PearTree Designs

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PearTree Designs

PearTree Designs is Teresa Pereira's freelance graphic design and visual arts business, based in Westchester, NY.

I’m an Art Teacher, a freelance Graphic Designer, and—most recently—a small business owner, selling hand painted jewelry. I also continue to paint—both on canvas and as a muralist. I've had paintings shown in galleries and art fairs in Westchester County. Mural clients include Yonkers Public Library, who commissioned murals for all three of its branches.

03/24/2025

Last week, as a birthday gift for my daughter, I painted this puzzle from a favorite photo of my kids taken 10 years ago. She and her brother are best buds, so she loved it. And I loved that both kids were home for spring break over the weekend and recreated the photo…which was an even better gift to me!

Colored pencil and oil on 9” circular pine wood puzzle.

03/20/2025

Here’s my best effort at showing stills of this piece, called “Double Sided,” oil on both sides of a 16” x 20” stretched canvas.

Some believe that when a butterfly lands on you it’s a sign that something good is about to happen. In ancient mythologies, “butterflies have been seen as powerful in ushering in new beginnings.” I’ll channel any positive change I can get, so let’s hope the butterflies come out in droves this year. 🙏🏽🦋🤞🏽

Note that this is not a real butterfly. ☺️ This “double sided” concept began as a still life and evolved into this. I’m officially tired of painting myself! The still life concept is still in the works.

03/14/2025

The late Diane Arbus was born this day in 1923. Which explains why I’ve been seeing the photo ‘Child with Toy Hand Gr***de in Central Park’ in my art feeds. That photo seared itself into my brain when I saw it many years ago. So I dug through my photo archives to find this picture of my painting from 2011, ‘Ghost of the Arbus Boy” in honor of Arbus.

It’s one of my larger ones (30x40) painted from a photo I took of street art by peace artist and activist Jeff Campion. (I’ve since lost the photo, but it was taken in Yonkers.)

Campion often used Arbus’ famous photo in his work. The “Army of one“ tag often also appeared with image of the boy.

I’ve since lost the photo but I wish took others, because there were a few of these in Yonkers. It was always jolting to spot this boy on urban walls. It was the multilayering of symbolic meaning as well as the physical textures of the surfaces that I was interested in conveying in this piece.

03/11/2025

This year’s Women’s History Month Quilt, which celebrates women artists from around the world. The Yayoi Kusama’s homages are particularly impressive this year. And a couple of lovely Georgia O’Keeffe’s too. And some new ones this year, including nods to Lee Krasner, Hannah Hoch, and graffiti artist Maria Toofly.

03/09/2025

This tiny painting has a long story behind it. I have been intrigued by its inspiration, ‘Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting” by Artemisia Gentileschi (2nd pic) for years. Gentileschi’s masterpiece is laden with symbolism, and while that’s interesting, I mostly just wonder how the heck she painted the thing.

It’s an unusual view of the face and body for a self portrait. She must have used two mirrors to get that view. After trying my own version I’m wondering if she used three.

I think It took me at least 30 mins to set up two mirrors to capture my reflection properly (slide 3). Then when it came to painting my reflection using her pose: yeah, right! 🤣😭 I got too tired from holding it for more than a few minutes.

So my less dynamic, rather more stiff self portrait in side profile was the best I could do.

I painted this out of my own curiosity, but am also using these slides as part of a lesson plan about process and experimentation. Plus, I got to add it to this year’s Women’s History Month Quilt. So though the result wasn’t altogether a success, it’s a win in other ways.

03/05/2025

It’s been a minute since I’ve done an challenge. This one was entirely too fun. Pieced together from a few images, the dramatic waves of Nazaré, Portugal are the main focus. Thanks to for the photos.

Snuck in a Banksy rat because of the brick wall (second time I’ve done this so if it turns into a series, I’ll go with it).

Acrylic and oil on 14” x 11” watercolor paper.

03/02/2025

I don’t know about you folks but I needed some humor to lighten my soul for a change.

I’ve been a huge Calvin & Hobbes fan since college. I believe Bill Watterson is brilliant, both as a comic strip writer and as a visual artist. I own all the collectors books and follow a fan page on FB. Reading his strips is a great way to escape.

This particular strip (one of my faves) popped up on that page a few days ago and I’ve been mulling over what a rabid brontosaurus would look like since.

Here’s how I imagined what Calvin’s dad painted. It was harder than I anticipated! Trying to make a long bronto neck look like part of an island was no easy feat. It’s in watercolor because it looks like that’s what Calvin’s dad was using. On 14” x 11” watercolor paper.

I’m thinking of making a variation of this into an assignment for my juniors. 😁🤔

03/01/2025

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
🇺🇦

02/26/2025

We finished our collage section in the artroom yesterday and I’m sure I’ll be picking up scraps of paper into next week. But I always love seeing the finished work.

The first 5 pics are my examples and the remaining pics are my students’ work.

Seniors had to use a small collage element in their work to convey their sustained investigation theme; juniors looked to multimedia collage artist Hollie Chastain for inspiration and their work had to convey their signature theme; and sophomores had to create collages with a message.

02/23/2025

Every year in honor of Black History month, I ask my 10-12th graders students to create original artwork inspired by (not copied from) notable African American visual artists, which I put together as a “quilt.” Check out their beautiful work in this post!

This first pic is the one I created as an example, which I also used for the collage section that students are currently working on.

