by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Tom Farrell IV wouldn’t need much more than a little additional wall space to turn the law office at 2319 Oak St. into a respectable art gallery.
The assortment is already impressive. Street scenes, landscapes, a portrait of his two-year-old son, Tom Farrell V, and a shrimp boat with colors so vivid it appears ready to sail off the edge of the frame.
It is, in fact, the shrimp boat that has brought Farrell his most recent brush with fame. The acrylic painting was named best in show two weeks ago during the San Sebastian Winery’s Fine Art and Jazz competition in St. Augustine.
“It was completely exciting to win that award,” said Farrell, in the offices of Farrell & Gasparo in Riverside.
His painting of the shrimp boat, which he had photographed in Fernandina Beach, also will be reproduced on labels the winery will put on a limited series of bottles in November.
And he gets the first two cases.
Farrell began sketching cartoons when he was a young boy, then moved into watercolors when he got into high school. He got some lessons, continued working on his skills and entered local art shows, where he won some best in show awards.
But he put it all on hold when he went to college and law school, both at the University of Florida.
After practicing law for a few years, “One day I decided to see if I still had it,” he said. “I pulled out the old supplies, the same ones I had from high school, and started painting.
“It took off from there.”
He quickly accumulated such a body of work that it filled a closet in his home. Visitors said he should sell them, so he entered a small show sponsored by a community organization in St. Augustine.
“I set up a card table, and the presentation was . . . terrible,” he said. “But that’s how it started. I did another show, then I bought a tent. And I bought accessories for the tent.
“Before I knew it, I was a full-blown artist doing these shows.”
Farrell worked in watercolor for years. A street scene on his office wall was done in India ink with watercolor washed over it. The building front with a metal fence could have been in Savannah, perhaps Charleston. But it’s actually a place he saw in London.
Farrell switched to oils briefly because he couldn’t get the watercolors colorful enough. But oils take too long to dry, so he went to acrylics, which is what he still uses. He orders a special acrylic paint that’s “saturated with pigment” that is normally used to paint stage drops.
He’s now experimenting with a mix of India ink and acrylics but is still working on his first piece, “so I’m going to have to wait to see how that works.”
When he’s not busy painting, Farrell is practicing law with his partner, Sharon Gasparo.
He primarily handles Social Security disability and long-term disability/ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) cases. She primarily does family law and workers compensation, and they divide the personal injury cases that come in.
“People say painting must be a great way to relax,” said Farrell. “It’s partly that. But it’s more like you’re using a different side of the brain when you’re painting versus when you’re practicing law.
“It’s kind of a nice outlet from that standpoint.”
He mostly goes to local shows, between Fernandina Beach and Daytona. He took part in seven or eight spring shows, but is taking a sabbatical from them until November. The next big event will be coming in July, when his wife, Trish, gives birth to their daughter.
Attending shows in the spring and fall has gotten to be a family affair.
“It’s fun,” he said. “A lot of people say they can’t believe I go out there and sit in the sun. But I enjoy it.
“My whole family’s involved in it. It’s not like I leave them at home and take off. My wife and son and my folks come, and we generally have a pretty good time.
“Plus, the more shows you do the more artists you meet. It’s like a reunion; they become like old friends of yours. And you always learn something at every show. I’ve never done a show where I didn’t learn something from another artist.”
As his law career draws to a close — however far down the road that is — Farrell said, “I would love to be the guy in the Winnebago traveling all over the country. You do a show on the weekend, and you’ve got all week to travel.
“That wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a portion of your retirement year.”