Summer Day Salt Marsh, en plein air

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Summer Day Salt Marsh, 8x10, oil on canvas


This week's rain has thankfully put a little more water into our Florida eco system, though much more is needed than what we've received. I hope this post qualifies as a weed or wildflower post for today's Daily Painter's challenge. A marsh in Florida after all, is pretty darned full of everything- including weeds, flowers and gators.

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The Peaceful Kingdom, Final Version

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"A Peaceful Kingdom", final version, 24 x24, oil on masonite, (Note: you can click on the image to see more detail)

Being me, I couldn't let this alone today, because I knew there were spots that needed additional development. The problem is that the more you mess with a painting, the less spontaneous it becomes. In this case, I'm glad I worked it a little more. I worked on the water, the sky, the distant mountains, and a bit of the foreground. I may wait until it's completely dry and add a final glaze to unify it overall, but other than that I'm definitely done with this one.


The painting has a really lovely ethereal quality throughout the water and sky patterns, that just can't be captured with a camera or seen with a computer monitor. In spite of all the color, it definitely has a peaceful feel to it, and I may save it for a show, if it doesn't sell.



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A Peaceful Kingdom

"A Peaceful Kingdom", oil on masonite, 24x24



I finished this today, in spite of a miserable backache. I decided to title it "A Peacful Kingdom", because it just looks like it IS!

untitled, a work in progress

Untitled and unfinished, 24x24

I started working on this a few days ago. It's turning into a bit of a phantasy piece-a combination of some of my favorite paintings I've done and places that I've seen. There's elements of Provence, Sardinia, Tuscany and Big Sur in this painting, as anyone who has been following my work can probably see. It was dark when I photographed it. The color in the water is actually very interesting, though it's pretty hard to tell from this photo.

The foreground is looking pretty good to me now. The middle and background still need a lot of development, which I'll be doing in the next few days. Overall, I like the way it's coming together though. I just need to figure out how to unify it, so it doesn't look like a menage a quatre, or cinq.... or six....

A Man Crucified

NFS

"A Man Crucified", oil on canvas

A while back someone emailed me and asked me to please paint my own interpretation of Jesus crucified. I told the person that I really wasn't up to the task, and would hardly know how to begin. Yesterday, I was very depressed , but knew I needed to fill up the time. Unable to concentrate, I just let the spirit decide what I should paint. This was the result. And although I held the paintbrush, I really don't feel as though I actually painted this myself. As one of the other daily painters remarked recently on her blog, "When you allow yourself to be a vessel, you will be filled."

Thank-you Jesus, for getting me through a rough day.

A Good Year, a painting of wine and roses

SOLD "A Good Year", 12x16, oil on Claussens linen panel

Back in March, the hubby and I took a fun trip up the coast of California, which included a visit of course to wine country! There were so many wineries in Napa and Sonoma Valley that it became difficult to determine which to visit and which ones to pass over. We found 2 fabulous finds that day, but I'll save #2 for another day. We thoroughly enjoyed the winery of August Briggs in Calistoga and have wine in our rack to prove it. This is one of the very few wineries in California that does not charge a tasting fee, and yet the education that accompanied our journey into that very special wine cellar was almost as stellar as the samplings that we enjoyed. Although I prefer white wine over red, the robust and fragrant reds that I experienced that day could convert me into a cross-drinker! I highly recommend this winery for many reasons, and that is why I decided to include one of the August Briggs bottles in one of my very rare realism paintings.

This past weekend I determined that it was high time that I invested another effort into my realism painting. Although I find colorist impressionism much more fun to do than realism, I truly appreciate the paintstaking efforts that go into realistic still life paintings. One of my biggest problems in attempting believable still life paintings, is a total lack of north light indoor lighting inside my home. So, instead of fighting against confusing light sources in my studio, I finally decided to take the setting out to my front porch, where I was able to catch a very nice north light (albeit outdoor) on my bottle of August Briggs cabernet. I also pulled out a tablecloth that I'd purchased in Heidelburg, Germany, and a lovely hand-painted carafe that I'd purchased in Strasbourg, France, and the overall composition seemed as ripe and lively as the grapes that most certainly went into that cabernet sauvignon.

