ORLEANS — A multicolored house cat, low to the ground, stalks a variety of woodland prey. But not in your back yard. The scene can be seen on a surfboard-shaped canvas at Adorn, the Orleans shop that stocks handcrafted goods. The painting, by Orleans artist Taylor Fox, was inspired by a brown paper bag, he says, and by his mom’s cat.
The board is one of 40 created by local artists and placed around town this summer. The Chamber of Commerce here (orleanscapecod.org) has a competition underway in the form of a scavenger hunt for anyone who wants to take on the challenge of seeing every piece. A reporter’s recent rounds turned up five surfboard sightings.
Across town from Adorn, at Coastal Craft Gallery, a nine-member artist co-op, Roberta Anslow’s board is on display. Her photograph, transferred to its surface and coated with epoxy, captures an evening at Rock Harbor. A fellow gallery member, Lucy Jalbert, has made her own surfboard art: a bird’s-eye view of breaking waves along the shore.
Painter Robert Ryan lives in Brewster, but he has worked in the Orleans artist cottages and wanted them to serve as the subject for a surfboard work of his own. They’re at the center of his board, with the ocean on one side and the bay on the other.
Ryan painted a second board that’s on display at The Alley, the restaurant at the Orleans bowling lanes. It’s a brightly colored sunset, painted in thick layered strokes.
Admirers of the boards can bid on them through an online auction on the Chamber’s website, open until Aug. 5.
