"Van Gogh"s Boats", 8x10, oil, Vincent Van Gogh, French Boats, empaths, highly sensitive personalities, French seacapes, impressionism, Bouzique, France, old fishing boats, Maryanne JAcobsen art

"Van Gogh"s Boats", 8x10, oil

Nothing is sadder than an artist that cannot find his footings in a cold world. Such was the case with Vincent Van Gogh.

Today we have a name for people like Vincent. They are called empaths, or highly sensitive personalities, or whatever. I understand Vincent. Sometimes the world is hard. Sometimes the world is cold.

And sometimes the world is beautiful!

 Empaths struggle to find their footing because everything is bigger for empaths than the life that most individuals see and live each day. Bigger and scarier.

Anyhow. That's all I have to say about Vincent's mental state. Vincent painted colorful fishing boats in a  painting titled, Boats at St. Marie.

Here is an image of his painting:

These colorful old fishing boats dating back to Van Gogh's era can still be seen in the small fishing port of Bouziques, in the south of France. How cool is that?

This little painting was painted a few years ago and I took it out recently and re-worked a couple passages. If you like it, send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com

"Catherine's Restaurant" 9x12, oil, Catherine's of Unionville, Pa. Chester county restaurants, cafes, paintings of restaurants, fall colors, MAryanne Jacobsen art, buildings, street scenes

"Catherine's Restaurant" 9x12, oil

Back in the fall I passed this adorable restaurant in Unionville, Pa, while traveling to a site to paint during the Plein Air Brandywine Valley Festival.

I am a huge sucker for brightly -colored awnings, so I knew I'd have to paint this!!!!!
Evidently, Catherine's is a very popular restaurant in the area and has been written up many times  by local newspapers for its fine cuisine. I have added it to my bucket list as a must-do restaurant the next time we are up in that area.

To check out their menu, just go here and happy eating!

"Oak Shadows", 16x20 , oil on Panel, Maryanne Jacobsen art, Sarasota Florida, New College Sarasota, Ringling Museum, Ralph Caples, live oak tree

"Oak Shadows", 16x20 , oil on Panel

Winter can be a beautiful time to paint outdoors in Florida. Recently I bundled up and ventured out in temps that were below par for Florida- 50ish, I believe. Yup, a little cold for us Floridians, and windy, too, but the sunshine makes it all worthwhile. It was brilliantly sunny that day and the sky was that truly gorgeous blue that is the reason why Florida artists need cerulean on their palette! (Cobalt and viridian mixed are a decent substitute.)

Anyhow, I went to the Caples mansion and carriage house, which borders on the beautiful Ringling Estate. Ralph Caples had a personal and professional relationship with the wealthy Ringlings next door and if you want to learn more about the Caples history you can read about it here.

 As soon as I arrived on the site, I become enamoured with the patterns and negative spaces that the immense oak tree was creating with her branches, and so I decided to paint it. The carriage house next to it seemed to figure into the composition as well, although I knew it would be a lot to do in one painting session.

I worked on the painting for about two hours before calling it a day. I packed up my car only to discover that the battery had gone dead because I kept the hatch up while I was painting, meaning that the light drained the battery. A kind man jumped my battery and all in all it was an almost perfect Florida painting day except for the battery.

Over the weekend I used my plein air sketch to recreate the scene above on a larger canvas. Those live oaks with the Spanish moss hanging from their limbs can be quite challenging to paint, as was also the complexity of the architecture of the carriage house, which was modeled after the Mediterranean Revival style. Overall, though, I was pleased with the outcome.

Be sure to visit the historic sites of the Ringling Museum, and the Caples sites, if you ever visit Sarasota. Both properties are on the waterfront of Sarasota Bay and the scenery is quite lovely and the history quite interesting.

"Eventide", 12x24, oil on linen, Eucalptus trees, cypress trees, California landscapes, MAryanne Jacobsen fine art

SOLD

"Eventide", 12x24, oil on linen

This was painted a while back and is still a favorite of mine. The trees in California are so beautiful- from the willowy Eucalptus trees like the ones above to the gnarly, twisted cypress trees that flourish along the windy coasts- I think if I lived in California, I'd be outdoors every day, painting trees!

Please send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if you would like to commission a painting similar to Eventide.

"Pea Green Boat", 8x8, oil on panel, the owl and the pussycat, Edward Lear poem, romance, Valentine's Day gifts, original oil paintings. Maryanne Jacobsen art

SOLD

"Pea Green Boat", 8x8, oil on panel

I've painted the Owl and the Pussycat a couple other times in the past and I guess I never tire of these furry friends and the loving relationship they had in Edward Lear's little poem.

This painting has been in a couple shows and has been hanging in my living room for a while, framed in a beautiful Randy Higbee floater frame.

It occurred to me that it might make a lovely gift to a couple romantics for Valentine's Day, so I decided to take it off my wall and offer it for sale for a limited time only. If you order by Saturday, I should be able to ship it in time for the big romantic week=end coming up next week.

I am offering it for sale for $400 or $450 framed as shown above. Please send me an email at maryannejacobsen@aol.com if interested and I'll invoice you via Paypal.

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great day!