Matlacha

Matlacha Morning

oil

6" x 8"

      Painted with Punta Gorda VAC plein air artists in Matlacha, FL.  Colorful little strip along a noisy road between Cape Coral and Pine Island.  Stood six feet away from trucks and traffic roaring by...  so I painted fast and funky.  Place has lots of character and claims the most "fished" bridge in the country.  Last time I painted this building it was yellow and was the Matlacha Hotdog Company, now it's a coffee shop and sells doughnuts.

Rooftop Plein Air

    Rooftop View

oil

8" x 10"

Early morning, top of Wyvern Hotel, Punta Gorda.  About a dozen painters enjoyed the view of the Peace River bridges, marina, and harbor.  It was a challenge painting a panorama in an 8" by 10" space.  Although I'm not happy with my results, it works as a painting-journal entry of that hot and windy event.

Pastel Portrait

Lady with Red Hair

pastel

12" x 8"

    Pastel sketch in Venice today.  Second in a row for pastels and oh, how I miss my brushes!  All those little pastel pieces, so many colors and never the right one.  Find oils so much easier even with a limited palette.  And can't seem to get the details with those chalk-like sticks that I can get with a good brush.  But there IS something to this medium, at least I can imagine what I want.  Will need to do many more experiments.  This model was extremely thin, and as E said, "Bird-like."  An elegant lady.

Pastel Experiment

Stan Again

pastel

12" x 9"

First of a series of pastel experiments.  Oils are my favorite medium but it's great practice to try something different.  Pastels are closer to drawing and can be spontaneous, like this sketch of Stan.  This is on Canson pastel paper, first lines with Nupastels and almost the rest with Rembrandts.  (I've had a fancy Rembrandt wooden box, about 400 colors, in the closet for years.  Each piece in order, neatly planted in protective foam.  Too intimidating!  Yesterday I snapped each piece in two, tore off the labels and tossed them in my old Guerrilla Painter 9x12, Cigar Box.  I like them much better now.  Just could not get the right red for Stan's headscarf... until I saw the perfect color in a friend's pastel box!  He snapped it in two and gave me half!  A new discovery: The Mount Vision Pastel Company!  What color!!!  And it's right here in Tampa.

Dangers of Plein Air Painting #3

Tangerine Tree

oil

6" x 4"
SOLD

I enjoy painting with groups of people, but sometimes the location doesn't inspire me.  After searching the grounds of an over-grown motel garden, I fought the urge to leave and focused on a tangerine tree near my car.  Morning light filtered through the leaves into the dark shadows spotted with tangerines.  Dashed off this postcard size sketch before the mosquitos sent me running.  (Palette: cad red, cad yellow light, ultramarine blue, white).  So, Dangers of Plein Air Painting # 3: "There's nothing to paint."  Solution: Focus on how  light and color falls on one simple thing.  Do a postcard size painting.  Experiment with a limited palette.  And don't forget the bug spray.

Boca Grande

Banyon and Park

oil

6" x 8"

Found perfect spot to park in the shade with a cool breeze from shady Banyon Street.  Sat on the back fender of my mini-van with the door up to paint and sip tea out of my thermos.    Loved the way the light hit this beautiful house with the dark, Australian pine in the background.

Boca Church

Boca Church

oil

6" x 4"

Quick postcard sketch, back view of  Catholic church in Boca Grande.  Had less than an hour before friends headed down to the lighthouse for picnic lunch.  Great painting day!

Bubbly Charm

Red Hat Lady

oil

10" x 8"

Sketch on green-toned canvas using a limited palette of cad red, cad yellow pale, ultramarine blue and white.  But got carried away with the feathers and used a bit of magenta and turquoise.  Fun!  Rita was a great  model but just too darn happy... kept breaking into a smile.  Face crinkled with laughter,  eyes sparkled,  hat feathers shook.  Many artists were able to capture her bubbly charm at the Punta Gorda Portrait Studio last Thursday morning.

Jack

JACK

oil

10" x 8"

Painted Jack at the Venice Art Center with limited palette...  cad red, cad yellow pale, ultramarine blue, and white.   His skin really was that red.  Must have been fishing, playing golf, gardening, or just hanging out at the beach.  Nice man, great model.  Thanks, Jack!

Portrait Studio

TERRY

oil

10" x 8"

Another portrait from Punta Gorda's portrait studio at the Visual Art Center.   Used limited palette of ultramarine blue, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow pale, and white. 

