Good Morning!

'Good Morning' 6x6

I never realized that Hibiscus flowers close up each evening to open up in the morning. I noticed this on my beach trip. There was a hibiscus bush in front of our cottage. Early one morning I was out taking pictures and thought it would be good to photograph the flowers....well they were all closed up tight! After walking on the beach for awhile I returned to find the flowers starting to open. This painting is from one of the photos I took that morning. I think I will frame it and hang it in my new bedroom!

Still at the Beach!

In my dreams that is! I still haven't changed gears and so I did another beach painting yesterday. This photo is actually a little dark and the yellow wildflowers on the left aren't showing up very well. Today I am doing something different for a change. I am painting a picture for my bedroom! I bought a new comforter and want to do my room in a West Indies theme. The comforter is bright orange and I have a photo of a wonderful orange hibiscus flower that I will try to paint. I'll post my results later.

Shells...Finished!

'She Paints Sea Shells' 12x12

Some people like to paint pears or apples or flowers....I've decided that I love to paint shells! I had so much fun getting lost in this painting that I forgot to take pictures. I do enjoy changing gears from my landscapes to do this kind of painting. I also like the LaCarte paper! I have a bucketful of shells I found so every once in awhile I think I'll paint a few.

Sea Shells... work in progress

It's been awhile since I posted a work in progress. Usually I don't remember to take pictures while I am painting. Before I change gears I wanted to paint one more from my Florida trip. This is from a photo I took of some Sanibel sea shell in the surf. The big shell is a Calico Scallop..they are everywhere on the beach...but each one is beautiful..They come in so many wonderful colors! This painting is in a square format 12x12 on La Carte paper which I like to use when I am wanting to be more deliberate with my painting. This photo shows my first layer of hard pastels. I did the intial drawing with a light color pastel pencil. I will now work with my softer pastels while the babies are napping! Stay tuned!

The Perfect Sunset

What a way to end the day....after a delicious grouper sandwich with good friends at the Lazy Flamingo at Blind Pass, Sanibel...we wandered across the street to the Gulf for sunset. It was pretty cloudy but if the sun decided to break through it was going to be a spectacular sunset. We weren't disappointed! I was really hoping for Steph & Doug to experience the Green Flash...which they had never heard of..there was no green flash although we did see one later in the week! On the way back to the car I happened to turn around to see this palm tree against a gorgeous sky. I took a couple of quick pictures and this is my interpretation.

You Have to Love Ernie!

'The Patient Fisherman' 9x12

Remember the story about the couple who bought my Snowy Egret painting because they recognized the bird as 'Ernie', a snowy egret who hangs out in front of the Waterside Inn on Sanibel. Well I had the pleasure of meeting Ernie on my trip. Sure enough, every morning he would show up and hang out near the surf fishermen. He'd make visits throughout the day and poke around peoples chairs and beach bags. He was loaded with personality and of course I took tons of photos of him. I can't wait to paint a BIG portrait of him...a life-size egret painting would be fun to do! Oh, and there was another bird that came around everyday as well...a Willet that my daughter name 'Bert' of course!

Travel Plans

"Travel is freedom. It's recess, and we need it."

Rick Steves

Europe Through the Back Door

If you follow my blog you have noticed that I haven't painted in a few days. I have been busy making my vacation plans for 2007 which I always do in the summer. I like to have trips to look forward to as well as give my daycare families plenty of advance notice. So in the last few days I have been studying the map trying to decide where to go next. I have had the fortune of traveling to many places so each year it becomes a dilemma.....should we revisit a favorite spot or discover somewhere new? After much contemplation I have decided on a combination. I want to visit places that will appeal to me as an artist as well as be enjoyable for the family. I am excited about our final selections. It is going to be a fun year of travel! The next trip will be to visit family in South Florida this fall. In January, Michael & I will take our yearly winter get-away to the Low Country of South Carolina. The big trip will be next summer to the mountains of Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have found some wonderful places to stay and will post details when they are finalized. I also have plans to do an art workshop with Jayne & Sherry next summer. Of course I may throw in a weekend painting excursion with Georgia Outdoor Painters or with my other nameless painting group. So now that the trips are settled, I can get back to painting!

Tropical!

'Solitary Palm' 9x12

I took many photos of palm trees on my vacation. I love solitary trees of all kinds so when I saw this coconut palm tree growing out of the sand...I had to take a picture. It was so exotic looking to me. I felt transported to a tropical island in the caribbean when actually I was only a 9 hour drive from home!

