Visit by Chance or Appointment

The gallery is a working studio and is often open before and after regular hours and often on closed days. Visit by chance when the flag is out or make an appointment for a time of your convenience. If you are visiting Martha's Vineyard and would like to see the gallery during off hours on your way to or from the ferry in Woods Hole please contact either artist for an appointment.

Printable Directions

Queen's Buyway
114 Palmer Avenue
Falmouth, MA 02540
Cape Cod

Studio Phone

(508) 548-2100

CALL / TEXT

Hillary's cell: (508) 360-7380

Doug's cell: (774) 269-6302

The gallery is located at the historic shopping area of Queen's Buyway in Falmouth, MA (on the corner next to Coffee Obsession). Parking is available across the street next to the Corner Cycle bike shop or in the inner courtyard area behind the Queen's Buyway shops.

Both artists create landscapes from the surrounding areas through the outdoor season and work up larger studio paintings in the gallery. Because it is an artist-run gallery the painters are able to work directly with clients to create custom made paintings of favorite subjects to fit a specific spot in the home or office. Clients often pick a smaller painting from those on display. Rugh also accepts portrait commissions and reference photos can be taken in a few minutes under controlled lighting in the studio. Clients may also elect to sit for some of the painting or have portraits done at a favorite location, indoors or out.

Hillary Osborn and Doug Rugh have been full-time oil painters since 2000 and have a combined 55 years in the visual arts. The artists welcome landscape commissions and often are invited to paint favorite locations or at private properties (which might include homes in the landscape.) Either artist would be happy to visit your location, create thumbnail sketches, and discuss proportion and size of possible compositions (based on your mantle or interior space) and framing at no obligation to you. Alternatively, the artists can create larger paintings based on smaller gallery works to fit your specific interior spaces. Each of these works is a unique original work of art. Painting on Location

Hillary Osborn's and Doug Rugh's studio/gallery is in Falmouth, MA on Cape Cod surrounded by an endless source of inspiration for landscape painting. The artists prefer to paint in the field and believe that spending hours in a location under changing conditions is the best way to study atmospheric effects that take place in nature. A painting is not a snapshot copied dab for dab from a photograph but a collection of observations enhanced by: perception of an infinite number of tones; a sensitivity to color temperature; the observation of chromatic pure colors and direct observation of depth and three-dimensional texture -- all aspects specific to the genre and a technical command of which is necessary to create a sense of place.

Direct Observation and Artistic License

Small to mid-size paintings are created on location with a concentration on observation and study of the landscape: the quality of light, the mood and the time of day. These are then brought back into the studio to create larger works in which formal and aesthetic decisions are brought to bear on the final painting. From years of working in the field the artists have built up a library of mental images to draw from that will enhance compositions when they are completed in the studio. In essence, the process begins with the scientific and ends with the artistic.

Commissioned Prices

Paintings are priced by size and include framing. Please contact the artists to receive a price list.

“We’ve devoted our careers to creating original works of art because we are continually amazed with what can happen at the easel. We believe that nothing can compare to standing in front of an oil made with an artist’s eye and a skilled hand. As our world gets increasingly more digital, fine art becomes a remnant of a time when we still made things by hand. You don’t have to understand composition or know what kind of tricks the artist used to appreciate the magical illusion that happens when a canvas covered with pigment takes on a life of its own. We don’t think you can see it in print or a monitor so we hope that you can take a few minutes to stop in and see some of our paintings in real life.” –Doug Rugh

Osborn and Rugh believe that it is important for artists to study directly from life and on location to understand visual nuances of ever changing light and develop a keen eye and have spent many years painting on location and from live models and studying the craft and aesthetics of oil painting.

Excerpted from:
"Artists Hillary Osborn and Doug Rugh capture the rich landscape and lifestyle of the Cape in their captivating paintings."
by Chris White, Annual Life 2022, On The Horizon

A vanishing point, according to the Museum of Modern Art, is “the place on the horizon where parallel lines appear to meet and converge.” The lives and careers of Falmouth artists Hillary Osborn and Doug Rugh have been filled with vanishing points, both literally and figuratively. In simple terms, vanishing points are important to creating perspective in a landscape painting, so Osborn and Rugh are quite used to working with them. Their relationships to the Cape are also something of a convergence of parallels, as their individual family histories drew them both back here. Hillary’s great-great-grandfather was Samuel Osborn Jr., who, according to the Vineyard Gazette, was “probably the largest individual owner of whaling property in the United States.” Hillary recalls, “At one point he owned eight whaling ships that sailed from Edgartown.” Both of Rugh’s grandparents were scientists who worked for years in Woods Hole. Even their studio/gallery sits at a convergence of lines, at the acute angle where Palmer Avenue and West Main St. join, in the Queen’s Byway.

