Blog

Painting

Public Art on Google Maps

Well, that was quick – my public art is now on Google Maps. I got this commission from the Town of Brookline over the winter of 2024. It’s a part of their initiative to fill the town with public art by developing murals, painting large sculptures of turkeys (the town’s official animal – yes, there are a lot of wild turkeys in the urban areas of Boston), and utility boxes. I got one of the utility boxes to paint, specifically the one at 174 Harvard St. It’s funny, because you’ll see in the picture that I was looking up the

January 28, 2025

Painting of sailboats on the Charles River in Boston

Art

Art in Giving

I was recently accepted into a different kind of gallery called Art in Giving. It is an art gallery associated with the non-profit The Rachel Molly Markoff Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) that has donated over $1.4m over the years to pediatric cancer research centers all over the US. Half of the sales of the work goes directly toward grants that the foundation offers to these research centers. Considering that I used to work for Children’s Hospital Boston before I became an artist, I feel that this relationship has come full circle for me. This new venture stemmed from the

September 2, 2024

Art

174 Harvard St Utility Box

Getting the commission of this Harvard Ave Utility Box was a great success for me. It is my first public art commission since moving to Boston. I’ve already done four murals in Maine (here and here), but I was hoping to get more opportunities in Boston. This is especially true since I live in Allston, which people know for street art. That turned out to be difficult at first. Yes, there are more opportunities and certainly one doesn’t have to convince people as much on the value of public art because it is a part of the landscape here. There

July 12, 2024

Public Art Commission Kennebec Valley Community College

Art

Behind the Art: Stained-Glass Paintings

The above image of one of my stained-glass paintings is a zoom-in photo of a larger mural that I did for the Kennebec Valley Community College Whitney Wing in 2023. This was the first big break I got from developing this style of painting. Well, actually, it was the second break, but it was the first big one where I actually made some money off my time and materials. The Beginning I wanted to create abstract landscape paintings, and I was already pretty good at abstract overall. My work ebbed and flowed between representative, landscape, and abstract, but I leaned

May 6, 2024

Art

Do You Understand Art

Do You Understand Art is the fourth in a series of guests posts by my collectors and fans. In this post, Nivea Bona reflects on how art makes us feel something and how we try to rationalize that even when there’s no need to do so. Below, Bona shares how this notion challenged her in other parts of her life, and I challenge you to tell me which side I lean toward: intent or in-the-moment emotion. Do You Understand Art – By Nivea Bona Yesterday I had another psychotherapy session that handed me annoying insights. It is funny how we

January 16, 2024

Portland Head Light is a watercolor painting of the lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Behind the Artwork

Portland Head Light

Portland Head Light – Watercolor on Paper – 4″x6″ This is the third in a series of guest posts by my collectors. This post, made by Cynthia Passos, explores the meaning of the dominant lighthouse in Casco Bay, Maine: Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth. The author both owns this piece and has visited the lighthouse. She states an inspirational connection between her, me and my wife, and the lighthouse itself. The text below is the English translation. You can find the original Portuguese below that. English Version Lighthouses enchant me, in general, for their symbology of light and direction:

August 27, 2023

Greg Mason Burns