Newbury and Dartmouth in the Snow at Night

Oil on canvas, 22" x 24", 2010, $2,100.00 This piece was painted over the  course of the winter of 2009, all en plein aire.  At least one painting session occured while it was actually snowing (hard)  The effects of the snowflakes on my oils  were kind of cool. The snow chunks bound up in the oils creating clumpy,  gritty textures. Another factor that  manifested during that session was fear. While I was painting I could here  a group of rowdy guys hanging out loudly  somewhere nearby. I thought they were in front of what used to be Joe's  over on Dartmouth and Newbury.  (It's now The Met Bar). I could hear their guffawing and threatening  snowball type comments to passers by.  I even heard one girl standing up for herself saying, "You wouldn't throw  one at a pregnant woman would you?"  I heard the group reluctantly acquiesce but just barely. I was getting  nervous because I surmised that if they  noticed me stationed at my easel painting on Newbury Street, in the snow,  at night, they would almost have  no choice in their alcohol fueled, neanderthal pack mentality, but to target  me with snowballs. Not wanting  to deal with such matters, I hurriedly got what I could out of that very exciting  and productive session, packed  it up, and got under cover. The blue awnings on the left of the painting with  the gold dots on them were  emblematic of Joe's American Bar and Grille at that address for years. Now  Joe's has moved one block up  to Newbury and Exeter.