by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
Attorney Tom Farrell won’t be working on any of his cases this weekend, but he will be displaying his artwork at the Riverside Arts Festival this weekend.
The Riverside Arts Festival is Saturday and Sunday at Riverside Park.
Farrell, a founding partner of Farrell & Gasparo, P.A. in Riverside, has been painting longer than he has been an attorney.
“I was always doodling and drawing when I was young,” he said. “But I began painting with watercolors when I was 14.”
Since then, he has moved away from watercolors and now uses mostly acrylics due to the bright colors. Farrell said he will occasionally use stage drop paints that are sent to him from Orlando. The stage drop paints offer even brighter colors and are used to paint large theater sets. Farrell said he used stage drop paints in his painting entitled “2319” that is the official logo for this year’s Arts Festival.
“It is an abstract composite of different doors in Avondale,” he said.
Farrell entered “2319” (the address of his law firm) into a juried art competition sponsored by the Riverside Avondale Preservation Society to be the poster for the Festival and won.
“I painted it for the purpose of the competition,” he said.
In 2004, one of Farrell’s paintings of a boat scene was featured on a limited edition series of wine labels produced by the San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine.
Even though Farrell began painting when he was a teenager and won awards in competitions, he gave up his hobby during college and law school because there wasn’t enough time. He went to the University of Florida, where he got both his undergraduate and law degrees.
“Once I became a lawyer, I got back into it,” said Farrell. “I enjoy it and it is relaxing.”
He spends weekends working on his art in a room in the house he and his wife, Trish, converted into an art studio.
“It is nice, because I am still around the house and I get to see my family,” said Farrell. “Some people golf, but I do this and I do it for relaxation.”
His paintings are of mostly street scenes, old houses, boat scenes and any other scenic area and take up most of the walls at the firm he opened with partner Sharon Gasparo. Farrell does a bulk of his cases in disability law and Gasparo does family law.
There are times Farrell will be at a festival and a judge or an attorney will see him and say, “I never knew you were an artist,” he said.
“It goes the other way, too. People at the art shows always assume I am an artist and travel all over showing my art,” he said. “I have a biography hanging up and they read that I am an attorney and they are always surprised.”
Farrell travels as far north as Fernandina Beach and as far south as Daytona Beach to attend festivals.
“This really is a family thing,” he said. “My father lives in St. Augustine and he does my matting and framing and he goes to the shows with me. My wife and our kids come, too, so it is a family effort.”
Their children Tommy, 4, and Reilly, 2, have been showing some interest in art. Especially their daughter, Reilly.
“Our daughter loves to draw. She loves being in the art room with me,” he said. “She even holds a crayon the right way.”