Fish House 1972

This 14 x 20 watercolor was commissioned by Norm Tice. The Tice family came here for many summers and Norm was the first renter to buy one of the condo's. The original Fish House was twice the size of the current structure and had been moved off of the point somewhere back close to the railroad grade. The other half of the Fish House burned sometime after the 50's as we have an aerial color postcard that shows the second half of the building at its current location. The Fish House has been long rumored to be haunted and we have had many strange experiences in the house. The charm is in the rustic atmosphere of camping on the beach with a roof and running water. The Tice family still has the original piece.

Scituate Light 1954

Len painted this for Dick McDonald in 1954. The scene is the view from Mack's property across from the lighthouse where he built his own home presumably after World War II. The painting hung for many years in Mack and Ellen's house surviving many storms. The house was almost destroyed in the blizzard of 78 when a huge piece of ice was lifted out of the in ground pool by the flooding seawater and came to rest at the foundation of the home that was about 25 feet away. Mack had pictures of the progression of the huge ice berg as they both stayed in the home through the storm. Mack and Ellen are gone and the mid sized cape that Mack built has been sold, torn down and replaced with an oceanfront mic - mansion. Scituate used to be referred to as the "Irish Riviera" with lots of Gormans and McDonalds around. All Mack and Ellen's paintings and effects have been divided among their children throughout the country.

Richard McDonald Scituate Massachusetts World War ll POW P-51 Mustang

This 14 x 20 painting of Len's longtime friend and business partner Richard (Mack) McDonald was done on a hard brown board with watercolor paint. Mack and Len met in Boston while Len was going to art school and Mack was working a construction job. As Len told me, Mack was up on scaffolding and Len was walking by with a portfolio under his arm when a curious Mack yelled down to Len "what ya got there?". Len had a female nude drawing from a live model and showed to Mack that led to beer.... Len and Mack continued on a lifelong friendship that had them go into business together harvesting Irish Moss seaweed from the shores of the Scituate area before WWll. Mack ended up a fighter pilot and was shot down in his P-51 Mustang in  Germany and was a POW for some 18 months and liberated at the end of the war (there are 5 swastikas on the plane indicating 5 kills). Mack told me how he was a pow and was held on a German farmhouse and worked on the farm while in the first year of captivity.  He became friendly with the family but things changed when he was transferred to a concentration camp. Mack would not talk about the camp and just shook his head and grimaced when I asked him.  I knew by the look of horror on Mack's face to never bring this part of his life up again. It was a response that is not easy to forget. In the late 1990's Mack returned to Germany where they had found his P-51 Mustang buried in a swamp. Mack went back to the farm and they had a ceremony for him. Mack died in the summer of 2001 just a few months before Len. Len and I had visited Mack at their oceanfront Scituate home almost every year since I had married Mandy. Mack's widow Ellen let me take 3 paintings out of their seaside home in Scituate to be scanned. Ellen has since died, their home torn down and the paintings have gone to heirs unknown. this is one of my favorite  Len Gorman paintings due to Len doing this for his friend and the significance of Mack's service to our country.

Center Store

This 14 x 20 sepia on 100# watercolor paper was done in June 1977 for a town anniversary calendar. We have located a few others that were in the calendar but are looking for the Community House, Train Station in Southboro and Southboro Arms Hotel paintings done by Len.  Anyone know where the paintings are located please contact us!! This "Center Store" is now Turnpike Market on Route 9.

Liberty Island Winter

len did this 14 x 20 watercolor just for fun. The painting was on the cover of one of the Southboro Town Report books. There is no flag but the flagpole is visible. Martha Gorman has the painting in her house in Wellfleet.

Corn Hill Ice House

This 14 x 20 watercolor was done in 1972 for Norm Tice and also hung in the Chromium Process Company office in Shelton, Ct. for many years. The painting shows the "Ice House"  (not sure why it is called the Ice House?) that is right on the sharp corner entering Corn Hill Beach parking lot. The front row of the Roseville Cottages is on the right with the  undeveloped base of Corn Hill to the left. The Pilgrim monument touches the sky. How things have changed since 1972... The Tice family still has the original piece.

Liberty Island

This 14 x 20 watercolor was done as a gift for George Reilly who took down a concrete wall for a sliding door in the Gorman basement on Mitchell Street. As the story told to me goes, George would not accept any money for the work but did accept a case of beer (no surprise). Len later did the painting and gave it to George for all his hard work but most likely more due to their long friendship. Every year there were guys from White's Corner restaurant who would put the flag up on the island in the reservoir, visible from route 9 in Southboro. George and Len were both proud WWII veterans. This amazing painting shows Len's skills with a magnificent reflection in the water of the island. I called this painting Liberty Island for obvious reasons but the Rossi family may have another name for the island? The original is owned by Mary Alice Reilly who was nice enough to let me scan the original.

Corn Hill Beach 1972

This 14 x 20 watercolor of Corn Hill Beach was done in 1972 for Norman Tice and hung in the office of the Chromium Process Company for many years. The Chrome is closed but the painting is still with the Tice family. The scene is looking south from the southern edge of the parking lot.

Downtown Southborough 1984

This 1984 10 x 20 watercolor was commissioned as a gift from the staff at the Spa for owner Dick Curran. The painting shows a locomotive rolling through town but these trains have long since gone. Rumor has it that one of the cars was Jimmy Desimone's? Architecturally not much has changed in this view from the 80's. The train detail is amazing along with the extensive shadowing.

Fish House 1994

This 10 x 14 watercolor was done in 1995 and given to us as a gift from Len. The Catalpa is quite small, but the vines are all the way to the roof in the front. We had 3' shoots coming through the front window over the sink inside that grew right between the old window sashes. The vines have been removed and the windows have been replaced. the Catalpa is hanging on but the shrub in the back is long gone. Terry's Isuzu Trooper is parked out back under a clear blue sky.

Corn Hill 1972

This is a 14 x 20 watercolor of we think Martha walking up Corn Hill in 1972. The Fish House roof is visible with only three back cottages at that time.

1932 Ford Roadsters

I think these are a pair  1932 Ford Roadsters? This  16 x 20 watercolor was done in March 1938. The cars both look like convertibles, covered with a moderate layer of snow. Len was most likely living in Wellesley at the time and I suspect that these cars were maybe Gorman owned vehicles. This painting hung in Uncle Jim and Aunt Zita's house until the house was sold in the early 2000's.

Uncle Jim and A Divco Beach Buggy

Len painted this scene most likely in the early 40's. It is one of a few that I have seen that has no date and is signed LEG. Len signed most of his paintings with his full name Leonard Evans Gorman  in nice cursive handwriting with the date of completion following. The watercolor is  a 16 x 20 showing a 1930's Divco delivery truck on a beach which is most likely outer Cape Cod. Uncle Jim, Len's brother, has a fish on the line that has jumped out of the water The beach has a bit of grass and a few seagulls in the air. I found out the Divco was a big company, Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company, that made tons of trucks in the 20's,30' 40's etc and died a slow death in the 80's. Like anything old, these have become collectibles. The wheels are worth some dough to hot rod enthusiast for the strength. Looks like these guys had a lot of fun with this one back in the day. My guess is they just dropped the tire pressure to 5 psi to drive on the beach. Not sure how they came to use the Divco.