Julia O’Malley-Keyes

Le Bleu Déjà Vu

Oil on canvas. 26x40"

Founded in 1980 by a group of Newport-based classic yacht owners and fans who wanted to preserve and promote the culture of classic yachting, the Newport Classic Yacht Regatta brings together yachts designed and built by some of the greatest American masters. Through the years, these wonderful vessels have been maintained by equally passionate and talented professionals and yacht owners. The Newport Classic Yacht Regatta is the final stage of the North American Circuit of the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge. Winners of the Panerai series are awarded, on Sunday evening, at the traditional dinner and awards ceremony.

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Blast! Velshed

Oil on canvas. 22x40"

Designed by Charles Ernest Nicholson and built by Camper & Nicholsons in 1933 for Mr W.L. Stephenson, managing director of Woolworth retail shops, she was built in 1933 at Gosport. She was Nicholson’s second design for a J Class and Stephenson’s second big yacht. Velsheda was named after Stephenson’s three daughters, Velma, Sheila and Daphne. She raced with the greatest names in classic yachting including Britannia, Endeavour and Shamrock V between 1933 and 1936.

In her second season she won more than 40 races and achieved an outstanding record of success at regattas from Southend to Dartmouth. Other venues included Torbay, Swanage and of course the Solent, all under the control of the very famous Captain Fred Mountifield. The permanent racing crew at that time was probably around 16 men and this would have been augmented to around 30 for racing. When not required for sail changes, spare crew were moved to below decks.

In her 1930s heyday, she represented the most advanced technical design for spars, rigging, sails, deck gear and ropes. Her masts were aluminium, made by bending plates and riveting them together. Sails were made from the new Terylene threads and deck gear now included winches for easier handling of sheets. The standing rigging was solid rod, even in the 1930s, but with so much stretch in the rigging and systems it was inevitable that J Class masts could not be held in column and would collapse in stronger winds. In anything above a force 3, there was serious concern about holding the rig in place without collapse.

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Amrita Island Sail

Oil on canvas. 30x20"

Thomas Baxendale, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and his wife Esther Minerva purchased Amrita Island in 1893. The couple then began to build a residence on the island, including a mansion named “Island Haven,” along with a stone bridge; four other homes named Stonehenge, Sorrento, Castle le Mere, and Guardian; three bathing pavilions; a gazebo; a cottage; and a mausoleum that would eventually house the Baxendales and several of their beloved animals. Standing on the bridge and looking to the left you will see Megansett Harbor and to the right an inlet from Squeteague Harbor.

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The Red Sail – Nobska Lighthouse

Oil on canvas. 30x18"

Nobska Lighthouse located in Falmouth on Cape Cod is set on a hill overlooking the bay and is truly a gift of light to local sailors. In season it is the site of many wedding photographs, happy visitors and locals who can never get enough of this beautiful Cape Cod lighthouse.

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Sweet Summer Pinks

Oil on canvas. 30x30"

Woodneck Beach, in the Sippewissett area on Cape Cod is a sandy bay-side beach backed by grass-covered dunes and thousands of Rosa Rugosa. At high tide the beach is very narrow, but sandbars and shallow tidal pools make this a lovely safe place for children when the tide is out. Woodneck Beach in West Falmouth on beautiful Cape Cod is a sight to behold. June brings an abundance of fragrant blossoms of beach roses (rosa rugosa) and welcomes back locals and visitors to this peaceful little beach . There is a marsh behind the beach where you will see many of the local birds. The artist was inspired to paint this wonderful view by the wind blowing off of Buzzards Bay, throwing a blanket of scent of our beloved beach roses.

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Race Point Lighthouse

Oil on canvas. 20x14"

Sunset at Race Point Beach located at the very tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown. It is one of the Cape Cod’s most popular spectacles, and at times humpback whales can be seen from the beach. It’s also a lovely place for a picnic.

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Ticonderoga and Mariella

Oil on canvas. 24x36"

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Lighthouse Picnic

Oil on canvas. 30x20"

Race Point’s name comes from the strong cross current, known as a “race,” that made navigation around the terminus of Cape Cod a nightmare for mariners. Before the construction of the Cape Cod Canal in 1914, every vessel traveling along the coast between Boston and points south had to negotiate the treacherous bars near here. As early as 1808, the merchants and mariners of Provincetown asked for a lighthouse at Race Point. Funding for a light station was included in a congressional appropriation of $8,000 on April 27, 1816. The original specifications called for an octagonal wooden tower, 20 feet tall, but the plans were soon altered. It’s a perfect place for a Cape Cod lighthouse picnic!

