Matthew Mattingly

Friday, April 7, 2023

North End Bridge pano

Another sketch of the North End Bridge across the Connecticut River in Springfield, MA. This time I tried to get a panoramic view of the whole thing across two pages, using the hidden stitching feature of my montanapolitancroptic sketchbook.

Pen and ink sketch of bridge across river, panoramic view

Obelisks

A sketch from this morning of a couple of obelisks at the UMass Sun Wheel.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Celebrating the Figure show

These two figure drawings have been selected for the upcoming 2nd Annual Celebrating the Figure show at ArtWorks Gallery in Ware MA.

Cori

Pencil and white gouache on toned paper

12" x 9.5"

Pencil and white gouache drawing of nude woman, seated cross-legged and wearing face mask.

Alexa

Pencil and white gouache on toned paper

12" x 9.5"

Pencil and white gouache drawing of nude woman, seated cross-legged and leaning head on right hand.

Show Dates and Times:

Apr 8 – 30, 2023

Saturdays & Sundays | 1 to 5 pm

Opening Reception Saturday, April 8th | 3 to 5 pm

ArtWorks Gallery, 69 Main St., Ware, MA 01082

Friday, March 10, 2023

Where I Stand

Oil on linen panel 10" x 8"

This will be included in the Monson Arts Council 29th Annual Juried Spring Art Exhibition & Sale along with Farmall (shown here slightly cropped by IG).

Weekends April 15th – April 30th, 2023 – Noon to 5pm

House of Art, 200 Main Street, Monson, MA

Oil painting showing birds-eye view of painting studio with easel, palette table, paint boxes and trash can.

Scratchboard drawing of man looking over his shoulder at decrepit and abandoned tractor in a clump of trees.

Friday, March 3, 2023

Backyard Snow

We finally got a respectable snowstorm out here and I went out back with ArtisticInTent to commune with it. This work in progress is a quite bit more expressionistic/chaotic than my usual, but its part of an idea I've been working on for a while, which is to incorporate the feeling of the whirling snow directly into the painting from the beginning, rather than establish the scene and then add the snow on top. Even though I started out very loose and unplanned, it wasn't long before geometrical and structural elements began to emerge from the mush.

partially completed oil painting showing snow, trees, and houses in loose, expressionist manner.

pochade box mounted on tripod in snow, covered by frame with plastic sheeting to protect it from the elements.

ArtisticInTent

Earlier in the same day I did the previous oil sketch, I started a quick sketch in my pocket sketchbook, using white ink on toned paper (second pic). I was just trying to get the feel of the swirling snow, and only got a few lines down before the paper started getting too wet. I went back and filled it out more from memory and invention, still trying to focus on the movement of the layers of falling snow, with the trees, houses etc as supporting cast members.

white ink on toned paper sketch of swirling snow, with snow covered yard and shrubs in foreground and trees and houses behind.

Preparatory sketch; a few white ink on toned paper showing movement of snow

Thursday, February 9, 2023

North End Bridge

Watercolor sketch of North End Bridge and ice and snow on the Connecticut River in Springfield, MA.

watercolor painting of green bridge over river with ice and snow. Bridge is made of steel, supported by truss work underneath deck and stone piers.

Friday, January 27, 2023

Debt

ink and pencil drawing of multiple people wash in a sea of red ink. Various occupations are represented, all of them struggling to carry on even as they are being dragged down. A young Black woman holds up a sign and raises her voice in protest.

Ink and pencil on illustration board

7" x 10"

This piece is currently in the juried show "Red" at ArtWorks Gallery in Ware, MA.

I started with the idea of "in the red" and "red ink" and the image of people drowning in a sea of red and struggling with debt in its various aspects.

ArtWorks Gallery

69 Main St., Ware, MA 01082