Paul Beliveau Art Opening Exhibition

"Vanitas 11.12.15"  (acrylic 48"x48") by Paul Beliveau

I attending the opening exhibition of Paul Beliveau's new works this past Friday at the Arden Gallery on Newbury Street and although the artist wasn't present, which was highly disappointing, I was able to spend some uninterrupted time viewing the paitings up close.  The gallery was pretty much empty due to the fact that the gallery mistakenly didn't include a date for the opening night exhibiton but it did work out in my favor because it was not crowded.  This is a great gallery and one of my two favorite galleries on Newbury Street - the other being Newbury Fine Arts.  If you're on Newbury Street please visit them and say hello and view some of their artist's works.  Paul's exhibition runs until March 31st if you want to take it in.

You can view all of Paul's work on his website: www.paulbeliveau.com .

Their next exhibit is coming from April 3-28 is another favorite artists, Robert Jackson, who paints these whimsical paintings with performing balloon animals to apples flying airplanes.  Opening reception and book signing for Robert Jackson is Friday, April 13th from 5-7pm. 



Joseph Lorusso & Peregrine Heathcote Opening Reception

I attended the Opening Reception for Joseph Lorusso and Peregrine Heathcote at Newbury Fine Arts and I was not disppointed.  I had a chance to speak with both artists for well over a half hour each and both of them were very pleasant and also very forthcoming in giving advice and sharing their working techniques. 

I spoke with Peregrine at the very beginning of the night and he was very nice.  He has just arrived in from England the day before and I explained how to get to the Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums and also supplied my advice on which paintings he had to see if he visited them.  His son was also accompanying him and was very pleasant.  For some reason the English accent is more impressive in person if that makes any sense and I have to admit I was amused when he made a referral to the television as the "tellie".

Peregrine was kind enough to share with me his working process and gave me some really strong encouragement to keep plugging away at my art and to never stop painting.

I waited patiently for Joseph Lurusso to finish talking with collectors.  After all they pay the bills and I'm just a lowly admiring artist.  When Joe seemed to be free I introduced myself and explained that I and expressed how much I love his painting style.  He asked me my name and if I was collector (I hate when I have to explain that I'm not) and I explained that was not a collector but that I painted as well.

 Joe immediately seem to warm up to me and asked me if there was any questions I had for him.  I of course asked him about his working process and how achieves the warm and loose feelings to his paintings.  He explained that most of his work is in the beginning stages; composing the painting and a great deal of time is in the creation of the underpainting.  He then provided me his business card and explained that on his web page there is a time-lapsed slideshow of his painting process which I had already seen prior. He then explained that he then goes back after the underpainting is dried and then works mostly in thin glazes and layers them on top of each other and the sometimes he also paints opaquely as well.  He walked me around to a few different paintings and explained how they were painted and his thought processes. 

I like to think that both he and Peregrine enjoyed the fact that there's an artist at the reception and that they get a chance to talk to another artist instead of just collectors, but then again they also need to mingle with the collectors.  When I go opening receptions, I always wait until the artist is free and also that there doesn't appear to be any collectors nearby waiting to speak with them.  I never monopolize the artist and I'm always alert to fact that if there is a collector nearby that seems to be waiting that I step back and allow that networking to happen.  

I didn't take photos with either artist unfortunately this time around because the gallery was still packed with collectors when I was getting ready to leave and I didn't want to be a strange, star-struck art geek so I opted to ditch the photo session but I'm positive both artists would have kindly obliged.

Joseph Lorusso & Peregrine Heathcote Opening Tonight

I'm really excited about the opening for Joseph Lorusso and Peregrine Heathcote at Newbury Fine Arts on Newbury St. in Boston.   I missed the last opening for both artists and I'm glad to finally get a chance to meet and speak with them tonight.  I'm bad about posting photos but I'm hoping to post photos here of the event but life takes a lot of time out of the day and updating the blog seems to take the back burner to everything else.

Sebastian Kruger and me at Newbury Fine Arts

Sebastian Kruger and I at "Face To Face" Opening Reception

Sebastian Kruger and I posing in front of his fabulous and humorous "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" painting (94" x 63").  Sebastian is truly a very nice guy and thoroughly enjoyed the opening reception.  He very gratiously posed for all photos and very forthcoming with questions.  This is what being an artist should be all about.  Gratious and willing to share ideas and thoughts and open to the public and fans of their work.

I hope to attend his next workshop whenever that may be.  His wife said they have a few big projects coming up and things will be busy with the Krugers for some time, but hopefully it will not be long before the next Kruger workshop.

Thanks again to Robin and Claire at Newbury Fine Arts.  Please pay them a visit if you are in Boston.  They are located at 29 Newbury Street in Boston.

Sebastian Kruger Exhibit in Boston

I had the pleasure of taking in the Sebastian Kruger 'Face to Face" exhibit at Newbury Fine Arts in Boston this past Monday and it was nothing less than spectacular.  That me with my geek costume on for Halloween, posing next to the "Johnny Rotten" painting.  No flash was used and not animals were harmed during the photographing of this painting.  Thanks Claire for taking the photo!

If you ever have a chance to visit their gallery you should do so.  This is a fabulous gallery with great owners and helpful staff.  Robin Parrella, one of the owners, and her assistant Clair "McGrath" Carino are extremely friendly and helpful and made it a pleasure to visit.  They represent some of the world's best artists and there are always great pieces on display.

The Kruger exhibit has some fascinating pieces on display and it's so nice to be able to view them up close and take a look at his brushwork.  Some notable pieces that just blew me away is "Mr R & F'n'R", "Jack Nicolson: American Actor", "Cash" and "Tom Waits: The Other Night I Woke Up." 

This is a must-see art exhibition, whether you are just a casual gallery visitor, avid collector, artist or art student.

You can visit Sebastian's web site at: www.sebastiankruger.com/ or you can get more details on his blog at: sebastian-kruger-news.blogspot.com/.

All of the his pieces are incredible to view up close.  The Stones paintings are all just meticulously rendered.  You can see the thousands of tiny single brush strokes and hatchwork Sebastian lays down to create his portraits.  I will be visiting this exhibit quite a few more times before it's over on November 30th and I strongly suggest that if you ever get a chance that you do the same.