Doorways on Marlborough St

Marlborough Street 18

The doorways in the Back Bay of Boston shine with style and finesse all year long, but in late summer the flowers are peaking and the frontages are especially pretty.   For capturing city scenes in paint, I gravitate to Marlborough Street because it is quieter than Boylston or Commonwealth, which are just as grand.   Even the less manicured frontages have the elegance of mid-1800 architecture.

Birthplace John Adams

John Adams Birthplace

I've painted the John Adams grand manor of "Peacefield" many times, so I thought it was time to check out our second president's earlier roots.  This small, antique, saltbox-colonial, Adams's birthplace, is also located in Quincy, MA on Franklin Street.   It was built in 1681 and purchased by Deacon John Adams, President John Adams’ father, in 1720.  We learned on a guided tour that it still stands in its original location, at that time, a 188 acre farm.

The 21st century noise and traffic on this street was a stark contrast to the bucolic setting I imagined when hearing the Guide's story of the property back in the colonial era. Well, the painting looks as rural as the original description of the Homestead, surrounded by trees, fieldstone walls and wild flowers.  This 11x14 inch painting will be on display at the Annual Quincy Art Festival Exhibit called "Best of Quincy."

Coffee on the Front Porch

Coffee on the Front Porch - Stage One

Sitting on a warm front porch with a strong cup of coffee in the middle of summer vacation, for me, works more like a sedative than a pick-me-up.  I was sitting there staring at the flower pots and pink roses, my eyes practically glazing over.   Should I paint these translucent petals?   What else would I include?  Everyday scenes are so obvious that they are often overlooked and/or deemed unworthy as the subject of a painting, but I was surprisingly happy with the result.

Coffee on the Front Porch - Stage Two

Our east facing front porch transitions from full sun to shade at midday and by afternoon only the far end railings and flowers catch the sunlight.   The bright, warm annuals stood out in vivid contrast to the dark shadowy green.    My favorite coffee cup and pink plastic spoon scored a place in the painting as well.

Coffee on the Front Porch - Final

Graceful Back Bay Architecture

Marlborough St - Back Bay

Hugh Maguire's book entitled "My First 40 Jobs: A Memoir" describes Marlborough Street in the Back Bay section of Boston, MA this way:  "Marlborough Street is filled with old red brick townhouses, condominiums, and apartments three to five stories high featuring countless bay windows, gables, turrets; and you can look inside some windows and see brilliant chandeliers shining from high-ceilinged, spacious rooms.   In front were tiny plots of grass bordered by high, black iron fences harkening back to the 1800's.   Tulips, roses, daffodils, hyacinth, crocuses, azaleas and rhododendron bushes brighten the eyes on these tiny lawns.  Dogwood and magnolia trees planted a century earlier on the sidewalks and on some miniature lawns turned spring in Marlborough Street into an unforgettable sight.   To this day I consider Marlborough Street the most beautiful street in Boston." 

I would be hard pressed to argue with him.  Marlborough Street has been the subject of several my paintings now, all of which have been sold.   This painting features a stretch of homes on Marlborough Street between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets, and the starring role goes to the home with the magnificent slate shingled turret.

BUY NOW

House Portrait

It is a very big deal when people move, bigger still when the move is from a house that they called home for many years.   Compound that with a lifelong city dweller relocating to the suburbs? - huge. I'm thinking that parking problems, low flying jets, and air/noise pollution will not be missed. Instead,  silent and daily thanks are given at the joy of pulling into a driveway.  :)

House Portrait

But in reality, living within minutes and walking distance of friends, family and work, especially when children are young, provides a unique support system that most lifelong suburbanites do not understand.    For Bostonians in traditional neighborhoods, social networks aren't a new phenomenon accessed by staring at an ipad, but rather by simply sitting on the front steps, or walking to the bank and corner store.   City living can be quite good and today's surging real estate sales prove that today's twenty and thirty somethings realize it.

A house is just wood and nails - that is, until newborns are brought home, holidays are celebrated there, and renovations completed.   All of these special life events place a personal signature on a house making it a memorable place.  This cityscape will hang in the new suburban home of a friend who is still adjusting to her new digs and locale.  A way to remember that this was a good place to raise a family and call home.