Art Blog - Mary Ann Kitchell

Among the many wonderful people I've met as an artist are the couple who live in Morgandy's house. They had a house portrait painted for their daughter and the wife later commissioned this colored pencil of Morgandy as a Christmas surprise for her husband. The surprise was a huge success! This is one aspect of painting I thoroughly enjoy: making people happy with my art… Continue reading… 0 comments

Snow day! School's out! A day for the local children to gather and race down the hill with their sleds. This is one of a series of children's snow scenes created in watercolor and reproduced as prints for wall art. The sleds in this print are different from the wood sleds with red metal runners ("flexible flyers" ... ?)of my youth ..… Continue reading… 0 comments

The only photograph the customer had was a snow scene without the decorations. With his instructions we were able to create a house fully decorated for Christmas. The completed watercolor made a memorable surprise gift for the customer's wife… Continue reading… 0 comments

A clear, cold Winter's day ... and the snow is just right for making a snowman (or snow-woman!). Growing up in northern New Jersey in the late 40's and early 50's, there was usually plenty of snow to build a snowman and dress it up with whatever was around at the time. Walking around my neighborhood after it's snowed these days I hardly ever see a snowman… Continue reading… 0 comments

ArtId has been one of the best experiences of my artistic life. I've learned a lot about building and maintaining a website and connected with some wonderful people. Until recently my website has served as a reference for clients and potential clients. Last month, buyers searching for "house portraits in New Jersey" found my ArtId site and placed an order for the house shown. I appreciate their enthusiastic response to the finished painting and look forward to working with them again. Marketing was never my favorite thing: I'd much rather create than pursue the sales portion of an artist's life. I enjoy writing so I'll continue to post blogs as it's been an easy and productive way to keep my name in the public view… Continue reading… 0 comments

Just as I can remove snow from a photograph to show green lawn, doing a snow scene of a client's home can be a welcome change. The challenge is to show portions of the roof or walkway while keeping it essentially a "snowscape". After all, if the home has a beautiful slate roof it is important that this beauty be included. This is the only sunset house portrait I can recall painting and I found the result very satisfying. This painting would make an ideal Christmas card… Continue reading… 0 comments

I've worked from many pet photographs in the past and the quality is sometimes not as good as with photographs submitted for house portraits. While houses do not move, animals do. The rule of submitting several photographs for best results would apply here. This pet portrait was painted from two photographs: the pose came from an image of a middle-aged Casey, and the coloring from Casey's most recent photo as an older dog. Yes, dogs really do get gray hair, just like people… Continue reading… 0 comments

As a child I loved playing in the snow, but as the years went by (more quickly than I'd like to think about!) snow was no longer the fun it had been. I still appreciate clean, white snow and the effect it has on the landscape. Unfortunately, in my part of the world it too soon turns to gray, dirty slush. Of course, with the power of the paint brush we can change that quickly! This young girl is taking her first tentative steps on skis and once the basics are mastered, will learn to love being on the slopes. Skiing is a sport for young and old and one I've never tried ... guess I'm too much of a chicken… Continue reading… 0 comments

A familiar sight over many cities and a source of fascination for young eyes: a machine that flies in the air!! A departure from my house portraits, this painting was created to add a little whimsy to my usual routine. I enjoyed doing this watercolor and the others in my children's wall art collection and plan more in the future; life can sometimes be MUCH too serious… Continue reading… 0 comments

Not the typical house portrait, but a challenging change of pace. This watercolor was painted in a larger than usual size as a retirement gift for one of the Banco Popular officers. It was eventually matted and framed by the clients for a beautiful presentation to the retiree. I don't usually mat or frame, preferring to leave what I feel is a very personal choice to the customer. I am always grateful when offered the opportunity to see my work framed. It is amazing how many choices of framing are out there ... many of them combinations I would not have thought of myself ..… Continue reading… 0 comments

