matthew cole art

classic pen and ink art

Christmas Bauble

By

Christmas twinkle lights are awesome. They get you feeling the holiday spirit no matter the time of year. My wife’s one requirement for our wedding was that we have twinkle lights in the church and reception! This simple graphite drawing is an attempt to capture the “bokeh” (or blurred) lights in the background and the reflections in the shiny bauble, and still keep the contrast strong. It can be difficult to get real dark darks with pencil. Hopefully it says “cozy Christmas”.

Christmas bauble in graphite

 

Hibiscus

By

Hibiscus are beautiful flowers with an enormous variety of colors and forms yet each flower lasts only a single day! These particular flowers were on a large bush in our yard. It eventually had to be removed because it got too big. But we replaced it with some other colorful hibiscus plants elsewhere. This was my first attempt at painting with acrylics. I think I will experiment some more with acrylics in the future.

hibiscus

Pineapple

By

You can’t live in the tropics or sub tropics and not appreciate the amazing flora. Pineapples are really odd plants. They take two full years to produce a pineapple. This hard, brownish, reddish ball with spiky leaves has the sweetest, juiciest fruit inside.  We tried growing one. You cut off the top and simply plant it! Ours was doing surprisingly well, budded, grew a stalk and produced a perfectly formed micro-pineapple that started to grow… until our dog decided to become vegetarian and ate the whole thing! We haven’t tried growing any more since. I like to think that had our little pineapple grown, it would have looked something like this one. RIP Pineapple Cole. This was my second attempt with acrylics.

. pineapple

Nassau Pilot Boat

By

Nassau Harbour is a brilliant place. There is so much activity! Cruise ships, mailboats, fishing vessels, pleasure craft,… The bustling Potters Cay and the back drop of the famous Atlantis resort on Paradise Island along with numerous marinas make Nassau Harbour both beautiful and intriguing.  In the middle of all the hustle and bustle are the sturdy, faithful pilot boats like this, assisting the large cruise ships and other vessels as they navigate entry and exit to the Harbour. This was drawn from a reference photo taken by Guilden Gilbert, a very talented local photographer.pilot boat bahamas

National Library & Museum

By

The National Library and Museum is located on Shirley Street, not far from downtown Nassau. It’s a quirky, unique building dating from 1798. It is one if the oldest buildings in Nassau and is octagonal! It was originally constructed as a prison but later became a library. There are four floors. The room on the top floor, called the board room, is encircled by a veranda that offers views across the grounds. Library