I titled this painting "A Good Year" after Peter Mayle's book and the delightful movie starring Russell Crowe, (which incidently had little resemblance to the novel itself). The title also serves as a swan song to my endless drivel about the benefits of living in Pennsylvania over Florida. Yes, for me, it's been a very good year.

a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, still lif paintings,home decor paintings,Napa Valley Art Art,gardens and florals,colorist art,California Art, Calistoga Wineries, August Briggs winery,wine and roses.

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A Good Year

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"A Good Year", 12x16, oil on Raymar panel

I realize that I haven't made any entries in this blog for a very long time, but that hasn't precluded me from thinking about my friends that I once had here. I hope that almost everyone's doing well (though I do know that some of you are not) and blogging away happily still. Today, I decided that I could probably still write better than a 5th grader, so here I am back on my old blog, where I once incessantly wrote my heart out. If you have ever wondered what happened to the Globetrotter, she's been painting her heart out and posting regularly over on her paint blog at PaintDance.

Hopefully an old friend or two will still remember me and possibly drop a line to say hello.

Back in March, the hubby and I took a fun trip up the coast of California, which included a visit of course to wine country! There were so many wineries in Napa and Sonoma Valley that it became difficult to determine which to visit and which ones to pass over. We found 2 fabulous finds that day, but I'll save #2 for another day. We totally enjoyed the winery of August Briggs in Calistoga and have wine in our rack to prove it. This is one of the very few wineries in California that does not charge a tasting fee, and the education that accompanied our journey into that very special wine cellar was almost as stellar as the samplings we enjoyed. I highly recommend this winery for many reasons, and that is why I decided to include one of the August bottles in one of my very rare realism paintings.

Over the weekend I determined that it was high time to invest another effort into my realism painting. Although I find colorist impressionism much more fun to do than realism, I truly appreciate the paintstaking efforts that go into realistic still life paintings. One of my biggest problems in attempting realistic still life paintings, is a total lack of north light indoor lighting in my home. So, instead of fighting against confusing light sources, I finally decided to take the setting out to my front porch, where I was able to catch a very nice north light (albeit outdoor) on my bottle of August Briggs cabernet. I also pulled out a tablecloth that I'd purchased in Heidelburg, Germany, and a lovely ceramic carafe that I'd purchased in Strasbourg, France, and the overall composition seemed as ripe and lively as the grapes that most certainly went into that cabernet sauvignon.

I titled this painting "A Good Year" after Peter Mayle's book and the delightful movie starring Russell Crowe, (which incidently had little resemblance to the novel itself). The title also serves as a swan song to my endless drivel about the benefits of living in Pennsylvania over Florida. Yes, for me, it's been a very good year.

If you'd like to see what I've been up to for the past 6 months, just check out my art website here. Otherwise drop me any email (as some of you still do), and let me know what's going on in your lives.


a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, still lif paintings,home decor paintings,Napa Valley Art Art,gardens and florals,colorist art,California Art, Calistoga Wineries, August Briggs winery.
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Congratulation bouquet,8x10

SOLD Congratulation Bouquet, 8x10, oil on gallery-wrapped canvas



This beautiful bouquet of roses in a glass vase would make a lovely gift. I painted it in subtle shades of red and peach, and the roses are enhanced with little sprays of baby's breath throughout. If you need something lovely to present to a special ballerina after her recital, or a gift for the graduate or even father's day, this painting is quite attractive in person and would also look appropriate in most any decor.


a Painting a day, Daily painters, original art , affordable art, impressionist floral paintings,home decor paintings, shabby chic Art Art,cottage art,colorist art,after Renoir bouquet.

An afternoon in Venice- watercolor

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An afternoon in Venice, watercolor on Arches full sheet

This was one of my very, very first paintings- a rare watercolor. It was on exhibit at an area Italian restaurant and it sold yesterday. I'm glad it sold but I'll miss it because it took me many painstaking weeks to complete it-obviously in the days when I had no idea what the term "painterly" meant. I hope the nice lady who bought it enjoys it as much as I had fun painting it.

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