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City View Sail – Charles River, Boston

Oil on canvas.

In this sailboat canvas print, MIT sailors master the art of racing in crazy shifty, conditions on the Charles River. The other key to the program’s success is sportsmanship and leadership.

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Gladiola Heaven

Oil on canvas.

A warm summer day, the scent of the sea and colorful gardens, I couldn’t believe my luck in finding a tiny cottage with this floral heaven, brimming with summers abundance of color. I immediately pulled out my camera and sketch pad with an eye for a future painting. The village of ‘Sconset is a dream like expression of Nantucket Island life. Rose covered cottages and charming country stores abound in this quaint village that’s lost in time. A beautiful drive from the Village of Nantucket, the road to ‘Sconset threads through pristine countryside views of farms and sea. ‘Sconset, between the cranberry bogs and the rose-grown bluffs, is one of the most beguiling villages in the world.

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Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge

Oil on canvas. 20x30"

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Like a Bird on the Wire

Oil on canvas. 30x40"

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Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge

Oil on canvas. 27x40"

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Morning Blaze – West Falmouth Harbor

Oil on canvas.

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At Voiles de St Tropez

Oil on canvas. 22x40"

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Roses to Guide You – Quissett Harbor

Oil on canvas. 24x30"

is a painting of one of O'Malley-Keyes's favorite places. Entering Quissett Harbor you’ll pass “The Knob” site of the most beautiful sunsets on Cape Cod and a rocky beach that is loaded with rosa rugosa in season!

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S Boat Start – Quissett Harbor

Oil on canvas. 30x20"

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Steeple View – Nantucket Island

Oil on canvas.

Nantucket Island is known as “The Grey Lady” for a reason and the Nantucket Island Painting Print captures why. Each morning, fog drapes Nantucket Harbor in a gentle cloak of mist that softens the edges of the perfect little Wharf Shacks and the boats nestled in their moorings. The ethereal feel of Nantucket harbor and the soft slap of the incoming tide inspired me to create this Nantucket Island painting

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At the Bucket Classic Yacht Regatta – St. Barths

Oil on canvas. 30x20"

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The Snow Fence

Oil on canvas.

“The Snow Fence” As you visit the beaches of Cape Cod Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island you’ll see snow fences, a small protector against the hard winters that will support the fragile dunes for another year on the New England coast. These are sentinels of the coming cold, a season that seems so far away as you walk down a path to a brightly lit beach and hear the pounding surf. O'Malley-Keyes has always enjoyed painting detail. The footsteps of the lucky visitors to this beach and the rails of the snow fence in this composition allowed me to render a purely North Eastern view of our seasons.

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Chasing 5 Opera Cup

Oil on canvas.

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In 1969 Ms. Julia O’Malley-Keyes landed on Cape Cod. A “Wash Ashore” is what they call those of us who aren’t born on “The Cape”. She opened her first Cape Cod art gallery at the age of 22 in Provincetown MA which she owned for 10 years. In her spare time, she was also a studio model and eventually studied with Henry Hensche, an internationally recognized impressionist painter, and color theorist.

After time spent on travel, study and showing her paintings in numerous fine art galleries, Ms. O’Malley-Keyes settled in Falmouth on Cape Cod and in 1996 opened another award-winning Cape Cod art gallery, Day Hill Fine Art. In 2012, she made the decision to close her gallery to devote all of her time to painting, artistic study and travelling. In 2013 after missing face to face contact with her clients and friends, she decided to open another art gallery in Falmouth on Cape Cod. Best known for her highly detailed classic sailing yachts, Ms. O’Malley-Keyes is also deeply attached to figurative painting, in particular dance, and also enjoys painting the stunning landscape around her home on Cape Cod.

O’Malley-Keyes Fine Art is the third Cape Cod art gallery owned by artist Julia O’Malley-Keyes. She is known for her dedication to charities, and that history continues with her newest art gallery through the donation of 10% of her business net income and yearly donations of original oil paintings for auctions in support of numerous national and local areas of need including JDF, Figawi Charities, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, A Baby Center, Mystic Seaport Museum and many more.

Artist's website