The best part of creating this dog portrait was the hair on the paws ... long and fluffy. The curly belly hair was a challenge. I eliminated all background shown in the customer's photograph but kept Molly's beloved pink toy. This portrait was rendered in colored pencil… Continue reading… 0 comments

Built around 1930, the Strand Theater was one of two movie theaters in downtown Summit, New Jersey. The Lyric Theater was destroyed by fire in 1951 and was not rebuilt; the site has been a parking lot for many years. The Strand was closed in the late 1980's. That section of Springfield Avenue was renovated and reopened in 1989 as The Strand Mall. This pen and ink drawing was completed from old photographs which unfortunately did not have a good view of the front entrance due to the heavy shadows cast by the marquee. It does capture my memories of red plush seats and the smell of popcorn. I wish to publicly thank the Summit Historical Society for their diligence in keeping records of Summit's past and their helpfulness to those of us who search for old photographs… Continue reading… 0 comments

Up until this last week we've had a cooler than normal summer in New Jersey, with lots of rain, especially in June. The rain has produced larger than usual numbers of mosquitoes .... not fun! I've missed the hot sun but not the typical summer humidity. The scene in this print could be a chance meeting at the beach, or a brother and sister searching for seashells on the family vacation. I am pleased with how the warm summer colors in the original watercolor reproduced in the print. I am thinking of using a giclee print company for future prints… Continue reading… 1 comment

This watercolor boat painting was a Father's Day gift for Dad's office. People sometimes hesitate when requesting something out of the ordinary but as long as the photo is clear there should be no problem. I felt the boat's name was interesting and using this view to include the name made the painting a more personal one… Continue reading… 0 comments

This is a watercolor portrait of a cottage in Ireland, the result of a daughter's search for her mother's home. We also included a red bicycle as it was very much a part of her mom's life in Ireland. I love everything about this painting: the cottage, the sky, the water, the flowers ... everything! When asked to name my all-time favorite painting, it has to be this one… Continue reading… 0 comments

This house portrait was fun .... water instead of lawn! I loved the challenge of painting the water and creating a Jersey Shore scene rather than the usual New Jersey suburban setting. Sort of a vacation for this artist ..… Continue reading… 0 comments

I used this colored pencil portrait as a sample for one of the gift shops I work with. I tend to prefer colored pencil for most pet portraits as I'm able to capture more fur texture with this medium. I guess this preference goes way back to my earliest pencil drawings. I started with pencil studies and really enjoyed my pencil work. Clients kept asking for "color" so I gradually added watercolor to the drawings, doing the watercolor washes first, then adding pencil. My portraits are now either colored pencil or watercolor. A pet portrait in either medium would make a special gift for the avid animal lover… Continue reading… 0 comments

I am very proud of this little guy. He's the first of my Beach Baby Collection. Sold as wall art for a child's room, these prints are meant to express familiar childhood memories .... sand, sun, and fun. My goal was to create "every child", not a specific portrait of just one child. When I hear a customer say "that looks just like my son/grandson" and I haven't seen their child or a photograph, I know I've met my goal… Continue reading… 0 comments

I've been painting house and pet portraits for many years; the flip side to my work has been watercolor illustrations for children. My most recent illustration work is a series of prints depicting common machines as wall art for boys' rooms. All the little boys I've ever known have gone crazy about fire engines, planes, and the big machines used in construction. The finishing touch on these prints is the mat. I've extended the design onto the mat for extra whimsy. Maybe it's the child left in me! In the future I'll be adding to this collection as well as working on prints for girls' rooms… Continue reading… 0 comments

My main goal when painting a house portrait is to have the viewer feel they can walk right up to the front door and go inside ... that familiar feeling when you pull into the driveway and know that you're "home". When doing a painting for an anniversary gift I may be given photographs of the house as it is currently. The client then asks me to paint the house as it used to be. This can be accomplished easily based on details provided by the client from their childhood memories of living in the house. These notes may be accompanied by old photographs. If I have been successful in capturing a memory, this is the type of portrait that brings on "happy tears" from both the client and recipients… Continue reading… 0 comments