Zoom.

Here is another (11x14") oil on wood panel toy painting that I completed exclusively for Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown, Mass. This one is titled, "Zoom".

Robert Crawford September 11, 2001

A small sketch of Robert Crawford to remember the victims of September 11, 2001. I did not know Robert, I learned that he was a New York Firefighter for 32 years and was 62 years old at the time of his missing status on 911. He was from Brooklyn, NY. His daughter wrote on a memorial sight regarding her father: "To describe my father as great, that's not even a good enough word," Mrs. Eppolito said. "I was lucky for him to be my father. There is no other man that, in my eyes, could stand up to him."

Speed Demon

This is another toy car oil painting, I titled it, "Speed Demon", it's (11x14") and is painted on a wood panel. This was part of my July show in Provincetown, Mass at The Bowersock gallery.

Kennedy Gallery Opening Friday, August 5, (5-8pm)

This is a (30x30") oil on canvas mounted on wood painting titled, "Survivor" that will be featured at the Kennedy Gallery in Portsmouth, NH as part of my exhibition of new oil paintings with an opening reception this Friday, August 5 from 5-8pm. Please feel free to come and join us for the opening. It will be fun with lots of art, friends, some wine and treats.

here is the skinny:

Opening Reception for new oil paintings by Todd Bonita, '"Depth and Reflection".

Friday, August 05, 2011 (5 - 8pm)

Kennedy Gallery

41 Market Street

Portsmouth, NH

(Kennedy Gallery represents my oil paintings in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and works will available all month and throughout the year. For more info you can go to their web sight at: www.Kennedygalleryandframing.com

Olf Friend

This is another (11x14") oil on wood painting from my antique toy series that are currently showing at The Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown, Mass on Cape Cod.

Bowersock Gallery show in Provincetown, Mass

This (11x14") oil on wood painting is titled, "ABC Towing" and is one of the featured pieces in a two person show starting tomorrow, July 15, 2011 at the Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown, Mass on the very tip of Cape Cod. Opening reception will be from 7 to 9 pm. Also in the show will be a talented painter who is also from the New Hampshire seacoast, Darlou Gams. I became a huge fan of Darlous work when I first moved to the seacoast back in 2004, she does these soft and beautifully colored mysterious landscape paintings that for me evoke the work of Innes. I'm pleased to be showing with her at the Bowersock Gallery and I'm really looking forward to the opening Friday evening.

As excited as I am for the show tomorrow, my thoughts are with my brother Chris who is currently in third place in the main event at the World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas. First place wins 8.7 million..c'mon bro, mama needs a house, a Dunky's Coffee and a pack of cigarettes.

I was so excited when I found out he moved into third place I got pulled over for speeding...true story...heres my warning below. Go Chrissy-Vegas!!!

Painting retreat

(Chris Volpe, me, Beaman Cole and Alistair Dacey. Concord Pond, Woodstock, Maine)

This past weekend I had the good fortune to pack up my painting gear and head up to Concord pond in Woodstock, Maine with some artist friends for few days of painting and tomfoolery. We rented a small rustic cabin on the water with no electricity, it had cold running water and an outhouse...off-the-grid...picture perfect and serene.
(Chris Volpe painting on Concord Pond).

We painted by day and at night we sat around the fire pit and talked about art, sipping Taliskers single malt scotch and puffing Arturo Fuente cigars...it was so manly, I could almost feel my chest hairs growing that very evening.

(Beaman Cole Canoeing on Concord Pond).

There was a small island a short canoe ride away that was ideal for a painting excursion. Beaman brought homemade bread, Cinnamon rolls and Blueberry pie. We ate like kings...maybe too much but it was great fun.

(Chris Volpe channeling Jimmy Page)

Chris Volpes Guitar, Alistairs Tortillas, Khona coffee in the morning...some of the simple extras that made this just about as perfect a weekend as your going to get.

Good times my brothers...good times.

Sognatore (Dreamer)

There she is, the little dreamer. I've loved this little DaVinci drawing since I first saw it as an art student back in the early 90's. Leonardo really owned that ambiguous gaze thing (Mona Lisa). The wonderful mystery executed with that smokey atmosphere he pioneered (chiaro scuro) have haunted my dreams for years.

I completed this little (8x6") oil painting on wood panel I titled "Sagnatore" (Italian for dreamer) for the coming Bowersock Gallery show in Provincetown, Mass in mid July. I'll post about that as the date gets closer. Anyhoot, I share my art studio with a book binder and she has all these wonderful old books with old, yellowed and stained parchment...beautiful surfaces and textures...instant nostalgia. Grouped with an old key I bought at an antique shop, it is an homage to all things wonderfully venerable.

