The Gaylord National Hotel
and Convention Center


the large atrium inside the hotel

 

Here are the paintings in place
behind the front desk

  

Below is a series of photos of one of the paintings in progress.
This is "Showing the Flag." It depicts
the USS Constellation on the Potomac River in 1871.

The sailing ship Constellation is currently restored and
can be visited in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD.
Built in the 1850s, it is the last all-sail ship made by the US Navy.


assembling the stretcher bars — 10 feet x 5 feet


stretching the canvas


transfering the sketch to the canvas —
by drawing a grid on the sketch, and a larger grid on the canvas,
and then drawing each square

the drawing on the canvas


beginning to block out the sky and water.
On the left is the completed oil "sketch" for the painting.


beginning to render the ship


still in progress . . .

the final painting


a few details . . .


painting the rowers on the Potomac


The Washington Monument was still under construction in 1871.


A finished painting going out of the studio, to the framers.

Here's the other one, going into the hotel . . .
   
   

 


. . . and they are in place, at last.
nav bar
recent work:

O’Brien recently completed two very large paintings for the Gaylord National Resort.

The Gaylord National is a hotel/resort/convention center in The National Harbor near Washington D.C. The paintings are 10 feet wide by 5 feet high, and are hung in the main lobby behind the front desk.

One painting depicts the USS Constellation on the Potomac River in the 1870s, and the other depicts the USS United States in 1809.