Art Blog - Mary Ann Kitchell

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

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

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

This painting was done for a family that was moving out of New Jersey. Their young child was very attached to the small red oak (shown at right in the painting) and was upset to leave the tree behind. The photo submitted did not show foliage but the client let me know this particular tree was important and it was a red oak ... no problem to add the tree's proper coloring. The same idea holds true when submitting photographs taken in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees or flowers in bloom. As long as I know if a tree is a pink cherry or if the homeowner plants red begonias in the summer, these items can be included. One of my biggest kicks is making a gray winter sky turn blue ...… Continue reading… 0 comments