‘The Incomparable Lady Day,’ done in Prismacolor on drawing paper and collaged scrap book paper on 8” x 8” card stock.
#

02/20/2025

I rarely, if ever wear graphic tees or any clothing with prominent graphics or logos, but everything happening in our world today I felt the need to express some rebellion, no matter how small. Truly, it would be more appropriate to make a quilt, but this felt like a good start.

(There are many premade shirts out there already but I wanted to make my own. I used my nifty laser cutter to cut out the graphic I designed, then stenciled it onto my favorite old tee in acrylic paint.)

02/02/2025

This here is an apeeling still life of tangerines, painted on the tangerine I pressed a few weeks ago. Weirdly meta, right?

Oil on 2.25” round pressed and preserved tangerine. Even though it was a small canvas, the dried tangerine surface was a very satisfying one to paint on. I’ll be painting more of these…so the zest is yet to come. 😜🍊

01/31/2025

This proud teacher moment is brought to you by

The opening reception of their annual high school art exhibit was last night. It’s always a wonderful showcase of 2D art, sculpture, and photographs from 4 High Schools in Larchmont, NY. Check it out if you’re in the area!

01/27/2025

This painting is my first major work of 2025. I’m calling it “Current Mood,” and it’s done with oil pastel and oil paint on 18” x 24” basswood panel.

A note on the process: after using a projector to sketch in the still life portion of my original photo, I used oil pastels to block in the colors and contours and to draw in the seascape. I’ve been using this method the last couple of months for my more complex compositions and I find I really like it.

Making this piece has been a mental and emotional escape for me during these cold winter days. I added the figure of myself on the beach at the last minute, in a burst of inspiration that also includes a concept for my next painting, that will be a sort of prequel to this. Because happiness comes in waves…🌊🏖️☀️

01/19/2025

I’m painting this scene today and wish I could put my toes in that water. Instead, I’m bracing myself for snow and freezing temps. 🥶Waaaah!

🏖

01/09/2025

I love this gallery’s IG page and with a name like Pearview, how could I not have applied to exhibit in the Winter Show? It’s an interactive, virtual group exhibit, with a nice variety of work from 21 artists. Check it out at www.pearviewgallery.com!

12/28/2024

I was so curious I had to check! Surprised at a few of these.

Looking forward to creative 2025! 🎨🧑🏽‍🎨🖼️🖌️

12/20/2024

Dismissal’s at 11 this morning and then 2 weeks off for Christmas break, baby! A good a time as any to share my last school-related post of 2024.

With a couple of exceptions, I’ve been making ornaments to gift to faculty and staff at my school for the last 8 years. Here’s this year’s, and it might be my favorite yet.

The tiger is our school mascot (and my favorite animal ever), and blue is our school color. The sketch was based on a sweet photo I found, and I used my laser tool to burn the sketch to the wood ornaments.

Hope everyone’s holidays are grrreeat! 🐯🐅

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New York, NY

Website

http://www.peartreedesigns.com/

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Please excuse this shameless self promotion, but what better reason to make my first “talkie” reel than to announce that I’ve added an online shop to my website for my paintings? Check it out at peartreepainted.com (link in bio). One of my resolutions for 2025 is to sell more art, so in an effort to get it out to a broader audience, I’ve also started an account on Saatchi Art’s online gallery. It’s still a bit of a work n progress as I learn my way around the site, but you can take a look-see at saatchiart.com/peartreepainted (link also in bio). (Note that if you’d like to purchase a painting, Saatchi Art’s commissions are pretty high, so it’s cheaper to but directly from my site.) Finally, I’m also starting a shop on Etsy for my more wallet-friendly art including my clock, mirror, picture frame, and jewelry collections, so please stay tuned! . . . . #onlineartshop #wallofart #artforsalebyartist #saatchi #originalartforsale #shamelessselfpromotion

It’s been the kinda day that made me yearn for a walk on this beach. . . . . #hike #beach #natureheals

This past week has been full of challenges, the least of which was getting COVID right as school starts. I’m starting to recover, and as of a few hours ago the other issues are becoming less serious. It’s crazy how quickly things can change—-sometimes in a matter of minutes. These were taken about 2 days apart at Sodus Point Beach last month. That lighthouse looked over such a serene Lake Ontario our first day there, we’d never have guessed how angry the waves would get. I had to head back to to the beach after almost getting hit by that monster wave in the last clip. 🌅🌊 . . . . . . . #lighthouse #waves #lakeontario #sunset #choppyseas #covidsucks #imisssummer

What a wonderful evening! My heart is full and I’m so grateful to everyone who came. It was a warm, supportive, and FUN evening! And I’m beyond thrilled that 7 paintings were sold! The exhibit runs until September 30. Please do check it out if you are in the area! @ryefrr (Thanks @elligal for contributing several of these wonderful photos!) . . . . #soloartexhibition #openingreception #supportartists #supportart #artmatters #paintingsforsale #artforsale

Just one more week to go before this officially opens! I’m getting down to the wire with the last couple of pieces but I’m so excited and can’t wait to hang this show! 🖼️🧑🏽‍🎨🎨 Painting Within: A Solo Art Show by Teresa Pereira August 1 to September 30 In the Gallery at Rye Free Reading Room 1061 Boston Post Rd; Rye, NY 10580 Join me at the Opening Reception on August 15th, 6pm . . . . . #rfrr #artexhibit #supportart #supportthearts

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My Story

I’m an Art Teacher at Maria Regina High School and a Graphic Designer for the Rye Free Reading Room and a few other freelance clients. I also continue to paint—both on canvas and as a muralist. I've had paintings shown in galleries and art fairs in Westchester County. Mural clients include Yonkers Public Library, who commissioned murals for all three of its branches.