What do you do on the ferry? Vineyard artist John Holladay may know, because what he does on the ferry is observe other passengers, and sketch them. Recently, his sea-born pen portraits had been transported as paintings and mixed media works on exhibit at Louisa Gould Gallery in Vineyard Haven. However, due to a flood in the gallery, the works are now only available for perusal and purchase on Ms. Gould’s Web site, louisagould.com.
“Every year I grab a sketch book and draw people on the boat,” Mr. Holladay explained. “I have been doing it for eight years, and so I now have one sketchbook for every year.
“I travel to Falmouth five days a week to go to work and I am always wondering where people are going, what is their journey and hoping that their lives are good.
“I find drawing a meditation, and when I am drawing people it’s like a prayer to the person that I’m drawing. There are all kinds of people, and that is what makes life go forward. The great part is that so far I have only been caught once, so it’s still a silent prayer.”
The paintings in the current online exhibition are from the drawings made on the ferry. These works are done in mixed media on paper, which allows the artist the freedom to experiment.
Also available online is new work from gallery owner, painter and photographer Louisa Gould.
Ms. Gould is a portrait photographer who has recently been painting commission pieces from her photographs. She was inspired to paint celebrities, many of which live or visit Martha’s Vineyard.
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