Penny Paintings

Masters Snippets - Penny Paintings

I thought I had had a novel idea, and that was to create original oil paintings on shiny, copper pennies.   The idea hit me as some coins were being placed in my hand recently.   I knew that painters sometimes use copper substrates, but not the size of a penny.



Floral - Penny Paintings

I tried a yellow rose, a winter snow scene, a couple of miniature portraits.    I loved the smooth copper surface.  Could I possibly be the only painter who thought to use them?  I googled "penny painting," and a painter names Jacqueline Lou Skaggs turned up. She had worked on her series of twelve pennies back in the 1990's.   Her penny painting story was covered in the news as she used pennies she had found on the ground, enjoying the idea of "defacing" an old penny, which ironically, then inflated its value.

Landscape - Penny Paintings

For my pennies, I decided to mix up the subjects - some landscapes, still life, portraits, etc.     I used pointed sable, watercolor brushes small enough to work the oil paint onto the smooth shiny penny.   Working on these penny paintings seemed to satisfy my love of working on the fine details.   It was almost like I could get the microscopic detailing out of my system via the pennies - sparing my larger paintings, where it wasn't needed or appropriate.   And they're just pennies, so it didn't matter if they didn't come out too well.... which is probably the right frame of mind to be in for good results, and I loved them.

So what do you do with a penny that has a pretty little painting on it?   Some options might be to:


1) Put it into circulation (anonymously), and see if anybody notices.*
2) Carry a special one in a pocket as a good luck charm (or a worry bead?).
3) Mount it into a coin snap and display it like you would a commemorative coin.
4) Sell in an art gallery or shop.

You've probably guessed that the plan is to enact all four options.

View the initial twenty penny paintings at South Street Gallery in Hingham, currently the exclusive source for these originals.   They are framed and can be displayed with mini-easel (provided).   Each original in the initial series is being offered for a low inaugural price of $34 each.  

*Penny painting search - I'll be distributing five pennies via ordinary change transactions around the Boston/South Shore area in the next week or so.   It's is a long shot, so - if by chance,  a) someone comes across a penny painting in their change, and b) they notice the name on the back, and c) they google it, thus finding this post, I'll give that first lucky person a 9" x 12" oil painting. 

And of course if a blog reader comes across a penny painting, you'll know what to do - let me know!