Matthew Mattingly

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Dead Bird

Poor thing crashed into a window at the bank entrance and lay there as customers came and went.

This is likely to be its only memorial.

Ink drawing of dead bird with dried leaves

I'm guessing it was a swamp sparrow, although this one's colors are a bit darker than the illustration in my Roger Tory Peterson bird book.

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Forest Path

I've sketched this little path heading into the woods several times in different seasons and times of day.

Election day significance? Well, we are heading into the unknown. But really I just happened to be in the neighborhood and revisited the spot.

Pen and ink drawing with ink wash and whit highlights of path heading into wooded area

Friday, November 1, 2024

Monolith

I was waiting for a friend at the UMass Sunwheel and sketched one of the monoliths used to track astronomical events.

These roughhewn granite stones are good sketching subjects for practicing measurement and proportion because their shapes are pretty arbitrary - no preconceived armature to fall back on.

Pen and ink wash drawing toned paper of roughhewn granite monolith with sunlight raking across its jagged surfaces.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Twice in as many days have I found myself in a parking lot with a little time on my hands. In both cases a cursory search revealed, in a remote corner, a dumpster or two, occupying that liminal space between the gritty asphalt and the rampant foliage asserting Nature's claim to our unproductive and neglected bits of turf. I tried to get a coherent image using only pen and ink on white paper, relying on texture and hatching to indicate a value scale.

Ink drawing of a dumpster next to a parking lot, with wild foliage in background.

Ink drawing of two dumpsters in a chain link enclosure next to a parking lot, with wild foliage behind them.

Monday, September 9, 2024

The spooky house next to my dentist

Actually, it is perfectly respectable, home to doctors' offices, small businesses, and condos, but very striking in its Addams/Hopper/Bates-y way.

ink on toned paper

4" x 6"

Friday, September 6, 2024

Backyard Snow has now been accepted to the Workshop13 6th Annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition of Traditional Realism in Ware, MA.

Oil painting. Thick snow swirls amidst trees and play structure, simultaneously obscuring and defining the objects and the space between them.

It was on a waitlist - if other accepted entries couldn't make it for some reason, it would be selected. Now I can call off my Kind Hearts and Coronets operation.

Workshop13 Grand Hall
13 Church Street
Ware, MA 01082

Show Dates and Times:
September 28 to October 13, 2024
Fridays | 4 to 7 pm

Saturdays & Sundays | 1 to 4 pm

Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 28 | 1 to 4 pm
Awards, 3 pm

https://workshop13.org/calendar-event/northeast-fine-arts-exhibition-2/2024-09-28/

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Breakwater Afternoon will be part of the Workshop13 6th Annual Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition of Traditional Realism in Ware, MA.

Late afternoon light illuminates a seaweed covered stone breakwater linking the beach with the bay. Across the water a headland juts beneath puffy clouds.