“Tugboats IV” - mural painted onto two plywood boards with a total area of 8×8′, to be mounted on the wall facing the Dartmouth Harbor at 2 Maitland St.
Future site of the Dartmouth Community Art Mural Project!
This weekend I went down to Dartmouth in the blazing sunshine to paint a mural of tugboats onto two large panels of plywood combining to form an 8×8′ mural. I got quite the sunburn.
It will be installed on the wall and up very soon — on the far left end of the wall.
This is the same spot where the Coal Train used to be.
The paint on the wall was peeling badly and all the murals were removed, the walls washed and re-primed, and here we go again with new murals for the next three years. The murals are slightly larger this year, and they follow a marine theme.
There are a lot more murals in Dartmouth than there were a few years ago. Please visit the Dartmouth Cove Harbor Walkway to see a street-level gallery invoked by Scotian spray and brush mural artists.
If you are an artist looking to express yourself, visit myhrm.ca’s Community Art Project page.
Tugboats IV mural in progress - Dartmouth, NS
“Dogs on Balcony” – acrylic on 24×36″ stretched canvas. 2010
This was a commission for someone with two dogs of very different type and size. I used bright colours to go with the interior in their home — their balcony is not bright like this. The positioning of the dogs along the directional lines of the balcony railings leads the eyes along between the two dogs to contrast their sizes.
My last dog painting commission is here if you are curious.
I do these every so often as needed. I work from photograph, though I do like to “meet” the pets if possible so I get an idea what they are like before I paint, and what colours to choose for the work. (But again, I can work with colours requested if you can show me the colours of a room via photographs.)
“Buskers by Halifax Harbor” – acrylic on 70x90cm canvas, painted in two hours. 2010.
This is the second painting I did on site during the Halifax International Busker Festival this summer, and like the last it’s a composite of two acts — Strictly Dumb Prancing followed by Wild Marmalade. All of the acts I painted were from Australia – except Strictly Dumb Prancing, who were from the UK. All of the acts I saw were entertaining.
The colours in this one are really bright and I’m personally pleased with the intensity of that red in contrast to the blue of the ocean.
Future site of the Dartmouth Community Art Mural Project!
I figured I had a handle on painting on boats now, somehow. Silly me! The waves were so big. 
