Kate Sammons

Fine Art Oil Paintings and Commissioned Portraiture

Featured Painting Dec 2017

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Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy my latest painting. I had a “ball” doing it.

Canning jars have a significance in American history, especially during the Great Depression. The Ball Corporation made their jars distinctive with the “Ball Blue Color” from 1915 to 1937. The Mason jar was patented in 1858 and various innovations and improvements were added to its design until 1915. Since the 1960’s, home canning dramatically fell in popularity but today these jars still remind us of an early time in American industrial manufacturing, the spirit of populism and a thrifty attitude.

Recent Commissions

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I’d like show off a couple of recently finished portrait commissions that I painted. The first is a portrait of the late William Clay Ford Sr, which was commissioned for a private group through American Legacy Fine Arts gallery. The second is a portrait for a private client commissioned through Chemer’s Gallery of Tustin, CA. Please contact me if you would like to inquire about a portrait commission for your own project.

Out and About in LA

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Los Angeles is a really vibrant and exciting art community. There is always something going on. Here are a couple of recent social events that I had the pleasure of being invited to.

 

Potluck BBQ and SlideShow at Jon and Kimberly’s, July 1st, 2017

I was the featured guest speaker at Jon Swihart and Kimberly Merrill’s monthly potluck bbq and artist slideshow in Santa Monica. This celebrated event has been ongoing for many years and features a chosen artist who gives a 45 minute presentation of their work in an informal and relaxed setting. An honorary button of the artist’s work is made for the event by artist and marketer Eric Davis.

Here is a photo of me and Adrian with our buttons in Jon’s back yard after my presentation. Jon Swihart and Kimberly Merrill are amazing artists and it was a real compliment that they invited me to present at their party. Among the memorable people that I met there that night were Ruth Weisberg, Brian Apthorp, Nicola Wood, Alan Griffiths, and Molly Barnes.

Paint Out at Tejon Ranch with the Dreyer’s, June 24, 2017

Dwight and Laura Dreyer host an occasional weekend paint out at Tejon Ranch and get together at the Dreyer Studio in Keene, CA near the Tehachapi Mountains. The Tejon Ranch is an enormous private land holding that among other things has spectacular views and wildlife that artists love to paint. Dwight Dreyer is an accomplished sculptor and entrepreneur who is also a good friend to many in the representational fine arts. One of the Dreyer’s artist friends, Jason Situ, introduced me to them and was the reason I was invited. Jason paints amazing landscapes and is a really great artist and person. There were a large group of talented and well known artists at this gathering. Too many to name off but I really enjoyed my conversations with Stephen Mirich, Ignat Ignatov, Karl Dempwolf, and a couple of the PAC6 artists,  Marian Fortunati and Laura Wambsgans. Marian posted a bunch of great photos and stories from the weekend on her blog. Here’s a photo from it that I “borrowed” as I did not get any good ones of my own.

Image by Marian Fortunati – https://marianfortunati.com/blog

Portrait Commission for VEEP Season 6 Ep 7

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Congratulations to VEEP for winning the Emmy for 2017!  This was a short portrait project that I did for props production in May of this year. It was really a lot of fun and a lot of satisfaction to see my work on tv.  Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus comes to her presidential portrait unveiling in the 7th episode of Season 6 of VEEP and is dismayed to see that the portrait is not exactly as she had hoped. Of course, for most portrait work, I aim to do the opposite. Regardless, getting the exact likeness of the client is not as easy as most people would assume, but it really is the bare minimum that needs to be done to make a good portrait. Please feel free to contact me with any private portrait commission projects or prop work for your current production.

Featured Painting July 2017

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This painting is one of my recent efforts to celebrate a time, place and memory in my life. This occasion happened during a family summer vacation in North Eastham, MA. Fittingly it is to be exhibited with Collins Galleries in Orleans, MA which is just a few miles from North Eastham.

The Great Pond in Eastham, MA is a wonderful place to go with the family on a hot summer day. My family has vacationed on the Cape several times in the past few years. It has become my mother’s place to get away from it all. She’ll rent a house or cabin and invite the family to come join. Our days there are long and relaxed, beginning with an early morning walk and breaking for a mid morning coffee. By mid-day we’ve gone inside to escape the heat and lie around reading or napping. By late afternoon people are figuring out what the dinner plans are going to be and usually headed out to the fish market to pick something up. This painting captures the mood of some family play time by the shore of the Great Pond.

Keep on truckin.