Bait Boat, Sarasota Bay

Diane Mannion, Bait Boat, Sarasota Bay, 9x12" oil

SOLD

      This painting took a long time to finish.  Painted the underpainting in burnt umber and it sat around my studio for a year.  Meanwhile, every time I looked at it, I saw something else I wanted to change.  So finally... finished it today.

      This old boat captured my attention one morning when I was painting at Selby Gardens.  It came out of a side channel, the captain waved and headed out to the bay.  A cast net was on the bow for capturing either bait fish or mullet.  I liked the spray-painted letters and numbers on the side.  And loved the turquoise pipe used for a fender.  And the way the light lit up the red plastic buckets... oh, joy!  And the yellow foul-weather pants... an artist's delight.

     

Request Wind

Diane Mannion, REQUEST WIND, 8x10"oil

Couldn't resist painting this for the http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ challenge!  The theme is superstitions.  Perfect.  This is what happened on Friday the 13th, August, 2004 when hurricane Charley blasted up Charlotte Harbor and crossed Florida leaving a trail of destruction.  This seedy old boat yard is infamous for feral cats and rotting boats.  We drove by the day after the storm and saw this sailboat, unfortunately named- REQUEST WIND!

Sunstruck

Diane Mannion, SUNSTRUCK, 6x6" oil

      Rather than being struck by lightning, I decided to paint Sunstruck inside, instead.  Here's a demo about my process... click to enlarge:

       Diane Mannion, Garden Shed Rose, 6x6" oil

Birthday Bougainvillea

DMannion, Birthday Bougainvillea, 6x6" oil

       Painted for Carol Marine who had a birthday this week and we painted to celebrate on the Weekly Challenge at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.   

       A friend asked me how I like painting small works.  While painting this little one I thought of a few reasons why.  Coming from a background in illustration, I'm comfortable with small spaces to work in, and using small brushes.  Trouble is, I want my work to be "painterly paintings" and not tight illustrations.  I took a workshop with Sally Christianson at the Venice Art Center.  She looked over my shoulder and said, "I think you need to use larger brushes."  That bit of advice helped a lot!  I now use the biggest brushes possible, even on these small works and then work with smaller ones to finish it off.

      So here are a few good reasons to work small:

                 1. Small enough to do one a day and still have time for other projects.

                 2. A way to explore techniques without using much paint.

                 3. Improve ability faster by painting a lot of small ones rather than a few large.

                 4. Each painting doesn't become "precious" allowing for experimenting.

                 5. Eases "fear of big, blank white canvas."

                 6. Portable for working en plein air.

                 7. Useful for illustrating (almost) daily blog posts.

                 8. Less expensive to frame.

                 9. Make perfect gifts.

                10. Can quickly develop a portfolio.

                11. More easily decide what your favorite subject matter is.

                12. Best paintings can be used as reference for larger paintings.

               

Time For Tea... Painting Fast or Slow

DMannion, Time for Tea, 6x6" oil

This was painted for the dailypaintworks.com Paint your Mug Challenge.  I had painted my favorite mug a few months ago using a tight technique that took a few days.  Thought I'd try a looser style with this one which took a few hours.  Here's the first mug:

DMannion, MY MUG, 6x6" oil

There's a movement among the daily painters to paint fast and loose.  Spent some time last night looking at Carol Marine's paintings and watched her video.  She makes it look so easy.  Sigh.  But I learned a few things by watching her paint!  It's not that I want to paint just like her... but somehow grasp a few of her concepts to merge with my own style.   Painting is a never ending learning process... good thing it's so much fun.

The Breakfast Club

DMannion, The Breakfast Club, 8x6" oil

      Egrets waiting for breakfast bait snacks early in the morning.  Their big yellow feet look like they're wearing rubber boots.  This fisherman was casting his net for tiny silver bait fish in the Gulf, Venice Beach, Florida last winter.  Painted from a snapshot that I changed a lot, but the birds were actually lined up like that.

      Back in cool, SW Florida after a grueling week in San Antonio, Texas.   Had packed my watercolors but funerals are not the most inspiring time to paint.   And it was well over a crisp, one hundred degrees every day.   So this week is daily painting make-up time.

     

Blue Heron

DMannion, Me and My Shadow, 6x6" oil

      

      This heron was taking his daily stroll along the edge of the Gulf one morning, searching for a friendly fisherman to toss him a shrimp or two.  Sometimes, little boys like to chase and toss shells at him, but he just flaps his wings and moves along to stand by the next fisherman.

      I'm traveling to Texas for the next few days.   Packing my watercolor box, no oils, and may get a chance to post from there.

Alla Prima Floral

DMannion, Beach Flowers, 6x6" oil

      These purple flowers were growing near the pavilion at Venice Beach.  I was struck by their translucent color and how they glowed in the overcast morning light.  Used naples yellow blending towards permanent rose for the sky.  Amazing designs and shapes in the leaves and vines.  This plant is a morning glory, blooms in the morning and dies in the afternoon... except on cloudy days when it may live and dance in the wind until evening.

Weekly Challenge

DMannion, Blue Moon, 6x6" oil

      Another entry for the Daily Paintworks Weekly Challenge.  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ .  Although I don't like working from other people's photos, I changed this around enough to make it feel like my own work.   Belinda Del Pesco's challenge painting is gorgeous and I love her title, "He Hung the Moon for Me."  Her black and white reference photo that was part of the challenge, a value study.  Judging values from the photo and inventing the color from imagination.  The photo had a dreamy, romantic quality and I kept thinking of the song, Blue Moon... thus my title.  I'm caught up with all the Challenges, that is until next Saturday when the next Daily Paintworks University homework is assigned. 