New Season

I finished this small (6x8") oil panting on wood panel and titled it, "New Saeson". I've got a bunch of paintings almost finished in the studio...I picked up this habit of working on a batches of paintings, which is cool but the pile of unfinished works is beginning to give me anxieties. I need to think about finishing some more of these before starting something else.

The Sketcher

I finished this (8x10") oil painting I titled, "The Sketcher". This is a completely new direction for me and I'm having some fun with it. This is a painting of a pencil resting on a piece of age-soiled parchment with a sketch of the head of a women. The idea is that the artist left his pencil on the parchment after the sketch. For me, it's a nod toward the art of drawing and the drawing student. The image of the womens head is referenced from a Drawing instruction book by Charles Bargue.

Plein air painting from my hot rod...

I went to New Castle Commons on the New Hampshire sea coast to do some plein air painting of the ocean today...and by plein air, I mean I wimped out and painted on my lap in the front seat of my hot rod...and by hot rod, I mean my 2005, grey Chevy Equinox tripped out with two baby seats in the back...Nice! Above is my Guerilla pochade box with a 6x8 wood panel...I'm laying in the big shapes as you can see...some ocean and sky. I'm using a simplified pallet, from left to right: Titanium white, Cad Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cad red, Aliz Crimson, Ultra Blue, Cobalt, Viridian, Burnt Sienna and Ivory black...there is a little Liquin in my pallet cup there too. At this point above, I'm only painting with a rag wrapped around my finger and rubbing in color. Brushes come later.
This is my default painting location, there is simply so much to paint by the ocean and these Commons have two light houses, a beach, craggy rocks and distant headlands...
I took these photos from my new Iphone...if you are familiar with Iphone technology and you happen to be an outdoor painter, you may interested to know that I used a cool App for plein air painters called the Digital View catcher, a compositional view finder for artist.

The small portable pochade box makes painting eazy-peazy. It stores 15 tubes of paint, liquin, pallet cup and even my small brush washer in the storage compartment below...it holds two wet panels and also has a tripod attachment on the bottom. Its perfect for painting a quick study just about anywhere.

If you would like to join me outdoors for plein air painting, I am teaching classes every Tuesday from 1:00 - 4:00, you are welcome to drop in for a session or sign up for a half dozen, I hope you can join us on a coming Tuesday afternoon. We are out there from March through December. We meet from 1:00 to 4:00 at different locations around the New Hampshire sea coast (and sometimes southern Maine). We discuss outdoor painting techniques, materials and artistic principles. Classes are demo and critique based and appropriate for beginners to pros. For more info including weekly painting locations or materials list, see my web sight or click this link: Todd Bonita Plein air painting.

Or call me at (603) 819-9100

Cherries

There are stacks of almost finished paintings in my studio and it gave me a little anxiety when I reported for duty this morning. In the interest of completing something, I grabbed the smallest work-in-progress I could find and started painting. I finished "Cherries" by lunch time and almost finished another small painting by the end of the day. Perhaps tomorrow I will close the door on another if I can simply resist the temptation to start something new. I think I would be better off if I could harness some discipline in this area. Anyhoot, I have a really nice little gold frame I'm going to put this in and send it off to Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown.

Plein air painting opening day in New Castle, NH

This is Sheila, smiling and shielding herself from the wind on opening day of my Tuesday Plein air painting classes. 45 degrees, sunny and windy but we managed to enjoy ourselves like giddy kids in a candy store. Today was about jumping in and committing to being better painters. We simplified our pallets to six colors plus white (a warm and cool of the three primaries). We looked at the landscape and tried to simplify it into abstract puzzle shapes of value and color within a picture plain. In the interest of finding a balance between academics and expression, we jumped in with brushes, pallet knives and squinting eyes and frankly had a genuine blast. I hope you can join us on a coming Tuesday afternoon.



Plein air painting classes are every Tuesday from March through December. We meet from 1:00 to 4:00 at different locations around the New Hampshire sea coast (and sometimes southern Maine). We discuss outdoor painting techniques, materials and artistic principles. Classes are demo and critique based and appropriate for beginners to pros. For more info including weekly painting locations or materials list, see my web sight or click this link: Todd Bonita Plein air painting.
Or call me at (603) 819-9100

Gingerbread Square Gallery, Key West, FL

I'm thrilled to report that I have developed a new relationship with Key West, Floridas Oldest gallery, THE GINGERBREAD SQUARE GALLERY on Duval street. They have been in business for 37 years and represent some top name artist like Anne Packard from Cape Cod, Mike Palmer, Sal Salinero amongst others. They have invited me to be part of an exhibition that opens this evening with an opening reception from 5:30 to 8:30. If you are in the area tonight or anytime in the future, please come and see some very rich art work in a very classy gallery.

