Friday, April 25, 2008

Florida art-plein air landscape

SOLD Another Siesta Key Morning, 12x16, oil on gallery wrapped canvas



Here's another dismal rendition of Siesta Key. I'm sick of painting and that seems to be reflected in my recent art work, which is mediocre at best. Truth be known, I've come to hate it because painting is making me sick. I get palpitations of the heart every time I open a jar of mucky turpentine or medium . I think I've developped an allergy to something in the paints. So why do I continue painting? Not sure... but my days as a painter may be numbered. Stay tuned...


Here is a picture of my hubby and I at our oldest child's wedding 2 weeks ago. I think we are still cute, even after 37 years of being married. We celebrated our 37th anniversary yesterday by eating hot dogs for dinner and channel surfing in separate TV rooms. Gotta love romance!



3 comments:

AJ said...

That's a beautiful painting, Maryanne!

As for feeling sick- that happens to me when I use alkyds, so I avoid them. You've come too far to stop painting- I'm sure that you should be able to consider alternatives.

Your impasto style lends itself well to just using a palette knife for painting, which would minimize cleanup, and you should be able to get away without any medium at all except the paint itself.

I'm sure that you're using a good brand of oil, where there is only pigment and linseed oil. (Unless you're allergic to the linseed oil).

Use latex gloves while painting, and for cleanup, use Odorless Mineral Spirits instead of turp, or better yet, use Gamsol by Gamblin.

Theoretically, you could actually clean brushes without OMS- just use Dawn- but it may take more soaking and rinsing. Without medium, you are just dealing with oil and pigment.

If you are using Liquin or Galkyd, that may be the problem right there- they are alkyd based.

Also, for underpainting, you could use acrylic (which will dry superfast here in FL), and then continue the painting in oil.

Just some suggestions, Maryanne- I hope that you can continue painting. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments: http://www.lagassegallery.com/contact.html

Best regards, AJ

Paintdancer said...

Thanks AJ. Your words were very reassuring for me, as I think you may have nailed the problem. I almost never use medium in landscapes- only when I am painting portraits or still lifes which is rare. Recently I have felt the need to soften the edgework of my palette knife work so I resorted to using Liquin- something that I never use. I do think that is what triggered my episodes of arrythmia. We'll see. Hopefully, when I feel better i'll also regain my enthusiasm for painting.
Thanks so much for your kind words and advice.
Maryanne

Astaryth said...

Congrats on the anniversary... and YES, you two are definitely still a very cute couple ;p

Eeek! I hope that you figure out what is making you sick. I can't imagine not being able to come here and see how beautifully you see the world. In your eyes (and brushes), the world is just a brighter, prettier place. I do understand about developing an allergy to something, it happened to me once when I had to work with some chemicals. At first, all was o.k., but after repeated exposure I started to get sick to my stomach each time. Blech. Luckily it was just a stop-gap job while I was waiting for something animal related. Hmmmmm.... If it turns out that the this medium is bothering you, maybe you could try taking your art in a different direction... say watercolor?? Just a thought because I think you would miss your artistic outlet. Or, maybe I'm just being selfish because -I- would miss it LOL!