of opportunities to come see my work in person. Stop by and introduce yourself - I'd love to meet you!

Along for the Ride - Acrylic Painting of a Classic Toy by Debbie Shirley

Along for the Ride

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

I liked the little 3x3" painting of these Fisher-Price Little People so much, that I needed to do a larger one! It was great fun to paint. Now I am thinking I need to do more large Little People paintings. I love the irony - Little People who aren't so little. A child's toy becomes almost threatening when its head is bigger than your own. Too crazy?

Rear Reflection - Acrylic Painting of a Classic Car

Rear Reflections

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

This painting was also accepted into the Newburyport Art Association's Fall Juried Show! On exhibit through November 21st.

I did a similar painting of this vintage Hudson a few years back. I'd like to get back into painting some of these classic cars - but a little larger this time around! Gotta admit my favorite part...notice the landscape reflected in the bumper......

Hilltop House - Acrylic Painting of the Hilltop Steakhouse Neon Sign

Hilltop House

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

SOLD

One of my favorite signs to paint, this is the largest one I have painted of the Hilltop cactus yet.

The actual restaurant was demolished about a month or so ago, but the sign still stands.
This painting sold at the first night of the Art in the Barn at the Cox Reservation in Essex, Massachusetts.

El Country - Acrylic Painting of Old Neon Motel Sign

El Country

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

One of the last neon motel signs along the Saugus/Peabody stretch of Rt. 1 of Massachusetts. Glad I got a few shots of it before it was demolished. Unfortunately, I think I missed getting any pictures of the motel itself. You think these places are going to be there forever, then suddenly they are gone.....

This painting is part of the big Art Auction at the Newburyport Art Association in June.

Whir Pool - Acrylic Painting of Vintage Roadside Motel

Whir Pool

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

In looking back over the last few weeks, I realized that I missed posting this painting!

Fern's is an old motel on Route One in Saugus. And while this is not a super old sign, it still maintains a somewhat vintage look to me. People frequently ask me why I choose the signs and buildings to paint that I do. It's hard to say exactly why. Often it is a sign that catches my eye - and most signs that I like are old and - especially - NEON!! I love vintage lettering and graphics - the new signs tend to not have as much character in my eyes.

And sometimes it just happens to be the way the light catches part of a building - the shadows created by architectural details, the shapes and colors. Once again - it is the older buildings that are more interesting to me, the sleeker new designs don't make me want to rush to get out the paints!

I can remember Fern's old sign - maybe 20 years ago? They kept the same shape of the sign - but changed the graphics and color scheme. I love the "retro" feel of the old sign with the architecture of the old motel. I'd love to so a series of painting about motels from an earlier era. And maybe a little road tripping (in the name of research, of course!).

This painting is currently hanging in the Haverhill Arts Association Exhibition currently showing at the Haverhill Public Library through the month of November.

Tripoli - Acrylic Painting of Neon Sign, Retro Signage Art

Tripoli

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on 3/4" canvas

Oh my, so far behind on posting!
I've been painting like a madwoman, though. But with the kids out of school, all of their activities (and keeping them busy), endless games of baseball (go Bombers!), other family stuff, and then painting in any spare moments day and night, I just haven't had the time to keep up online. So the next few weeks will remain sporadic in posting, and then hopefully things will get back to a more normal routine.

This neon sign is for Tripoli Pizza in Salisbury, Massachusetts. I painted the sign once before in a 6 x 6 inch format and decided to try it larger. I'm thinking of going even larger with it - I have an 18 x 18 inch canvas, so maybe I will give it a try!

As far as the pizza goes, I haven't had it from this location, but I did recently try Tripoli Pizza in North Andover. My oldest son (14 years old) informed me that this is called "beach pizza". I never knew that there was a name for it! It is pizza that is hand rolled into large rectangular trays, a slightly sweet tomato sauce and just a sprinkle of cheese over a fairly crisp crust. Much of the pizza in New England is Greek-style, so this is definitely a change of pace.