Key #7

Just finished this small (8x6") oil painting brilliantly titled, "Key #7". This is my kind of title. To be honest, I did labor a little and try to come up with something clever but eventually I came to the conclusion that the painting is simply a study of an old vintage key on some weathered and beaten wood..it's about textures, design and the simple subject. Viola!
This will be sent to the Bowersock Gallery on cape Cod as part of a series of small still life paintngs I'm currently working on.

Harmony

Feels good to put the finishing touches on a studio piece, this is "Harmony" (8x10") oil on wood panel. I will be sending this to the Bowersock Gallery on Cape Cod as part of a series of small still life paintings I'm working on for them. I am working on a bunch of these paintings as a group and will post them when I finish.

Great Bay, Greenland, NH plein air painting.

I met up with Mary Byrom this afternoon to do some plein air painting by the Great Bay estuary in Greenland, NH. We set up by a snow mobile trail in 20 degree temps and pretended the wind didn't bother us as best we could. To tell you the truth, once we got rolling, there was no complaining and the whole expreience was really pleasant. I love painting gear like a kid loves goobers in a candy shop so I was excited to see what Mary would be using. In a flash, she was up and running with her tripod mounted 8x10" cigar box pochade by Judson...nice! I had pochade envy if I'm being honest.
This is my new set-up, only my second outing with my Jullian half-box easel (I did make some modifications for this out-of-box-wonky gear). I bought it used on Craigslist for 90 clams and I love it. Minutes before we left today, the post man delivered my brand new "French Companion" folding palette box that you see here resting like a shelf...lots of room..it's like a studio out doors. I'm in love with my French companion and that aint the Champagne talkin..Ou la-la.

...Here is my landscape painting in progress just before I put in my dark tree accents to make her pop.

We were able to get in over two-and-a-half hours of painting time before the setting sun began changing dramatically. To see Mary's very good post with some striking landscape pictures click her blog posting here > Mary Byroms Blog .

If you would like to join me for plein air painting, Tuesday afternoon Plein air painting classes begin this coming March. I will paint outdoors every Tuesday from March thru December (rain or shine). This is an ongoing, outdoor class and all levels are welcome, you can drop in anytime but please call to reserve a space. I have daily equipment rentals if you want to try it and see if it's for you. Please feel free to contact me for further info or if you wish to sign up for a class or a six week session (recommended). I can be reached by email at tmbonita@gmail.com or by phone at (603) 819-9100. You can CLICK HERE to go to my web sight link for more information. I hope we can paint together this season.

Let the games begin...

Happy new year. I officially reported for duty after a three week vacation spent with my family and my new baby girl Kate. I'm excited to start the new painting season and jumped right in by heading outside to the Urban Forestry Center in Portsmouth, NH to do some winter Plein air painting. It was actually more comfortable than it may appear..as long as you have toasty boots on and dress warm you really should be all set. It's nice to be back.

If you would like to join me for plein air painting, Tuesday afternoon Plein air painting classes begin this coming March. I will paint outdoors every Tuesday from March thru December (rain or shine). This is an ongoing, outdoor class and all levels are welcome, you can drop in anytime but please call to reserve a space. I have daily equipment rentals if you want to try it and see if it's for you. Please feel free to contact me for further info or if you wish to sign up for a class or a six week session (recommended). I can be reached by email at tmbonita@gmail.com or by phone at (603) 819-9100. You can CLICK HERE to go to my web sight link for more information. I hope we can paint together this season.

My second masterpiece

Kate Wyeth Bonita. Born Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 7:57 am. 8 pounds. 22.5".

I can't take all the credit as this was a collaborative masterpiece created with my wife Alison.

Kate is the companion piece to my first masterpiece, titled, "Max David Bonita".

Monhegan Island Plein air painting workshop

I'm taking reservations for next years Monhegan Island, Maine plein air painting workshop which will take place September 6 - 9. We will spend four days, totally immersed, painting outdoors around the village, small coves and craggy coast of this Island art colony. This is a relaxed workshop, open to all levels. Cost is $300.

If you would like to sign up or if you would like to purchase a Gift Certificate for someone, I would be happy to mail one to you in time for Christmas. You can contact me by email at tmbonita@gmail.com or by phone at (603) 819-9100.

For more extensive information, which includes supply list, Island accomodations, etc...please see the listing on my web sight under classes...you can click here: Monhegan Island workshop with Todd Bonita

You can also go to my web sight and click on "Classes" too.