Mini Beach Paintings

Last night at art class I decided to paint some mini paintings on the scraps of paper I have been saving. I cut the paper to 2.5 x 3.5 inches so they would fit in a standard size frame. I printed out some of my photos from the beach trip and just had fun playing! They were fun to do and a good way to practice before deciding to do a scene larger. These are all scenes from the Waterside Inn, Sanibel.

Waterside Inn

This is the first plein air painting I did on vacation. It is the view from the beach at the Waterside Inn on Sanibel. There were buildings in the background which I decided not to put in. I have so many photos to go through from my trip it will be hard to decide what to paint first. I do know I want to do a large painting of a Snowy Egret...then there's a great shot of Caitlin doing the 'Sanibel Stoop' looking for shells...or the osprey eatng a fish in a tree.....oh decisions, decisions!

Plein Air Paintings from Sanibel

Here are two paintings I did on vacation. We stayed at the Waterside Inn on the Beach on Sanibel Island. The first painting is a view of the Inn from the beach and the second one is the Tiki Hut in front of the Inn. One thing about painting on the beach in July...it is HOT! I had an umbrella for my easel but it was too windy to use it. The next two paintings I will post I did on my lap under our beach umbrella. I have painted similar scenes from photos but it is amazing at how vibrant and colorful these turned out. I will keep them to remind me what the beach was like in real life.

Back from the Beach!

My daughter Caitlin and I at Blind Pass, Sanibel

I had good intentions to update my blog while I was away...but it didn't work out that way. The internet was down and then my family got sick with a stomach bug and we were out of commission for a few days...But all in all a bad day at the beach beats work so I am sure that we will look back on this trip and only remember the highlights! I have over 1500 photos so there were some highlights! We met our friends, Stephanie & Doug a few times and went out on their boat one day...how great to be out on the water and eating a cheeseburger on Cabbage Key! We found lots of shells and saw many birds...I was in heaven watching ospreys dive for fish right in front of us. I think one afternoon we saw 5 or 6 make catches in just an hours time. It was amazing! I only got to paint six paintings...but with the weather and the sickness...that was pretty good. I'll post them tomorrow. I SOLD one of them already to a family on the beach...stay tuned and I will fill you in on the details.

Palm Tree Warm-up

I've been slow posting this week. I've been busy getting ready for our family vacation..the last one before my oldest goes off to college! We're headed to Florida to visit family and friends. I hope the weather cooperates and I get some plein air painting in. Last year we were at the beach when Tropical Storm Arlene hit, so I only got to do 2 paintings! I will do my best to update the blog while I am away...it all depends on how often I get internet time. I will be sure to post a trip report when I return home. I did this quick palm tree painting today before I packed up my pastels. I did this one on canson as a gesture drawing that I colored in. We did that in class once and I really enjoy the process.

Gesture Drawing Continued...

Last month we did gesture drawings from photos at pastel class....hope to do that again! I was cleaning my studio and came across a couplle of drawings I did and decided to add some color. If you recall, we did these as quick sketches using a black pastel. This was from a photo of Marsha's cat Buddy but since I no longer have the photo...I added color from my head...so I will just call this one 'After Buddy'. Actually, I really would like to try to paint my cats.

Sunflowers and More Sunflowers

I love sunflowers so I was really looking forward to the Sunflower Festival in Rutledge Georgia. I wasn't disappointed either! Jayne and I got an early start an arrived at the festival around 9 am on Saturday. There was already quite a crowd of people but we got started taking photos right away. It was amazing....a huge field of sunflowers...rows and rows and rows! For $7 you could get a plastic vase and cut your own bouquet. We took pictures out in the field for an hour before we had to eat some BarBQue and fried peach pies. Oh and watch the Tractor Parade! It was a real American Experience! After we ate we took some more pictures...we found a spot where the people were passing by a great old barn with armfuls of sunflowers...one shot was better than the next. I ended up with 375 photos! I don't usually paint people but this will be the perfect start for me...I got some great people pictures! Of course, tonight I just warmed up with this painting of the field. Maybe tomorrow I'll tackle the people!

One More Sapphire Beach Painting

It's a good thing I took a lot of reference photos at Sapphire Beach! This is my 4th painting in that series. This one is for our friends Stephanie & Doug from Florida...we are seeing them next week...Finally a vacation! I painted another scene for them but we decided a darker wood 'West Indies' frame would be better and the other painting was too big. I went to the Sunflower Festival this past weekend and took 375 photos! I can't wait to paint a sunflower or two! Stay tuned!