Dangers of Plein Air Painting #2

Little Vizcaya

oil

6" x 8"

Danger of plein air painting #1 was the fatal attraction of rainbow beach umbrellas (a visual challenge I hope to torture myself with again),  and danger #2 is COCONUTS!!!   While painting this scene in Boca Grande I was nearly conked on the head by two falling coconuts!   They landed with a thump about four feet away from me.  I looked up and saw dozens more in the tree over-head.   The owner of this house drove over in his golf cart to warn me: "More people are killed around the world by falling coconuts than shark attacks or lightning strikes!"   He also told me his house was built by the same architect that built Vizcaya Mansion in Miami, so he named his house, Little Vizcaya.  The architect's name was F. Burrall Hoffman who built Vizcaya in 1917, so this Boca Grande house must be from the same period.  Took the coconuts home and celebrated this painting with pina coladas!

ENGLEWOOD PLEIN AIR ART FEST

TAYLOR'S PLACE ON LEMON BAY

oil

16" x 20"

      Caught the last patch of blue sky this morning before the clouds moved in.  Annual Historic Old Englewood Village plein air festival.  Exhibition will be at the Englewood Art Center, 350 South McCall Road, Englewood, Florida.  941 474 5548 for more info.

Dangerous Beach Umbrellas

Beach Umbrella Magnet

oil

8" x 10"

  A familiar scene along the Gulf beaches... beach umbrellas.  And a dangerous subject for plein air painting.  I'm pleased with the background and foreground, but the umbrella, which drew me to it like a magnet, dominates the scene too much.  It didn't help that the folks sitting under it packed up an left before I could finish.  Beware.  This summer I'll try to tackle umbrellas again, anyway.  Nothing like a challenge!

Painting available at Melange Gallery, 252 Tampa Ave W, Venice FL 34285

Portrait Demo

ELAINE AGAIN

oil

10" x 8"

       During this demo, I found it difficult to talk and paint at the same time.  Discovered my observations were shared by Betty Edwards in her classic book, DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN.   "... that I couldn't talk and draw at the same time, and that I lost track of time while drawing."  I've watched many artists give demos and most seem to overcome the obstacle.   Daniel Greene chattered away as fast as his brush.   Hodges Soileau elegantly mixed paints with words.   Romel de la Torre paused to talk and then kept the audience mesmerized with confident splashes of color.   Sally Christiansen blended pastels with energy and inspiration.  And this weekend, I watched Greg Biolchini paint a still-life and keep the room entertained with flair.   Painting demos are a skill acquired with practice.  I'm thankful for my students patience as I practice switching from left to right brain-mode.

       Elaine Again, the demo for my Artist's Bootcamp started out with the Zorn palette ( black, white, yellow ochre, and cadmium red).   Reworked at home with ultramarine blue.  

Plein Air Reworked

Venice House Again

oil

8" x 10"

      Painted this house before and it was no problem.  This one took lots of reworking but liked it enough to finish.  A woman was raking leaves at the bottom of the driveway.  I painted her in, then out.  Loved the red wheelbarrow in the garage.  Like the first time I painted this house, the white front door called out to be turquoise.  It's great to finish a plein air painting on the spot, but I have nothing against reworking it later if it can be a better painting!  This was another Venice Invitational painting from that one week when the sun only came out for a few hours. 

Portrait Sketch

The Conductor

oil

10" x 8"

Venice portrait studio sketch.  Wes Schumacher, conductor of Sarasota Orchestra, posed for us.  I experimented with a limited palette of vermillion, naples yellow, white and black.  Worked perfectly because of his tux and hair color!

Venice plein air

Venezia

oil

10" x 8"

      And another from last month's Venice plein air invitational.  I'm so far behind posting here, but busy painting away and teaching.  Did three paintings in Boca Grande today!  They were only little ones.  And I was almost conked on the head by a coconut.  I'll report more on that event later.

Self-Portrait

ME

oil

8" x 6"

     Self-portraits are not easy.  Wanted a loose, plein air style, but had to work and rework the likeness.  From a snapshot I took myself and painted from computer monitor. 

  Happy Easter.  Happy Spring!

Plein Air

Windy March

oil

8" x 10"

      Another from Venice Invitational last month... blowing sand chased me off the beach in less than an hour.  Sky cleared then clouded up again.  Nothing held still even for a minute.  Clouds streaked by, waves pounded, colors changed.  A painting like this has to be done mostly from imagination.  Memorize one cloud, a patch of sky, a wave, and then put it down in a convincing pattern.

Andrea

ANDREA

oil

10" x 8"

      Portrait study, Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center.... because of Spring Break this young beauty was able to pose for us.   Many great sketches were produced!