The couple met in Falmouth, in a painting class. “Doug was running this group,” recalls Hillary. “I had just graduated from my MFA program and thought I was going to wow everyone in small town Falmouth. Some of the people were impressed by my work, but Doug didn’t really take any notice. So, I went to look at what he was doing—it was a Michelangelo-type piece with perfect proportions. We got to know each other, painting together with friends; three or four years later, we went on a date at the Captain Kidd in Woods Hole.” They’ve been together ever since. “As a couple, we learn from each other…

Excerpted from Trawling for Treasures: Dowtown Falmouth's Art Scene Inspires & Excites by Theresa Pease

At the spot where Route 28 turns sharply toward the Village Green stands the Queens Buway, a vintage shopping area where a faux lighthouse beckons buyers and browsers into Falmouth's business district. Once a Filene's store, the flagship building at 114 Palmer Avenue has since 2008 been home to the Osborn & Rugh Gallery. Its walls of more than 200 windows shed light on a collection of paintings hung layers-deep, poised to emphasize the beauty, volume and variety of works created by husband and wife artists Doug Rugh and Hillary Osborn.

First to catch the eye are scores of Cape Cod views the pair have captured on location: summery beach scenes, tranquil harbors, vibrant renditions of blossoming plant life. Next to claim attention are still lifes rendered in a stately classical realism. Figurative paintings of models and neighbors coexist with pieces commissioned by clients seeking to crown their mantels with favorite vistas or family likenesses. Some of those personal images are modern and casual, while others show formally dressee children in settings worthy of a John Singer Sargent family portrait.

Bright spacious and accessible, the gallery also serves as a working studio where patrons come to witness the creative process, seek advice on collecting, and collaborate on ideas for commissioned work. Osborn & Rugh deals exclusively in the two artists' own one-of-a-kind oil paintings--no reproductions here. For the entry-livel collector, the couple offers small-scale paintings that begin at $500; most mid-sized oils sell in the $2,000 to $3,000 range, while the cost of a large commissioned portrait may to $20,000.

Despite long roots in the Falmouth area--Mr. Rugh's grandfathers were Marine Biological Laboratory sientists, and Ms. Osborn descends from whalers from Martha's Vineyard--the two fledged their artistic wings elsewhere. The huysband, raised in a diplomatic corps family in the Middle East, attended Maryland Instititue College of Art before earning a bachelelor of fine arts degree at Rhode Island School of Design, while his spouse, reared in Franklin, holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and attended the New York Studio School. Both are members of the distinguished Copley Society of Boston, where Mr. Rugh attained the top rank of Copley Master.

Surveying the dazzling inventory at hand, Ms. Osborn explained, "We did not start out like this. What you see here is our life's work."

Added Mr. Rugh, "We just keep painting. If a work is good, the right person will eventually come in and buy it."

Private Lessons

Classes are held October through May. Private lessons with Hillary Osborn are $90 per hour. Two-hour sessions are recommended. These may be outdoors painting from the landscape or indoors painting from the still life. Semi-private lessons are $70 per hour and usually include 3 - 4 students. Sign up with a friend.

Landscape Painting Workshops

Hillary also teaches landscape painting workshops on location in the immediate area. Contact her to be put on the mailing list.

Contact Hillary to sign up - for more info - or to be put on the email notification list as space becomes available.

We rarely advertise and we're surrounded by too much of it anyway. We think artists should be spending their time creating rather than marketing. Maybe we're idealists but we try to do the best paintings we can and hope to attract visitors with our art on display in collector's homes. We think it is as simple as that and if it is, then all of our lives are better for it. Many do say that they have seen our work at a friend's or a family member's home so we know it brings people to the gallery. If you like what we do, here's how you can share the studio with others (with our thanks!):

Google

Search Osborn & Rugh Gallery and write a review.

Trip Advisor

Search Osborn & Rugh Gallery and write a review.

Facebook

Share/Follow/Like Osborn & Rugh Gallery, Hillary Osborn and Doug Rugh

Instagram

Follow/share Osborn & Rugh Gallery, Osbornstudio and Dougrughstudio.

Pinterest

Pin paintings from Osborn & Rugh Gallery and Osborn & Rugh Gallery.

Cape Cod Life Magazine

Vote for Osborn & Rugh Gallery in the Shopping/Fine Arts Gallery section of the "Best of" issue.

Collector's 10%

If you have on of our paintings let your extended family members know that they can use your 10% discount or credit in the gallery.

Many thanks for your support! - Hillary Osborn & Doug Rugh

We Accept Crypto

We like to support legitimte blockchain projects and accept many different types of cryptocurrency. Please contact Doug with your offering and he will set up a deposit address.

Bitcoin - Ethereium - Binance - Solano - Polkadot - Matic - Quant - Kucoin - Cardano - XRP - Avalanche - Crypto.com - Litecoin - Algorand - Chainlink - TerraLuna - Stellar - Dai - Mana - Sand - Hedara - Gala - Fantom - The Graph - Helium - Enjin - Kucoin...and others.

We Accept Venmo Mobile Payments

@osbornandrughgallery

Scan the QR code for the payment address.