The Coast is Near

This. When you're driving down A1A and you can't see the water but you feel it's presence - the way the sky goes on forever, the way the sun is hitting the palms, the way the breeze feels as it blows in from the ocean and brings you that salty scent. You can't see the waves but you can hear them pounding away and then retreating. 

The Coast is Near

Just a quick little post to share the newest painting. Sometimes you just wanna paint something familiar, bright, simple, and says Florida. This one fit the bill and was crazy fun to paint. And it's telling me that I need to get to the coast soon. 

If this piece brings you joy like it does for me, look for it here on my website.

I hope you're getting some beach time in this summer.

Peace,

C

Fresh Eyes

I'm working all the angles this week! I just finished a commission for a nest painting. I'm working on a landscape and I'm playing with layers on 5 small abstracts. If you paint, do you like to work on different things at the same time. It may seem unfocused to do that but for me it makes perfect sense. While layers are drying on the abstracts I can be working on the other two paintings. If I feel stuck with something on the landscape I can always switch to the nest and work on it for a while. When I go back to the other piece I feel like I have "fresh eyes" and can resolve whatever the problem was. 

This nest is 20x30 and heading to a customer in Virginia.

An abstracty landscape in progress. I'm not sure how much more I'll be doing to this one.

5 little abstracts in progress. I'm REALLY not sure how much more I'll be doing to these. They're still speaking to me. Do you listen to your paintings?

Staying cool

Shadow Path

12x12

acrylic

So far it's been a busy summer. I've been doing a lot of painting - YAY! If you go to the Silent Voices page you'll see the latest work in that series along with the prose that goes with each piece. I've also worked on some landscapes like the little one you see above. The Landscape page has a few updates. When I painted Shadow Path I was desperately in need of something cooler so I decided to forgo the red background I usually like to use for the landscapes and go with a cool blue. I really wanted to get out of the sun for a while and this country road looked like the perfect place to do that.

I've also been busy teaching classes and workshops. I especially love the the mini-workshop I do on Friday nights. I take my folks through a step-by-step process to finish a painting in the 3 hour session. Last week I had them do a version of the painting above - here are the results....

And so far, the highlight of the summer....

going to Ohio to visit my daughter and these 3 characters, my grandsons Josh, Jake and Kory. 

Hope you're having a happy and creative summer!

New painting and new show

Golden Hour

12x12

195.00

Hi artsy people. It's been a while since I've been here. It was the usual crazy busy holiday time so this month I'm getting back to the easel and a regular working routine again. I'm continuing on with the landscape series. The one above - Golden Hour is the first one in the group that I'm doing with branches and sky. I did this one from a photo I took in my yard. The sun had just hit that place in the sky where it turns everything it touches to gold, even the soft grey Spanish moss.

And, the paintings you see below you've seen before but I'm posting them again because they were just accepted in the upcoming Women Painters of the Southeast juried exhibition. What a nice way to start the new year!

Florida Prairie

14x18

Late Afternoon Prairie

16x16

Transformation of the landscape

 Joshua Tree

graphite and colored pencil

Tree Line

colored pencil

Golden Leaves

acrylic

Oh, the many ways to paint a landscape. As you know I've recently gotten back to painting landscapes again. I love them, always have. In the early years of painting most of my work looks similar in technique to the way the Joshua Tree piece is done - very controlled, precise, smooth tones, careful pencil strokes. After many years of working in colored pencil and graphite I got to a point where I felt the need to loosen up a bit, and speed it up too. I just don't have the patience I did back then. I started working with colored pencil and mineral spirits, using the spirits with a brush to transform the pencil strokes into paint strokes. Then I discovered heat as a tool for making the colored pencil soft and creamy. That's what I did for the Tree Line painting in the middle. It's a fun way to work the pencils but working with a heat gun or griddle can get uncomfortable, and warm.... I live in Florida so for most of the year, adding more heat to my studio is not a good thing.

So now, as you've seen in the previous posts, I'm using acrylic - I love it. I love the juiciness, the layering, the texture, the ability to change things on a whim. I love using a contrasting color for an underpainting. I love being able to adjust and change what I'm doing. I love getting bolder with color. I just plain love the look and feel of working this way. 

Sometimes I get comments from people about my older work and how much they love it compared to the newer work. My older work was more realistic and photographic looking. That may appeal to a lot of people but for me I prefer seeing the loose brushwork, the uneven edges, the soft edges, the impressionistic feel. To me the newer work is more "me". That's the transformation. In the beginning there was learning and  precise copying of images. In the middle there was the confidence building and exploration of techniques. Now, in this phase (no, it's not the end. It won't be the end until I die - maybe it's just another part of the middle.) it's all about the vision and part of the vision is expressing my feeling about the landscape. Aren't we supposed to get more comfortable in our own skins as we get older? I think we get more comfortable on the canvas too. There's still so much to learn about painting but I think getting more comfortable makes it easier to express not only what I've learned but allows me to put more of "me" in the painting.

Etcetera

Prairie Walk
18x14
acrylic on canvas

Blue Sky
14x18
acrylic on canvas

 These are the 2 latest landscapes. Blue Sky is just off the easel this morning. I'm really getting into doing these scenes. I have a little 8x10 started and a 16x16 canvas that I prepped today. I added both of these new ones to the Etsy shop. I love being on a roll in the studio. Now if I could just figure out how to clone myself so I can send the other me to teach the classes, run the shop, mail the packages, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.......