Friday, May 23, 2014

American Lotus 2014

American Lotus 2014, 8x10"oil on linen, plein air, ©Diane Mannion

FOURTH YEAR!!!!

Came as a shock while looking for previous paintings of the Lotus pond that this is the FOURTH year I've painted at this celebration!   Both the VAC Punta Gorda Plein Air painters, and the Light Chasers Plein Air Painters meet together at the Jacaranda Library when the pond's in full bloom.  And a lot of colorful creations bloomed from about thirty or forty easels.

Joseph Melancon, an acrylic artist of great skill and bravery, painted closer to the edge than many would have dared.  A Louisiana man... said gators didn't bother him.  But when he dropped a favorite brush and artists attempted to search for it in the thick grasses at the water's edge, things got a little, well... edgy.  Fortunately, it seems that gators find artistic fingers distasteful so didn't bother chomping any off.  And Joseph found his brush on the way up the bank, must have stuck on someone's sneaker.  So happy ending to this tale!
Here's Joseph and his favorite brush.  Click here to visit his website.
And here's his painting!
FULL POND, 12x16" acrylic, plein air, ©Joseph Melancon

Here's my setup:
My paintings from the past three years!
Many of the artists thought these flowers were water lilies... but they are not.  And they are totally edible!  We could have harvested dinner while we painted.
 Here's a link about the American Lotus worth checking out!



2 comments:

Johnna Schelling said...

love this! you can feel the light, warmth, and just great sense for the location. seeing the earlier paintings tells me you've nailed the "feel" sweet-spot! kudos.

Diane Mannion said...

Thank you, Johnna! It's fun looking at the past years work, which is the benefit of having a searchable blog. And hope, after all these paintings... see progress in my technique. Your comment means a lot to me.