This painting, along with 13 others from my "Along the Way" series are now hanging at the Boxford Town Library though September 17, 2014. There will be an artist reception on August 26 from 6-7;30 pm for those of you who are local to Massachusetts. It seems like this series will be going "on tour" over the next year, so stay tuned for details for more venues where it can be seen!

High Cost of Living - Still Life with Classic Games

High Cost of Living

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

This is one of the paintings I have been working on lately. I am doing a little series of "Games We Have Played" with vintage and classic games and toys. And yes, the game is an older edition of Monopoly, where the house and hotels are actually made out of wood! This piece was kind of a warm up, and is a little larger than the pieces I am doing for one of my galleries. I will be entering this painting in a local juried show, so wish me luck!

One Heart - Floral Still Life Painting of Pink Rose

One Heart

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

Can't believe it has been a week since my last post!
I've been working on the piece above -  a little bit larger than usual for me. And we spent a long weekend away at Cape Cod with the kids. We came home while the horrible events were unfolding in Boston. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to everyone involved. I've kind of been floundering since then....the kids have the week off on break from school, and I am alternating between not wanting to let them out of my sight and needing some quiet time alone to process things. Anyhow, I think I need to get back to work and keep busy at this point....

This 12 x 12 piece is part of my "wallflower" series - and will be going up to Pop Gallery in Gloucester, Massachusetts very soon. Here is quick shot of the six 6x6" pieces that I have so far to go with it:

Hope to have more to post soon!

Arcade - Acrylic Painting of Neon Sign

Arcade

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas

Another view of the neon sign at the Salem Willows Arcade in Salem, MA. It is a great sign - I've done a few other smaller paintings of it. This one is a whopping (for me!) 12 x 12 inches for the same juried show that I am entering "Schwinn Bicyclery".

I am soooo looking forward to doing some smaller pieces now. I hate that I fell behind in the 30 Day Challenge - but I knew going into this that I had some commitments that were going to require larger paintings. Still, I had hoped that I could keep up longer. The larger paintings made me realize that I will need to rethink my setup if I am going to do more larger work. I'd like to do a  mix, but I'm really going to have to think this one through.....

Now I plan to spend a few days happily doing some smaller work to refresh my displays locally,,,,then on to another series for the Gloucester gallery.....more to come!

Schwinn Bicyclery - Haverhill Cityscape Landscape Painting SOLD

Schwinn Bicyclery 

12 x 12 inches

acrylic on canvas
SOLD

Well - I'm going to call this one done. Hopefully the light will be a little better tomorrow so I can get a better picture. Very gray and dim inside today!

This was a big painting for me these days - and I learned a lot from it.
First of all, I am totally NOT set up to work well this size! I really think that 8 x 10 is as big as I can go comfortably with my current set up. 12 x 12 was really a struggle (though I am currently doing another one that size). And to make matters worse, one of the lights in my corner of my kids' playroom my studio has stopped working altogether, so I really had to improvise some lighting. I can get away with my Ott daylight lamp for small work, but it didn't work too well for this size.

I also learned that working larger is so much more than just scaling up what I would have done on a smaller piece. I have already painted a similar painting as a 6 x 6  piece. I had worked out the composition, colors, etc. at that size and figured it would be easy to then go larger. But the larger piece had all its own set of issues, so it was almost like starting from scratch. The challenge really pushed me out of my comfort zone.

Anyhow, this painting is of the HR Sawyer Schwinn Bicyclery in Haverhill, Massachusetts. I found out the company is over 100 years old - one of the oldest bicycle shops in America! How cool is that? I loved the way the shapes of the letters, the shadows and the building all came together as a composition.  And I think the word "Bicyclery" is pretty neat, too  ;-)

I am entering this painting in an upcoming juried exhibition, so we will see how it goes.....