Bye Bye Balloon

I've been putting in sixteen hour days in the studio for a week now. I'm putting the finishing touches on "Bye Bye Balloon", the childrens book written by Ryan SanAngelo. It chronicles the adventures of a balloon who excapes from the cluster and travels around the world.
It's been an amazing experience to illustrate the book. I've challenged myself in so many ways during the process. One such challenge has been painting animals. In the course of this story I've painted; an orca, bulls, geese, a camel, kowala bears,and kangaroos.
It's also gotten me outside of my usual New England landscapes to faraway places of interest such as London, Paris, Hollywood, and even Toronto (to name a few).
I'm in the process now of organizing a book signing / art reception with all of the original illustrations exhibited. Look for that to happen in Early May, stay tuned for specifics.

January 26, 2011

So my first born son Cole turns 21 tomorrow. I'm in Boston working at the studio on an experimental batch of 10 stretched canvas glicee prints for boloco of reproductions of some of my paintings. I'm finishing up the commission for the children's book I'm illustrating called "Bye Bye Balloon", I'm going to have at two or three shows at different galleries on Cape Cod this summer; Gallery 333 in North Falmouth, The Cataumet Arts Center

"Roxbury in Autumn"

Oil on canvas, 2010, 56" x 72", owned by boloco

Click on image to enlarge.

This is one of my most important painting to date. I hope to one day be able to express what the piece means to me in words. For now all my energy has gone into the creation of the visual part. I have written a preliminary summary which I included on my website. Here it is:

This painting has been over twenty years in the making. By that I mean when I was working in a parking lot on Huntington Avenue in 1988 with a young gentleman from Roxbury named Mike Murphy I started to want to paint Dudley Square. You see I always want to go places I'm not supposed to go and do things I'm not supposed to do. Mike always said         "Believe me, you shouldn't go to Dudley Square". Boston is a great city and I don't want there to be any parts of it to which one shouldn't go. Of course I took his advice and never went there.... until last September (2009). I came one weekday morning with my paintbox looking for a good vantage to immortalize on canvas. I felt very welcome and safe just like I do in most places I've ever been to in Boston and had a great experience painting (literally) in the middle of Dudley Square. I set up on the pedestrian island between the Warren Street Splits and the westbound Dudley Street. There was a slight affect on traffic as people at the light next to me were watching me work instead of going when the signal turned green.

"Commonwealth Avenue & Hereford"

This piece was painted en plein aire with local Virtual Realist Brian Harkins as part of a collaborative project which will continue the immersion of Sean Boyce art into cyberspace. (It of course begins with Biff The Cyberpunk).

2011 is gonna be great!!

The New Year is starting out well over at Sean Boyce Studios, 162 Newbury Street!!

January first I hit the ground running with a nice sale. We now have yet another happy Bostonian who is the proud owner of a Sean Boyce Original.

"Newbury in Springtime with Furled Flag", 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 2010 is now no longer counted among my inventory.

"First Night"

Here's what newbury looks like now:

Here's what it will look like soon!!

I'm looking forward to working and studying in the studio. I hope to walk across the block to Copley Square and check out some of the ice sculptures. Warmer weather: good for spectators, bad for ice sculptures. It's supposed to reach 50 degrees on New Year's Day, perhaps I'll be painting in front of the studio!!

"Newbury @ Night (Niketown)"

Oil on canvas, 2010, 24" x 36" $3,250.00.

So I finally got up the

nerve to set up RIGHT ON THE CORNER OF

EXETER AND NEWBURY ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!

It took nerve because the spot I wanted to paint is right in front of

Stephanie's outside dining area, also right in front

of the valet parking zone. The sidewalk is

excruciatingly narrow right there as well.

The positive aspects of painting here are many.

First of all when everyone is watching it

makes me want to develop the piece quickly

and accurately so that no one asks me what

I'm painting (they can [hopefully] see what it is).

Also I have impetus for speed because It's so

busy with the valets rushing around and

I don't want to be in their way. These stimuli help me

set up strict parameters which reflect in the vivid loose

treatments in the picture. I painted there four separate times.

I also fine tuned some elements in the studio.