Gallery | glennemurray

Please consider one of my paintings next time you purchase artwork.

Available Works

Aquatone

9x12 Oil on Wood Panel

On a trip to the local tire store to get new tires for my wife, I saw this little scooter parked outside the shop. The sun really lit up the aqua blue color and it reminded me of the popular blues of the 1960’s. The cute little two-wheeler puts a smile on everyone’s face, so I had to paint it.

Around this same time, I was exploring painting smaller size paintings. This was in part due to the cost of shipping larger paintings to exhibitions. While I was considering painting smaller pieces, I had a conversation with some artists friends who also painted on wood panels, so I thought I would try to combine both ideas.

This is my first small, wood panel painting. Its surface was different to paint on, but I soon got used to it and had fun with it. I titled the painting “Aquatone” after the Ford Aquatone blue color from 1955.

Drop Light

24x18 Oil on Canvas

One place I spend time looking for reference subjects is car shows and events. This is in part because I find such great subjects from the old style, colorfully designed autos, but also because I own a classic car and I like to prepare it and take it to these shows.

One summer day I heard of a car show not far from my home which I had not attended before. I thought I would try it out. It was a beautiful sunny day when I left my driveway, but as I approached the car show it became cloudy. I was worried because like most classic car owners, I don’t like to take my car out in the rain (mainly because the roof leaks).

As I got to the far side of the show, it started to rain a light mist. I started to walk quickly back to my car to get on my way back home. While walking quickly I pulled out my camera and shot several pics as I passed various cars.

This painting is from one of those pictures. I really liked the reflections in the rain drops on the green paint. I wasn’t sure what type of vehicle it was at first because I had been shooting and walking quickly, but I asked around and found it is from a early 1950’s Chevrolet Truck. I hope you like it as much as I do.

American Classic

20x28 Oil on Canvas

I took a reference photo of this 1962 Corvette at a car show in Westfield, MA. The contrast of the red leather against the black paint and chrome really appealed to me and I started painting it. As the painting progressed, I found the reflections and the asphalt very challenging.”

I knew the owner of the car was a local person but didn’t know who. I started going to many local car shows to see if I could find out who it was. I saw the car again at Lime Rock Raceway for the corvette day but couldn’t find the owner. I mentioned this to my dental hygienist during a visit to the dentist and she said she knew the person. She even used the car for her engagement! The car is owned by Mike Sheldon from Westfield, MA. During the summer of 2003, the car was driven the entire length of Route 66 from Santa Monica CA to Chicago IL. Finally, after almost a year of searching I met Mike, the owner of the car.

Mel's Truck Sales

24x38 Oil on Canvas

Mel’s Auto and Truck Sales, Inc. was a well-known dealer from the late 1960s though the early 2000s located about 5 miles south of Portsmouth, in North Hampton, NH. The yard was jammed with old cars, pickup trucks, locomotives, license plates, and signs. Unfortunately, Mell Clark passed away in 2002 and the place no longer exists.

The idea for this painting began in the late 1990’s, when my family and I traveled to New Hampshire for the weekend. I took several pictures with my SLR camera on slide film.

Then in 2021, I was uninspired as I struggled with how the pandemic impacted our lives and wanted to paint something which brought back happy memories and I found the reference photos I had taken at Mel’s years before. Mel’s Truck Sales became my COVID painting! I discovered that working on this painting helped me visualize happier times and helped me grow through the pandemic. I hope it help others see happy times too!

The Blue Diner

36x60, Acrylic on Canvas

The Blue Diner (currently the South Street Diner) was built in 1947 by The Worcester Dining Company to serve local factory workers. Over the years, the Diner has become a local landmark, a movie location, a constant in Boston's after-hours scene and a final evening destination for local residents, students and visitors. I painted this from a photo I snapped after a late night in this classic diner before it was sold.

Union Pacific

46x50, Acrylic on Canvas

“Big Moe (AKA Union Pacific)” is my take on the work horse of rail industry back in the 1980’s.

This was painted from a reference photo I took while traveling in Utah. The day looks warm the way I painted it, but it was a cold sunny day!

Corner Diner

18x26, Acrylic on Canvas

Years ago, on a weekend with the family we met my brother-in-law at the Corner Lunch Diner, a historic New Jersey style wood and steel diner located in the Canal District in Worcester, MA. It happened that on the day we were there, the diner was unusually quiet, and we were the only people there. The light coming in the beautifully colored vintage eatery was just serine. I took several reference photos that day which led to me painting the “Corner Diner”.

I wanted to share with others the calm I had at that moment, and how it reminds me of when I was little, and my father would take us to roadside diners while running errands. I remember getting franks and beans and watching how the coffee was always steaming out of patron’s cups.

Over the years, the diner has not changed much. You can visit it and enjoy how the past 70 years of service have created so many wonderful meals and memories. If you can’t get there, you can experience it through my painting.

Safe Buy

30x50, Acrylic on Canvas

This is my depiction of a fantastic Car Dealership sign which used to be on route 20 in Norwood, MA.

The sign is long gone now and I’m glad I was able to capture it so the beauty could be saved even if the sign couldn’t be.

Edgemere Drive-In

34x56, Acrylic on Canvas

This theater sign is an example of the drive in theaters of the 1950’s. The Edgemere Drive-In opened in 1955 and closed in 2004. It was located on Hartford Turnpike in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

We took our very young children here in the late 1990’s and I was struck by the blue and yellow sign.

This type of sign represents an earlier time when style and color were important parts of daily life. The theater and sign are gone now. There is a housing development in its place. I wish we could have a resurgence of color and style in our lives.