Weekly Challenge Floral

      Catching up with Daily Paint Works Weekly Challenge.  http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges .  This is the Nature's Arrangement Challenge:  Use only cad red, cad yellow, ultramarine blue, and white.  Large, medium and small brush and paint for one hour.  Desert Rose A is my challenge entry but I wanted to work on the painting longer and use a few more colors.  Desert Rose B is the polished version.  I added indigo and permanent rose, a little cobalt for the background flowers.  Deepened the contrasts and sharpened a few leaves.  One benefit of this challenge was getting the subject down fast.  Just couldn't leave it that way.  Painting fast is one thing, but I relish the slow, meditative process and don't like to rush it too much.

Rolling Roller

DMannion, Rolling, 6x6" oil

      Wave painting... working with warm and cool colors, brush stroke quality, design, composition, values, drama and fitting all that elusive wave quality in a six inch space.  Phew, what a challenge!  

       This painting and many others are for sale at my Daily Paint Works Gallery.  Please visit by clicking the box on the right for a direct link. 

View From the Cockpit

DMannion, View From the Cockpit, 6x6" oil

     Painted half from photo reference and half from memory of a mid-Atlantic adventure on a small sailboat.  Still can't get over the sense vulnerability.  How gallon jugs of water flew across the cabin and the boat was leaking and night was approaching along with a storm and the hull was less than an inch thick and the bottom of the ocean was a couple of miles deep underneath.   Funny how people asked later... "Well, where did you pull in at night?"  This painting is a sketch of how the waves looked like mountains.  And imagine the black of night when they couldn't be seen at all... only felt slamming against the hull.  This painting is not scary enough, looks more like a children's book illustration than an illustration of sheer fear.

Boatyard Oil Painting

DMannion, Remember When, 8x10" oil

     Two forgotten old boats in a boatyard... a sad sight, but still had lots of character.  Completely made up the background, time of day, and simplified things a lot.  Exaggerated the colors and values for dramatic effect, working from imagination.  Gave myself permission to use my artistic license.

Seascape Oil Study

DMannion, Heavy Seas, 6x6" oil

      Figuring out how waves move, the patterns, structures, color and light.  These waves are at the edge of the shore, they don't break quite like this out at sea.  I have many memories of those enormous waves from the middle of the Atlantic in a small sailboat in storms... mental snapshots both beautiful and terrifying. 

Challenge Entry

DMannion, EVOandBasil, 6x6" oil

      Playing catch-up with the Weekly Challenges at Dailypaintworks.com.  This is for the Reflections Challenge by Abby Ryan: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Challenges.  Painted in a hurry because I was hungry while magic chef John prepared pasta and pesto in the kitchen.  Thai basil was grown in the garden.  Dinner was delicious!

Beach Party

DMannion, Smoke On The Water, 6x6" oil

      This week's Challenge entry for http://www.dailypaintworks.com , The Color of Music.  Asked John, who knows music, what was the first song he thought of that related water to music.  I'm doing a series of water paintings and wanted to continue with them for this Challenge.  The first piece he thought of was Smoke On The Water... a classic, he said.  I loved the title and music and thought of a foggy day on the beach.  The Royal Terns and Laughing Gulls arrived just in time for the party.  Perfect way to celebrate my birthday today!

Sunny Dixie

DMannion, Dixie, 6x6" oil

      Here's one from two weeks ago at the Venice portrait studio when Dixie posed for us.  She couldn't stop smiling and was delightfully animated.  It was like painting a tree while the wind's blowing.  Hope I caught a glimmer of her sunny disposition.

      I'm teaching a four week watercolor workshop starting tomorrow at the Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center.  Looking forward to learning along with my students.

      And here's what I do when I'm not painting or teaching or swimming or napping:

Floating in the Gulf... ahhh

Still life Sketch

DMannion, Vermilion, 4x6" oil

          This is my entry into the week before last's challenge at Dailypaintworks.com.  Only had time to do a sketch.  And I'm two weeks behind, yikes.

        

Indigo Wave Study

DMannion, Stormy Waves, 6x6" oil  Sold

      Wanted to push the depth of the darks and add more contrast between foreground wave and background.  Dug out an old tube of Winsor Newton indigo and got the effect I was looking for.  The cloudy sky was only indigo and white.  Mixed a little indian yellow into the white for the surf and breaking waves.  Also a bit of ultramarine and white for the wave structure patterns, and also for the foreground water in the surf area.  Added foam patterns, like broken, lace fishnet stockings to the foreground with white, yellow ochre, and ultramarine blue.

      Once in a while, the Gulf actually is this rough!  Sometimes, we even get to watch surfers riding the waves.

Venice Beach, Florida

DMannion, Sea Turtle Nests, 6x6" oil

      It's sea turtle nesting season in Florida.  Early in the morning, volunteers walk miles along the beaches following turtle tracks out of the Gulf.  The nests are dug up and each egg carefully counted and returned, then marked with stakes and colorful plastic ribbons.  I lived on an island for a few years and it was the custom to dig up the eggs, put them in coolers until they hatch and release them later.  This protected them from raccoons, fire ants, and dogs... at least that was the theory.  But now there's a law against that and also another problem.  Who would have guessed coyotes would be a major threat in Florida for sea turtles.  Coyote tracks have been reported all along the coast around destroyed nests.

      Many nests are also destroyed during hurricane season.  And the nest in this painting near the surf may not make it either.  But the report is good that there is an extremely high nest count this year.  

      Here's a link for further information on Florida's sea turtles:  http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/SeaTurtles/seaturtle-info.htm

Currently available at Melange Gallery, 252 Tampa Ave W, Venice Fl 34285