IT STARTED IN WORCESTER: PAUL PEDULLA ON HIS CREATIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH ARTSCOPE MAGAZINE

What bright and welcoming colors! That’s what I was thinking in 2010 when I received photos of three adjacent homes in Worcester from Brian Goslow, Managing Editor of Artscope Magazine. I knew there was a painting waiting for me in these photos.

Why was Brian sending me photos? The answer goes back to 2008, when he first appeared in my designated space in the juried group show at South End Open Studios.

I had no idea who he was. And I was a new artist with little experience showing my work. Brian had an intense look on his face as he examined each of my paintings.

Thoughts swirled in my head. Should I talk to him? Maybe leave him alone? Finally, the conversation went something like: “Hi, I’m Paul. Happy to answer any questions. I’m also happy to just leave you alone to look.”

“I’m Brian Goslow, Managing Editor of Artscope Magazine. I really like what you’re doing here.”

I was suddenly nervous. But Brian was casual and calm. He told me he loved my work and was drawn to my perspective. We chatted and exchanged contact info.

He seemed to know exactly what I was doing as an artist. Without exception, each piece he saw led to comments that were on target with thoughts in my head. No wonder Brian would send me photos. He’d see things as he walked around in Worcester, take some shots, and send them to me. He knew these three colorful homes, which he nicknamed “Candyland,” would be right up my alley.

The houses were modest and fairly new, with cape and gambrel gables that acknowledged their New England roots. There was a green one, a yellow one, and a red one. I honed in on the green house right away, studying it from different angles and noting the shadow lines.

That’s how my painting “Bungalow Shadow” got its start. Although this green house in Worcester was not exactly a bungalow, it had bungalow features that intrigued me. So, I created a small but powerful 12” x 12” painting that appeared at paulpedulla.com and at my 450 Harrison Ave, Boston, studio space in 2010.

It sold to a couple in Boston’s South End the following year. They also purchased a number of other works from me. When the couple split up, one of them wanted (and got) all of the “Paul Pedulla” pieces and moved them to new digs in South Boston. Then another move came a few years later, due to a new relationship for the collector. Now “Bungalow Shadow” and the other works all live in Watertown, Massachusetts.

The story gets bigger. In 2016, signed, framed, giclée prints on paper of “Bungalow Shadow” began with a request for one by the Paula Estey Gallery of Newburyport, for a new waterfront restaurant in the area. That prompted me to have another one made for my studio gallery. And it sold.

Soon after, Saugatuck Art Traders of Saugatuck, Michigan became interested in the piece and started ordering and selling signed, framed prints. There are currently six signed giclée prints of “Bungalow Shadow,” all framed in black or white wood frames, in New England and in the Midwest. The most recent just sold at Saugatuck Art Traders.

I get the feeling this is just the beginning. “Bungalow Shadow” got its start in Worcester, but the joy is spreading across the country.

Is this my only painting that began in Worcester? No. Brian sent me a photo of a dilapidated Worcester barn that was the inspiration behind the sleek contemporary home in my 2011 painting “Ocean Edge” (30” x 30”). That painting appeared in several shows and was juried into the 2013 “Off the Wall” exhibition at Danforth Art Museum. It ended up selling via Serena & Lily to an Illinois interior designer in 2014. It’s also a painting that has prompted several collectors to ask me for commissioned paintings.

There is one framed giclée print of “Ocean Edge” so far, owned by the same collector who purchased the original “Bungalow Shadow” painting. Thank you, Brian, and thank you, Worcester, for your roles in this ongoing adventure.

(Paul Pedulla’s work can be seen in studio 314 at 450 Harrison Ave. in Boston’s SoWa Art and Design District and online at paulpedulla.com. You can meet him at First Friday Open Studios on July 2 from 5-9 p.m. and he can also be found in the studio most Sundays from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The artist is also represented by AMZehnder Gallery of Wellfleet, Massachusetts; Bee Street Gallery of Dallas, Texas; Coastal Contemporary Gallery of Newport, Rhode Island; JCO’s Art Haus of Los Gatos, California; Saugatuck Art Traders of Saugatuck, Michigan; Sharon Weiss Gallery of Columbus, Ohio; and online at serenaandlily.com and vcollectionart.com.)